LadyZolt

We're in Osaka, Japan, today. The ship docked right beside the Tempozan Ferris wheel, which says it's the largest in Japan. We rode that and then also took the subway to the station where we could get on a bullet train and then took the bullet train to Kyoto. My husband had his phone out showing the speed in miles per hour and I got a photo when it was 175 mph. I think the top speed I noticed was 185 mph. It was fun! We'd never ridden the bullet train before, so we figured we'd do that while we were in Japan. This is the ship's last stop in Japan. Here are some photos I took today.....

We were in Shimizu, Japan, today and could see Mount Fuji from the ship. We took an excursion and saw Mt. Fuji from a lake area, and two waterfalls, and a Shinto shrine, and also the Mount Fuji World Heritage Center. It was a beautiful day with Cherry Blossoms still in bloom! Here are some photos...

We were overnight in the Yokohama port, so we explored Yokohama today. We rode the subway and went on the Cosmo Clock 21 Ferris wheel. In the amusement area, there were many coin machines selling a lot of stuff that (I assume) children would enjoy. Coin and vending machines are all over the place place in Japan! It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed seeing Cherry blossoms and lots of flowers and people. There seemed to be a food and garden event going on, so it was busy. We enjoyed our day!

My husband and I went to Tokyo Disneyland yesterday. I'd only been to Disney World in Orlando before, so it was fun to see familiar things as well as new things at this theme park. 😀 The Cherry Blossoms were still blooming in this area, so that was nice to see. (By the way, for those who aren't Disney fans -- there is a sculpture of Walt Disney and he holding Mickey Mouse's hand as he guides Mickey somewhere. There's also a sculpture of Walt's brother, Roy. He sits on a bench and Minnie Mouse places her hand in his palm. The significance is that "Walt leads" and "Roy supports." That's how the brothers worked together to make Disney so successful. The castle in Tokyo, like the one at Magic Kingdom in Orlando, is Cinderella's Castle.)

We're in Kagoshima, Japan, today. We went to the Sengan-en Garden and House and also saw an area near Sakurajima, an active stratovolcano. We learned "Sakura" means "cherry blossoms" and "jima" means "island," but now due to the active volcano, it's a peninsula and no longer an island. Our guide said that they are currently at the end of the cherry blossom blooming period, so we did see a few along the way, but not as many as we saw in Korea. She said that they might still be blooming in Tokyo, so we'll see if the are when we're there in a few days. The Sengan-en Garden was very beautiful and peaceful. We learned a bit about the history of the people in this area and how they modernized so that they would not be colonized by one of the European nations. It was an interesting day!

We docked in Nagasaki today and my husband I didn't do a planned excursion -- we just went off by ourselves and explored the city a bit. We rode the Nagasaki Ropeway cable car, rode around town on a "streetcar" (I would call it a "trolley," though), and went to Glover Garden. Here are some photos I got....

We docked in Tianjin yesterday and those of us on the included excursions had a choice of going to either just the Great Wall (and having a shorter, more manageable day), or the Forbidden City and the Great Wall (which was about a 17-hour excursion). My husband and I did the latter one. It was a long day -- we didn't get back aboard the ship until about 1 am. We went first to lunch, then the Forbidden City where our guide spent about two hours telling us about it. We then went to dinner and after the sun set, we drove to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. We didn't know it until our guide told us, but the Great Wall is usually only open at night in the summer months. They had it open especially for this Royal Caribbean cruise, and the only people on it last night were those of us who went on this excursion! We were *very impressed* with how Royal Caribbean handled this included experience. Both lunch and dinner were fabulous as well with lots of choices in food served "family style" as they do in China. And not only was the Great Wall open for us, but they had groups of performers doing dances, including dragon dances, and music, to welcome us as we entered the area. The souvenir shops were also open so we could get a souvenir. We could not be more impressed with how things went yesterday. Kudos to Royal Caribbean!

As mentioned, Royal is refunding 100% of what you paid per day for the days you elect to not be on the ship due to the itinerary change. My husband and I are getting off in Dubai and doing some things in Europe for the 42 days between Dubai and re-joining the ship when it gets to Ravenna, Italy, on June 20th. I know of some others who are leaving permanently in Dubai and Royal will refund the whole of Segments 3 and 4 for those. I heard someone call this a "Get out of jail free" card -- which it is! Usually, you'd have to go through insurance to be reimbursed, and you'd have to have a reason that the insurance considers valid unless you got the more expensive "cancel for any reason" policy. So, this is quite generous of Royal and there are a fair number of full world cruisers making other plans. I do think the majority are staying on for the Africa segment, and they are now looking forward to Royal releasing excursion information (hopefully within a week or two) so they can make plans. Yesterday, we were in Incheon/Seoul, South Korea and we went to the DMZ, so I don't have a ton of photos, but here are a few. The focus in South Korea is to remember what happened in the war and they hope someday for unification between North and South Korea. The photo of the bridge is called the "Bridge of Freedom" to those who crossed it to enter South Korea, and it is called the "Bridge of No Return" for those who opted to go back across to North Korea because they have family and homes there as those people were never seen again in South Korea. The last photo is looking at North Korea from the Dora Observatory.

We were on Jeju Island, South Korea, today. We went on an excursion to see a waterfall area and a Buddhist temple. I was thinking we might miss the cherry blossoms in Japan (next week) because of the timing and they might already be done, so I was pleasantly surprised to see dozens of cherry blossom trees here today. They were absolutely beautiful!

Photos of sail away tonight -- we went under the Busan Harbor Bridge....

We're in Busan, South Korea now, so we were not affected by the earthquake in Taiwan. We were just there a few days ago, so it does make you think! It rained all day in Busan today, so some of the things people wanted to do weren't available due to the weather. Nonetheless, we got off the ship and rode the subway around, visited a fish and food market, and generally got an idea of what it's like in Busan. Here are some photos...

Q: Is MDR dinner open seating or assigned? A: I think it's like every other RCCL cruise -- you pick early or late dining or MTD. If you pick early or late, you are assigned a table. MTD, you get seated where they have an open table. Q: Are folks sitting with the same passengers every evening for the entire cruise? A: We have a table for two -- we are beside other "table for two" couples and in the four groups of two closest to us, it's the same four couples in a row since December. I know another couple who are at a table for 8 or 10 (I can't remember how many) and it's been the same since December. Near the end of each of the mini-legs, though, the assistant head waiter comes to each of our tables (we're all on the full world cruise) and asks if we want to change which table we're at for the next leg. We haven't ever changed. But we could and so others may have over the months. Our stateroom attendant has been the same throughout the cruise -- some people have gotten new ones as their attendant has gotten off once completing their contract. But the dining staff for some reason changes every mini-leg, so we're now on our sixth set of waiter / assistant waiter pairings. Q: Have people created small groups/cliques? A: I think this has happened as this is human nature. But I haven't experienced any feeling of "you don't belong" when I've been in any groups or lines (excursions, theater, Top Tier event, etc.). Q: Has RCCL created space for "home" schooled children? A: I don't have kids aboard, but I do think that RCCL has created an area for them. Q: Has everyone stayed basically healthy? Sadly, I heard of one passing. A: Like anywhere, some people have gotten sick or injured and I think RCCL has handled it the way one would expect. They have twice so far asked for people to donate blood of a certain type to treat someone; there have been a few medical evacuations once we've arrived at a port; people who end up getting COVID are quarantined for five days (and get room service) and their cabin-mate who is negative is moved to a different cabin so it's less likely that they will get COVID, and the ones with COVID are given FCC for the 5 days they were quarantined. On a 7-night cruise, a 5-night quarantine would be significant, but on a 274-night cruise, it's just a little bump in the road. And just like other cruises, there are a fair number of people who are elderly or otherwise not in the best of health and who may pass away during the cruise. As you said, I am aware of one person who passed just before we arrived in Los Angeles. Q: Has anyone scheduled for the full cruise decided it wasn't for them and left early? A: I haven't heard of anyone doing that because, unless you got a very pricey "cancel for any reason" cruise insurance policy, you aren't going to get your money back from either RCCL or your insurance just because you don't like the cruise. However -- with the change in itinerary to Africa, RCCL has said anyone who wants to permanently leave in Dubai will be refunded 100% of the rest of the cruise -- that is Segments 3 and 4, or about half the cruise! It's like a "get out of jail free" card! I was very impressed with RCCL on this point as I didn't expect them to offer this. It is very generous! Q: What ever happened to the Tic Toc person who came on board to stir up drama. Luckily, never heard from him except to announce his intentions. I'm not on Tic Toc so maybe I missed it. A: I don't think he actually stirred up any drama. At least, not that I'm aware of. I'm not on TicTok, either, so I don't know what he said or is saying. I did see one article that reported him as saying you can't talk about the Titanic on a cruise ship. What nonsense! He clearly didn't cruise often. I think he is one of those people who deliberately says stuff he knows isn't true just to get views or whatever. This cruise probably wasn't as drama-filled or exciting as he thought it would be. It's not a mega-ship, so there's no race cars or tall slides or zip lines or ice skating. It doesn't even have the FlowRider. The vast majority of us are over 50, so there's not a lot of single young people with all the usual stuff that can happen when there are (drinking, dating, breaking up, hooking up, etc.) Most of us are just enjoying this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the world. This is not to say that older people can't behave that way -- it's just less likely that we will. 😉

Hi, Sue! Here are my answers: Q: Are the headliners and ships singers and dancers still up to the same standard as normal for Radiance ships ? Do they change round the pub singer and other 'round the ship' musicians regularly? A: They have had folkloric shows in many areas around the world, and then will have headliners like a Beatles group who are all from Australia when we were in Australia, or general headliners like magicians, comedians, or singers. But they also have the Royal Caribbean singers repeating the same shows (which I know that's what they know -- but after seeing the same or very similar show two or three times, we don't bother going now). The pub singer and other musicians generally have stayed for a long time. Some of them have changed by now, though. Q: How often are the menu's repeated? A. It's a 28 day menu -- you'll usually see the same thing regularly (like a Cesar salad and a strip steak) and then other items appear only once in a while. Q: Does the Captain hold regular Q@A sessions? A: Both captains have had a few. It's called "Captain's Corner." With Captain Stig, I think it was just the captain talking, but the two I've gone to with Captain Kjell have also had other officers with him answering questions. Q: Do they have guest lectures? A: Regularly, and I consider most of them to have been excellent. We've had a photographer who is knowledgeable about a variety of topics and world areas; we've had a geologist; we had a husband and wife team who portrayed Presidents and First Ladies who were related to Hawaii becoming a state; and of course many travel experts who talk about what to see and do in the upcoming ports. Lots of variety of lectures! Q: And finally as a lowly Diamond on a ship full of Diamond + and Pinnacles is there any chance we'll get to use the Crown Lounge or indeed might the whole Viking Crown area be roped off for happy hour when we join in Barcelona . We love the Viking Crown bar for a drink pre dinner. A: Diamonds can use the Crown Lounge. At night, they will divide the area so that the Crown Lounge is larger to accommodate folks. In the morning, you can get espresso there along with some food items, and they also have evening food items. I was Platinum when we started and I'll be Diamond Plus by the end of April, and I personally have only gone into the Crown Lounge maybe ten times. It didn't ever seem crowded to me. I don't think you'll have a problem enjoying your before-dinner drink. 🙂

Yes, Ishigaki was humid. Taipei was actually quite nice -- not too warm and not humid.

We are in Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan today -- and we took the glass bottom boat and saw some coral and sea turtles. The island was beautiful! Here are a few photos....