Japanese Ports

[HongKongAlan]

Hi all, just booked our third RSSC cruise. We are off on the Tokyo to Vancouver cruise in April 2024. Any advice or recommendations for restaurants in Hitachinika, Miyako, Hakodate or Otaru would be much appreciated. Not loving the shore excursions and thinking of just hoping off for lunch and then back on the Explorer.

 

Thanks in advance, Alan

[Gilly]

@HongKongAlan my FB popped up with a "five years ago today" image of us leaving Tokyo five years ago for that very same itinerary, which we loved.  I don't have restaurant recommendations for any of those ports, but would say that if you are in Hitachinaka during the festival with the blue flowers  those who did the tour to Seaside Park were delighted to be part of it all and I regretted that we didn't choose that tour. Hitachi Seaside Park (Hitachi Kaihin Koen) - Ibaraki Travel (japan-guide.com)  

[HongKongAlan]

Thanks so much Gilly. That is some timing! The itinerary looks amazing. Hoping that Explorer isn't starting to look tired. Will definitely look into Hitachinaka in more detail and book a park tour. All the best, Alan

[DeepFreeze63]

1 hour ago, Gilly said:

@HongKongAlan my FB popped up with a "five years ago today" image of us leaving Tokyo five years ago for that very same itinerary, which we loved.  I don't have restaurant recommendations for any of those ports, but would say that if you are in Hitachinaka during the festival with the blue flowers  those who did the tour to Seaside Park were delighted to be part of it all and I regretted that we didn't choose that tour. Hitachi Seaside Park (Hitachi Kaihin Koen) - Ibaraki Travel (japan-guide.com)  

Yes, yes! We were on that cruise and did that tour. Amazingly beautiful and we weren't alone a very popular venue, deservedly.

[Gilly]

@HongKongAlan if you're interested, I wrote about that cruise on my personal blog and it begins  here with my post from 27 April 2019, leaving Tokyo on board Mariner and follows on with a post each day.  We did a Regent tour in each of the ports (except for Dutch Harbor, where we used the Regent shuttle) and consider it one of our favourites.

@DeepFreeze63 you mean to say we've shared a cruise and didn't "meet"?  I'm sorry to have missed that opportunity!!

[Techno123]

27 minutes ago, Gilly said:

@HongKongAlan if you're interested, I wrote about that cruise on my personal blog and it begins  here with my post from 27 April 2019, leaving Tokyo on board Mariner and follows on with a post each day.  

Loved those shoes but I would never be able to walk in them 😂😂

[Gilly]

26 minutes ago, Techno123 said:

Loved those shoes but I would never be able to walk in them

I guess she probably wore them on just the one occasion, when she had her bridegroom to support her!

[captjohn]

I would suggest trying to get a cabin on Deck 4 Midship.😀

[PhD-iva]

On 4/27/2023 at 3:11 AM, HongKongAlan said:

Hi all, just booked our third RSSC cruise. We are off on the Tokyo to Vancouver cruise in April 2024. Any advice or recommendations for restaurants in Hitachinika, Miyako, Hakodate or Otaru would be much appreciated. Not loving the shore excursions and thinking of just hoping off for lunch and then back on the Explorer.

 

Thanks in advance, Alan

Interesting. My concern would be Alaska ports so early in the season. Brrrrr!

[Gilly]

4 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

My concern would be Alaska ports so early in the season. Brrrrr!

I appreciate that we could have been particularly lucky with the weather, and that coming from the UK, we are pretty much used to "chilly" and "damp" but I'd trade that early morning Brrr for the beautiful, empty ports and townspeople happy to greet the first ships of the year every time!  We've sailed Alaska in school holidays when we had to do that and there was no comparison!

[HongKongAlan]

We will be coming from a very warm Australia immediately before the cruise so a bit of cold and damp is a positive bonus for us 🙂. I'd much rather be at the start of the season than the middle when the small ports feel overrun.