Statendam Review: Hong Kong to Osaka, March 2006

[dcollier]

Hi everyone,

I have just returned from a recent Hong Kong to Osaka cruise on the Statendam, and have posted my thoughts and pictures of the cruise on my personal website at www.collieronline.co.uk Go to the "Cruises Page", and it's there at the bottom.

A slight word of warning - this review is really more about the ports in China, S. Korea and Japan, and less about the Statendam, but my impressions of HAL are included at the end.

Cheers

Dave

[Marbella]

Thank you so much for your review. The photos are 'brilliant'!!

We are on the April 17th sailing. The delay in Shanghai must have been somewhat maddening. Was there any explanation for the hold up? I'm sure this must have affected many organized tours.

We had wondered about getting back off the ship to enjoy a few more hours in Hong Kong before sailing. You answered one of my many questions!

Did you have the local currency for the different countries?

You were very brave in having an early morning flight back home! Glad you made it! We are staying on in Kyoto for a few days, so I do appreciate your giving the location of the bus and mention of the subway.

Thanks again for the link to your web site. Very interesting!!

[obriendan]

Wow!! Thank you so much for your review. I read it thorougly and enjoyed the many excellent photos. Got a kick out of the escalator sign at the Dalian Zoo!

I was particularly pleased with all the information about what to do at the ports and how to do it, i.e., Travel China, Take a taxi to the Ozaka Airport, etc. We are seriously considering this cruise for March, 2007. You've convinced me, now I just have to convince my wife! I hope you'll allow me to email you any question I may have when (and if) we book.

If you're looking for a good itinerary on HAL, try the South America cruise that includes Antarctica. We did this cruise in 2002 on the Ryndam, and it was our best cruise ever.

[dcollier]

Thanks for the positive comments folks - it makes the work worthwhile!

Marbella, the hold-up in Shanghai was apparently due to a lack of staff in Chinese immigration. The plan had been to take somebody on board at Hong Kong, and they would do the processing on the sea days, but then no-one was available. I got local currency using ATMs at all the local ports. I initially thought that the early flight shouldn't have been an issue, as we had already been in Osaka for 24 hours and Japan for 3 days, but it turned out to be tighter than was comfortable ...

Obriendan, I do strongly recommend this itinerary, specially if you want something a little bit different from the Caribbean or Mediterranean. There are no really dud destinations on it. As for South America, believe me, it's on my list and rising closer to the top ... :)

[Stevesan]

We are staying on in Kyoto for a few days, so I do appreciate your giving the location of the bus and mention of the subway.


Kyoto is a magnificent city of shrines and beautiful scenery. Besides enjoying Kyoto's shrines and temples, and attending Kabuki (I believe there's a truncated version for Westerners:) ), be sure to take a train to Kobe (@ 1/2 hour each way) to attend a Takarazaka performance.
It's been many years since I was there, but Takarazaka remains in memory as a fantastic stage show. The cast is exclusively women, talented and beautiful, performing on the largest stage in the world. The show with it's spectacular effects and cast is worth the side trip. If you've seen the film Sayonara w/Marlon Brando you had a small preview. His Japanese consort in the film played a Takarazaka performer. Some of the related scenes were shot in Kyoto and surrounds.

BTW - I enjoyed a couple of excellent Italian meals in the Kyoto/Kobe area. Everybody enjoys Italian food, including Japanese.

[RevNeal]

THANK YOU so MUCH.
I'll be on this cruise departing from Hong Kong on April 19, 2007 ... so your review is ESPECIALLY helpful!

EXCELLENT

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Kyoto is a magnificent city of shrines and beautiful scenery. Besides enjoying Kyoto's shrines and temples, and attending Kabuki (I believe there's a truncated version for Westerners:) ), be sure to take a train to Kobe (@ 1/2 hour each way) to attend a Takarazaka performance.
It's been many years since I was there, but Takarazaka remains in memory as a fantastic stage show. The cast is exclusively women, talented and beautiful, performing on the largest stage in the world. The show with it's spectacular effects and cast is worth the side trip. If you've seen the film Sayonara w/Marlon Brando you had a small preview. His Japanese consort in the film played a Takarazaka performer. Some of the related scenes were shot in Kyoto and surrounds.


I too can highly recommend the Takarasaka Review. Takarasaka has been famous for their Follies type show for many years. I actually saw it in 1970 while the Expo 70 was going on in Osaka. I had the opportunity to stay in Takarasaka for 4 weeks. While I was just a teenager at the time living in Iowa and did not know I would live in Las Vegas some day I was in amazement of the beautiful costumes and talent. I can remember that back then the Japanese women would blush when you said you had gone to the Review because of the slight nudity in some of the costumes.

[MMastell]

Dave and Kate,

I am glad you made it home, safe and sound. I too enjoyed the cruise and agree with your assessment. I am a bit more harsh on HAL's shore information. They couldn't control the Chinese government nor the weather and many tidal issues but I'm glad we chose to do many of the things on our own. I think we benefited from it monetarily and also in the quality of what we saw.

It was fun doing trivia with you. We took em to the tie breaker. :)

Take care,
Mike