Live(ish) Cruising From Japan

[OzKiwiJJ]

It all started when our friend, Stickman1990, tempted us with a very good value Regent Seven Seas Explorer cruise from Tokyo to Bangkok. We love visiting Japan but have only spent a rushed day in Bangkok. After a bit of number crunching we decided to book it. Then our FCCs, from having Covid on the Round Australia cruise last year, landed in our Princess account. There were no Australian cruises that tempted us so I looked at Japan cruises and found a great cruise that fitted perfectly before our Regent cruise with no overlap of ports and finished two days before the Regent cruise embarked. So we booked it.

 

We depart for Haneda on Saturday via Singapore, arriving Sunday morning. We're staying two nights in Yokohama before boarding Diamond Princess for a 9 night cruise. This cruise goes north from Yokohama with one sea day before visiting Aomori, Sakata, Kanazawa, Sakaiminato, Busan (South Korea) and Nagasaki, before a final sea day takes us back to Yokohama.

 

From Yokohama we transfer to Tokyo, staying two nights in the Shimbashi area where we stayed in 2018 at the end of a repositioning cruise.

 

Then we head to the Tokyo Cruise Terminal to board Regent Seven Seas Explorer for a 14 night cruise. This time we head south to Shimizu, Kobe, Kochi, Okinawa, then to Taipei (Taiwan), and on to Vietnam with a stop at Nha Trang and and an overnight stop in Ho Chi Minh City. After that it's straight to Thailand where we dock at Laem Chabang. We have one more night onboard before transferring to Bangkok for a three night post cruise package - morning sightseeing tours and free time (pool time) in the afternoons. The post-cruise package includes transfers to the airport on our last day.

 

I think this will be a very different trip for us. From what I've heard the Diamond Princess cruise will be a mix of mostly local Japanese, Australians, and Americans. The pre-cruise info from Princess hints at a more Japanese experience onboard than is usual on Princess ships. We've been on Diamond before so are familiar with the ship. It was modified for the Japanese market prior to our previous cruise. I'm excited to experience the formal nights on this cruise as I think the Japanese cruisers will dress beautifully on those nights. 

 

We've done one luxury cruise in the past, on Crystal, and it will be interesting to see how Regent compares. Crystal Symphony was an older ship, Regent Explorer is fairly new. The cruise is fully inclusive although there were some excursions that cost extra if you wished to do those - we're doing a couple of those but had sufficient onboard credit to cover the costs. 

 

Tomorrow is the Battle of the Suitcases. As usual we're probably packing far too much but it's tricky predicting the weather during the first part of our trip. So far the Japan weather is staying a bit warmer than I expected but we need to be prepared in case it does turn cold. And the downside of this warmer Autumn weather is that the Autumn foliage may not be as spectacular as we'd hoped. Then by the time we get to Vietnam and Thailand it will be hot and humid so lots of cool clothing will be needed. We have free laundry on both cruises, thank goodness.

 

I'll be posting about our experiences, hopefully with some photos as well, as often as I can. I'll be happy to answer any questions as well.

[MMDown Under]

8 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It all started when our friend, Stickman1990, tempted us with a very good value Regent Seven Seas Explorer cruise from Tokyo to Bangkok. We love visiting Japan but have only spent a rushed day in Bangkok. After a bit of number crunching we decided to book it. Then our FCCs, from having Covid on the Round Australia cruise last year, landed in our Princess account. There were no Australian cruises that tempted us so I looked at Japan cruises and found a great cruise that fitted perfectly before our Regent cruise with no overlap of ports and finished two days before the Regent cruise embarked. So we booked it.

 

We depart for Haneda on Saturday via Singapore, arriving Sunday morning. We're staying two nights in Yokohama before boarding Diamond Princess for a 9 night cruise. This cruise goes north from Yokohama with one sea day before visiting Aomori, Sakata, Kanazawa, Sakaiminato, Busan (South Korea) and Nagasaki, before a final sea day takes us back to Yokohama.

 

From Yokohama we transfer to Tokyo, staying two nights in the Shimbashi area where we stayed in 2018 at the end of a repositioning cruise.

 

Then we head to the Tokyo Cruise Terminal to board Regent Seven Seas Explorer for a 14 night cruise. This time we head south to Shimizu, Kobe, Kochi, Okinawa, then to Taipei (Taiwan), and on to Vietnam with a stop at Nha Trang and and an overnight stop in Ho Chi Minh City. After that it's straight to Thailand where we dock at Laem Chabang. We have one more night onboard before transferring to Bangkok for a three night post cruise package - morning sightseeing tours and free time (pool time) in the afternoons. The post-cruise package includes transfers to the airport on our last day.

 

I think this will be a very different trip for us. From what I've heard the Diamond Princess cruise will be a mix of mostly local Japanese, Australians, and Americans. The pre-cruise info from Princess hints at a more Japanese experience onboard than is usual on Princess ships. We've been on Diamond before so are familiar with the ship. It was modified for the Japanese market prior to our previous cruise. I'm excited to experience the formal nights on this cruise as I think the Japanese cruisers will dress beautifully on those nights. 

 

We've done one luxury cruise in the past, on Crystal, and it will be interesting to see how Regent compares. Crystal Symphony was an older ship, Regent Explorer is fairly new. The cruise is fully inclusive although there were some excursions that cost extra if you wished to do those - we're doing a couple of those but had sufficient onboard credit to cover the costs. 

 

Tomorrow is the Battle of the Suitcases. As usual we're probably packing far too much but it's tricky predicting the weather during the first part of our trip. So far the Japan weather is staying a bit warmer than I expected but we need to be prepared in case it does turn cold. And the downside of this warmer Autumn weather is that the Autumn foliage may not be as spectacular as we'd hoped. Then by the time we get to Vietnam and Thailand it will be hot and humid so lots of cool clothing will be needed. We have free laundry on both cruises, thank goodness.

 

I'll be posting about our experiences, hopefully with some photos as well, as often as I can. I'll be happy to answer any questions as well.

Bon Voyage!  What an exciting adventure and wonderful trip you are going to have.  You have demonstrated just what is missing with cruising opportunities from Australia.  Yet we have beautiful South Sea islands and PNG passengers from the Northern Hemisphere can only dream about. 

If you have time in Laem Chabang, you might like to visit the beautiful Khao Kheow Open Zoo.  We arranged for a private car to pick us up and return to the ship for a day at the Open Zoo.

[MMDown Under]

(I was thinking further afield South Sea islands like Tonga, Samoan islands, Cook Islands, Tahitian islands, Hawaiian islands, etc.  Of course, smaller and mid size ships would be required.)

Looking forward to hearing how you find the Regent cruise ship experience, Julie.  

[possum52]

Safe travels Julie and Rolf. Looking forward to reading your posts. 

[arxcards]

Happy Trails Julie & Rolf.

 

Do you have anything planned for your pre-cruise in Yokohama?

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

Happy Trails Julie & Rolf.

 

Do you have anything planned for your pre-cruise in Yokohama?

The first day will probably be spent in a stupor of sleeplessness! I don't sleep well on planes and the overnight flight from Singapore to Haneda is too short for any decent sleep as it usually takes a couple of hours for the plane to quieten down. We are flying husiness class and I scored seats in a smaller forward BC cabin on the plane so that might help. Since the flight departs very late, around 11pm, so we've chosen not to have a meal on the flight, we'll try to have a substantial meal before boarding.

 

I think there is a Ramen museum in Yokohama. We might have a look at that. Also the Chinatown there is supposed to be very interesting so that's another option. 

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Bon Voyage OzKiwiJJ!

 

Have a great time!

Look forward to hearing all about it!

[OzKiwiJJ]

The Battle of the Suitcases has been won! 😊

 

Now all we have to do is get all the last minute things together and do the online check-in for our flights. 😊

[sewgood]

Have a wonderful holiday and can't wait to read about your adventures and to hear you opinion on Regent. 😊

[Tranquility Base]

I don’t know what size ship you’ll be on, but I’ll be interested to hear where exactly you dock in Saigon.

When I was doing some research for another trip I came to the conclusion it would be  closer to town than Phu My ( large), but not right in town at Nah Rong ( 650 pax size ).

The one in between these was about a 30 min shuttle ride into town.

[OzKiwiJJ]

24 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

I don’t know what size ship you’ll be on, but I’ll be interested to hear where exactly you dock in Saigon.

When I was doing some research for another trip I came to the conclusion it would be  closer to town than Phu My ( large), but not right in town at Nah Rong ( 650 pax size ).

The one in between these was about a 30 min shuttle ride into town.

I'll let you know when we get there. 

[Stickman1990]

Safe travels to you both and look forward to catching up with you in Tokyo after your first leg

A little envious of your "northern" side of Japan cruise on Princess - lots of different posts from the usual ones in the south west

 

Enjoy the complimentary inflight internet access on Singapore Airlines - rest assured you won't starve while in their care in the air or in their lovely Singapore flagship Silver Kris lounge

[Blackduck59]

Safe travels Julie and Rolf, we look forward to hearing about your adventure.

Cheers, Lyle & Lynn

[MicCanberra]

Bon voyage, have a great trip.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We're on our way! 

 

Sydney Airport was a pain. We had a very quick check-in despite the number of bags we had, got directed to the Business Class passport screening area and that's when the wheels fell off!

 

The electronic screening systems had decided to be a bit cranky today. We waited ... then they rebooted the system and a few people got through, then we waited again. Eventually they rebooted the system again. The guy in front of me had problems but I went though very quickly. Rolf stood there for ages but eventually it decided he was OK and let him though.

 

By the time we got through to the Singapore Airlines lounge we only had enough time for a well-needed glass of water and a quick comfort stop. 

 

We're on an A380. I'm in two minds about the business class seats on this plane. They are very hard and the footrest attached to the seat doesn't go up far enough for me. However there is another pull-out footrest at a good height but you have to sit at an angle to use it. Hmmm! Weird!

 

Lunch service was excellent. A chicken caesar, a beef fillet, and a cheese plate. A very nice chardonnay with the caesar, and a excelkent Medoc with the beef and cheese.

 

 

[MicCanberra]

Looks pretty good.

[NSWP]

Bon Voyage Julie and Rolf. You are Livin the Dream. My dear friends., enjoy and look foward to your Vlogs, business class is great. 

Edited October 28, 2023 by NSWP

[MMDown Under]

I'm sorry you didn't have time to enjoy the Business Class Lounge, Julie.  A pet hate is a rush, when you have been looking forward to the benefits of relaxing in the Lounge.  

[Blackduck59]

Food looks very good Julie. We both look forward to seeing and reading more about your adventure..

[icat2000]

Have a great trip. Food looks delicious.

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

Sat 28 Oct & Sun 29 Oct - Singapore and Yokohama.

 

 

We arrived in Singapore late afternoon, with a few hours to spare before the flight to Japan. By the time we deplaned my bum was almost completely numb from the very hard seats. We'd had a "refeshment" on the plane before landing so didn't need a meal immediately. Our plan was to have a substantial meal just before boarding the Japan flight so we could go straight to sleep once airborne.

 

We went to the Silver Kris Lounge for a while, and a cup of tea, then decided to stretch our legs and explore the huge Terminal 3. These days it just seems to be one high end fashion shop after another! We had a look in the Butterfly Garden but it was very steamy in there. Even the terminal itself was very warm. I'd hoped to see the Jewel area but couldn't figure out how to get there. So we went back to the lounge. For some reason I was feeling exceptionally tired even though I'd had a snooze on the first flight.

 

The Silver Kris lounge had a great selection of food so we had a pleasant meal.

 

The gate for the next flight was right at the opposite end of the terminal. Oh well, at least we got a bit more exercise. This time we were on a B777 which had softer seats - at least to sit on. On this plane the back of the business class seats fold down to create the bed and that was very firm. I did manage to get about four hours of restless sleep though.

 

We arrived at Haneda around 6:30pm. We'd done the online immigration stuff so we breezed through the formalities, the only real delay was waiting for our luggage to come out.

 

The immigration check only takes a couple of minutes with the QR code. You just present your passport and QR code, they take index fingerprints and a photo, and you're through.

 

The customs check is in two stages - first you scan your passport and QR code at a kiosk, then you individually walk through a couple of gates. I guess it scanned us then. 

 

Because we have a fair amount of luggage we needed a bigger taxi. We had a short wait before we got one but ended up with an absolute gem of a driver. He understood some English and also used a translator app on his phone to chat with us.

 

Unfortunately we were affected by street closures for the Yokohama Marathon so we couldn't drive to the hotel entrance but were able to stop near escalators that lead up to a walkway to the Landmark Plaza and our hotel, the Yokohama Royal Park Hotel. Our lovely driver was going to take all our luggage himself, which would have taken him three trips, but we convinced him we were perfectly happy taking some of it ourselves.

 

Of course we weren't able to check into our room that early. We went up to the hotel breakfast restaurant and had an excellent breakfast, and the views over the harbour were a feast for the eyes. Then we found a comfy sofa to collapse on for a while.

 

Once the hotel coffee lounge opened we adjourned there for some caffeine. A nice big pot of tea for me but Rolf just decided to have a Coke.

 

Around lunchtime we wandered into the adjacent Landmark Plaza to find somewhere for lunch. We found an excellent sushi restaurant on level 5 and had a lovely meal.

 

 

Back to the hotel where we still had an hour or so it fill in before we could check in to our room. By now we were both very, very tired. My eyes were starting to feel gritty from lack of sleep. Luckily we got an early check-in - 2:30pm instead of their normal 4pm.

 

We have a gorgeous corner room on the 60th floor, facing east overlooking the harbour. It has a long desk running under the windows with two chairs so we could sit in comfort and enjoy the views while we waited for our luggage to be brought up. 

 

Views left to right.

 

 

 

The flat looking wharf near the top of this photo, with a grassy roof, is the Osanbashi International Cruise terminal.

 

Once the luggage arrived we had a well-needed nap.

 

The bathroom has a huge shower cubicle and great water pressure so having a shower was absolute bliss!

 

We went back to the Landmark Plaza for dinner. I think we traipsed all over the Plaza before we found one that tempted me - a simple soba noodle bar where we had chilled noodles, tempura on rice, and saki. There were plenty of interesting choices of restaurant but I was so tired I just wanted something plain and simple to eat.

 

We slept very well that night!

 

[MicCanberra]

Excellent, even in business class, I never can sleep on a plane, dozing is as good as it gets 

[boeckli]

Thanks for taking us along Julie.

Your photos of Yokohama bring back fond memories of our visit on the 2009 Dawn Princess cherry blossom cruise 😀

[OzKiwiJJ]

Mon 30th Oct - Yokohama

 

After another very yummy breakfast in the hotel we set out to explore Yokohama. We had a few places in mind - the waterfront, Chinatown and the Ramen Museum.

 

We decided to start with the waterfront. There is an " Air Cabin" (gondola) that runs from near the walkway from our hotel across to Shinko, one of the waterfront islands. It was a nice way to view that part of the waterfront. It ended at a small shopping mall which didn't really interest us so we walked around the outside of it until we reached the Circle Walk - an above-ground walkway over a busy intersection.

 

We were heading for the lovely old Red Brick Warehouses which now houses small shops and restaurants. We got there a few minutes before it opened at 11am. There were some lovely shops -  leather products, honey products, cute little Japanese stickers and much more. We found a fridge magnet and had a cold drink at a cafe in the first warehouse, then an excellent coffee in the second warehouse.

 

Then we strolled through the waterfront area heading back towards the mall attached to our hotel. I'd left my good glasses case at home and my spare is a bit small for my current glasses, plus we wanted lunch, and that mall links to two train stations. On the way we passed a small cruise ship docked at one of the other wharves. It was Star Breeze, one of the Windstar ships.

 

We're great fans of the Taiwanese dumpling restaurant, Din Tai Fung, and even though we have one close to where we live we still like to go to them in other cities. When we spotted the one in Landmark Plaza we just had to go there. It was even better than our local one.

 

I eventually found an optical store that had a good selection of glasses cases so was able to get one that just fits my glasses.

 

Much to our annoyance we both ran out of steam at this point so had to flag away any further sightseeing. I guess we were still recovering from the flights. My back was quite sore on one side - I think I must have pulled a muscle trying to get comfortable on one of the planes.

 

We decided to lash out and have a Japanese Kaiseki dinner at the hotel's Japanese restaurant. Kaiseki is a set menu dinner consisting of several small courses, each different in taste and preparation. There were four set menus to choose from. We chose this one:

 

The Hors d'Oeuvre salad was a lovely fresh start to the meal - beautifully cured fish and crisp vegetables with a touch of sweetness from the persimmon. It was served in a cute pumpkin bowl.

 

The soup was a clear broth with the most amazing flavour, served in a teapot.

 

Next was sashimi. The tuna was fantastic, the baby prawns were delicious, and I haven't got a clue what the third item was but it was also very nice.

 

The steamed rice with mullet roe was very tasty and just the perfect sized dish.

 

That was followed by teriyaki yellowtail which was so yummy I forgot to take a photo of it.

Next came the simmered dish. Tofu, pumpkin and beans cooked in a light broth.

 

The Japanese Beef Sirloin was the star of the meal. It really did melt in the mouth, yet it didn't have that strong beef fat flavour that sirloin often has (which I can't handle sometimes).

 

 

Then came sushi and miso soup. Beautiful sushi and the miso soup had an unusually rich flavour but I had reached my limit so only had a taste.

 

Finally we were served some fruit which I also forgot to photograph. I only recognised one - champagne rockmelon (cantaloupe) - but all of it was light and refreshing.

 

We retired, full in the stomach but somewhat poorer in our wallets!

Edited November 1, 2023 by OzKiwiJJ

[arxcards]

Star Breeze will make an appearance in Sydney Harbour around Christmas time.

 

The food looks lovely.