hubofhockey

I don’t see much use for the physical card if you have an iPhone. If you have a hard card, you need to reload yen value by putting yen in a machine. With an iPhone, you can move cash from the card you use in your Apple wallet. The benefit to the physical card would be not worrying if your phone battery dies on you, but worst case is you use cash at a station. In any case, to me, this was a big worry over nothing. Go iPhone, click on the wallet, hit the + button and and add transit pass. It gives you choice by country with three IC cards in Japan. From there, choose an amount and it will automatically authenticate withe bank linked to your card and you’re all set. So easy.

Got in yesterday. Love being at the Conrad in Shiodome. 1800 Yen taxi ride from Tokyo Station. It did take close to 1.5 hours to get out of Narita on the JR Express train from Narita to Tokyo Station. We did buy green car seats, which I believe were $25 each for the 1 hour ride to Tokyo Station. We had reserved the 6:19 pm train from Narita which was an hour fifty from our landing. That was a mistake. While we made our train with three minutes to spare, we did want to pick up IC cards. You cannot get physical cards outside of airports right now. However, as I quickly discovered, it is so much easier getting a SUICA app on your iPhone than a card. It is easier to load funds on it because it can be done electronically, without putting yen into a machine. This only works if you have an iPhone. Androids do not work with the App, if purchased outside of Japan. My advice with those with Androids is to get the physical hard PASMO card at Narita in the JR office where you pick up train tickets. JR only sells PASMO, not SUICA, but there is virtually no difference. Hope this helps some who will be taking cruises out of Japan this spring. It’s 73 today and sunny. Happy we chose May after Golden Week. While cherry blossoms would have been nice, great weather on a vacation is good too. In Tokyo for the next three days and off to Kyoto on Monday and then our cruise on Wednesday. The Conrad is beautiful. So glad we switched to Hilton AMEX cards and got three free night certificates here and the fourth with points. We probably wouldn’t pay the regular prices they charge, but it’s convenient and beautiful. Being a Hilton, they understand Americans well.

If anyone here has used the Kansai Pass, I have some questions. Is it worth it? Is it more convenient or easier just to use an IC card? This pass seems to work for both Kyoto and Osaka. We will be in Kyoto 2.5 days before our cruise and 1.5 days in Osaka during our cruise. It seems as if you can use the pass on non-consecutive days and we would use it two days in Kyoto and one day in Osaka (doing an excursion to Nara the second day in Osaka). The cost is around $35 per person. I have no idea if $12 per day for worry free transit is good.

Ha!, I was advised that Hirosaki Castle may not be worth the long trip, so probably just doing things near port, Nebuta Museum Wa Rasse and lunch at A-Factory.

We’re going in six weeks. In Aomori, we’re just taking a train to Hirasaku and going to the castle. Busan looks great. We hired a driver to do the classics on the coast. Expensive, so sharing it with two other couples.

It's not an "international package". The Unlimited Plan will work just fine there and, from what I understand, the cell signals are strong enough to pick up on the ship. The Sakura website says everywhere they tested gets at least a 4G signal from Docomo or Softbank.

Bet you WIFI income has replaced the rip off photo income they used to get.

Pocket WIFI, GoogleFi, or an eSim will probably work as good or better than what Celebrity provides. We have the basic included with our Aqua Class, but we will also have GoogleFi and, from what I understand, it will be better than the package that comes with our Millennium cruise.

You should check and see what Tours by Locals has. My guess is that most everyone uses public transportation with guides, but there has to be alternatives, especially for some with mobility issues.

Thanks for your response. Google Fi uses Softbank as well. There is no cost savings on Google Fi. My post above is misleading. Google Fi is $110 for two phones unlimited, but it's probably to closer to $130 with taxes and regulatory fees to state and federal government. Two phones on Google Fi is probably similar cost to Ninja pocket wifi. I suppose the main reasons for the choice are using phones for calls using your US phone # and convenience. For the most part, we will only Facetime over WIFI , so US number not needed, but it would be useful for calling within Japan even with charges. I called Google Fi and they told me to activate a week before my trip to Japan just to make sure everything is working and leave them a week to work on problems if so. I have heard that Google Fi works well in Japan and all over Asia, but may have issues in Eastern Europe. We have a cruise next year on the Iberian coast and other parts of western Europe, so if it works this May, we'll do it again next May.

For two people, for a month, Google Fi is $110. You get free calls to the USA, unlimited data, 5G coverage in Japan, and can keep your regular phone number. Ninja pocket WIFI with insurance and power bank is $139. It requires pick up and return at the airport and no phone (I suppose you can use facetime audio or whatsapp). Google Fi would work on day in Busan, South Korea as well (Ninja, my guess would not). I suppose the other advantages to Google Fi would be each spouse being able to call the other seamlessly, probably even on the ship in ports. I was going to get the pocket WIFI, but I would like to know what the advantages to pocket WIFI are. Seemingly, you can tether with either. I am concerned with connectivity while on the ship in Japan. I have heard that Ninja works well even on the ship. The Celebrity Basic WIFI was forced on us by getting Aqua and that seems like money flushed.

I called Celebrity. Check in times are 1:30 pm to 5:30 pm. The Celebrity customer service rep told me that we could choose 30 days in what check in times we want. You won't be able to board the ship, but maybe you can drop your luggage off and then go back later on. I will probably stick with our original plan to arrive at Shin-Yokohama at 3 pm and then take a taxi to the cruise terminal, just to be on the safe side.

5/27 is actually our departure day. We're coming in from Kyoto on 5/15 after spending 4 days in Tokyo and 2.5 in Kyoto. Figured we would would spend the morning at the Bamboo Forest and Monkey Park in Arashiyama and grab bento boxes at the Kyoto Station and taking the 1 pm train. At this point, Yokohama is not on our list. I figure that arriving at the cruise terminal before 3:30 for a 7:00 pm departure is pretty safe, but maybe they stop embarkation at 5.

This thread was supposed to be about what is a safe time to arrive at the cruise terminal before original embarkation on the Celebrity Millennium, which departs Yokohama at 7 pm. (I'm good on luggage)

We will have one larger bag each (standard, bigger than a carryon). You can reserve seats on a Shinkansen in seats that have oversized luggage. The Green cars, which we are reserving, also have luggage racks at the end of the cars, but mine will fit. Here is a photo of the overhead racks. At this point, my issue is really time and not luggage.