Brisbane to Yokohama Voyage Review

Arrived home yesterday after our voyage from Brisbane to Yokohama then flying home via Malaysia. The Queen Elizabeth was the last ship in the Cunard fleet for us to sail on, having done the QE2 twice, Victoria, QM2 and visiting the old Queen Mary as well. Don't think there will be any more Cunard ships in my lifetime. We had the best time on the ship, our stateroom was fine no issues always clean and neat thanks to our steward. Because the weather was wonderful we had breakfast everyday on the balcony, the only way to go if you just want to relax on holidays. Lunch was ok as it was no big deal for us, just a filler until dinner which we enjoyed very much because of the company we had at our table of six. All of them were well seasoned travellers so we had lots to talk about. The dinning room staff were wonderful and picked up on our wine choices quickly so the service was great. As usual there was always plenty to do on sea days or just chill out if that's your thing. I spent most of my sea days in the art classes learning to enjoy painting and drawing again after many years of not picking up a brush.

On shore is easy if you are a bit adventurous, Airlie Beach was a no brainer as we knew the place. Rabaul was easy if you knew where to look, we kept walking up the road towards the volcano and found the Rabaul Hotel where they served lovely cold beer and we had a great view of the volcano when it shot a great plume of ash into the air.

Kagoshima we jumped on the local city tour bus for six dollars, all day pass and road around the city jumping on and off when we wanted. Including lunch and gate fees to the gardens the day cost us $25 each. I must say the locals made the ship quite welcome with crowds of people on the dock and the farewell was magic. We had dancing, drums and children playing jazz songs. The children playing jazz music were unbelievable. The new dockpark will be great when it is finished and a great place for cruise ships to stop.

Since we had done Japan before we got off at Yokohama and made our way to Narita Airport on the train, easy just went to train station near the dock and caught the train to Yokohama station for a couple of dollars then got a ticket to the airport for $45 with reserved seating. The train takes you right to the airport terminal.

Overall we had a great on the Queen Elizabeth and look forward to doing it again. I have to admit that some areas of the ship were looking a bit tired, but it was always neat and tidy. I heard that it was due for refit so one hopes it will be up to a high standard.

regards to all who want, will and are sailing on the Queen Elizabeth

Kerin

Welcome home! Thank you for the review of your cruise on QE. We are due to go on her next year and breakfast on the balcony you describe sounds heavenly! I hope she has an update before next year to freshen her up as other reviews say she is in need of one. Can you tell me about Rabaul and Yokohama? I know you walked and saw the volcano...was there much in the area? Since you have been to Yokohama before, could you make any suggestions as to what to do there? I would appreciate any thoughts or ideas.

Hi Barbara

Don't expect to see much at Rabaul, much of the town was flattened by the volcano twenty years ago and has not really recovered. Cunard offers tours to a few of the WWll sights around the area. Unless you are into that sort of thing or it has meaning for you there is not much to do. The local were very friendly and sell handmade trinkets out side the port gate, the prices are in aus or us dollars. We were there on sunday to the big local produce market was closed but the was smaller markets out side some of the shops. They sell everything and I mean everything in the stores, they are worth a look at on their own. If you want a cold beer the best place is the Rabaul Hotel, go up to the main road and turn right and walk about 2km to find it. They have a good chinese restaurant according to some of the staff off the ship.

We did not do anything in Yokohama as we went straight to the airport, we were off to KL Malaysia. There are tours from the ship but they can cost you as they range from a few hours up to nine hours. Any of the large Japanese cities are fairly easy to get around as most of the street signs are in Japanese and English. We got a city rover bus ticket in Kagoshima so I imagine their may be something similar in Yokohama, or try the subway to see if that takes you to see things.

Get onto Tripadvisor.com and check out what others have said about the place at well. The best policy I have found over the years during our travels is do some homework if you have plenty of time and then map out roughly what you want to do. Hope this helps

regards Kerin

Hi Barbara

Don't expect to see much at Rabaul, much of the town was flattened by the volcano twenty years ago and has not really recovered. Cunard offers tours to a few of the WWll sights around the area. Unless you are into that sort of thing or it has meaning for you there is not much to do. The local were very friendly and sell handmade trinkets out side the port gate, the prices are in aus or us dollars. We were there on sunday to the big local produce market was closed but the was smaller markets out side some of the shops. They sell everything and I mean everything in the stores, they are worth a look at on their own. If you want a cold beer the best place is the Rabaul Hotel, go up to the main road and turn right and walk about 2km to find it. They have a good chinese restaurant according to some of the staff off the ship.

We did not do anything in Yokohama as we went straight to the airport, we were off to KL Malaysia. There are tours from the ship but they can cost you as they range from a few hours up to nine hours. Any of the large Japanese cities are fairly easy to get around as most of the street signs are in Japanese and English. We got a city rover bus ticket in Kagoshima so I imagine their may be something similar in Yokohama, or try the subway to see if that takes you to see things.

Get onto Tripadvisor.com and check out what others have said about the place at well. The best policy I have found over the years during our travels is do some homework if you have plenty of time and then map out roughly what you want to do. Hope this helps

regards Kerin

Hi Kerin,

Thank you for the information! I like doing the research and have been doing it since we booked last October AND we have a lot of time as the next cruise is next January!:o I had heard that there wasn't much to do in Rabaul unless you were a history buff so I was glad to hear of your experience...we will probably do the same as you did. It was good to learn that they take AUD and USD too. Did you buy anything "good" there? I always like hearing about any deals people find in ports.

With Japan, have the library travel books and have been reading trip reviews of those currently on WC that have gone to the area so that helps too. I like knowing that the signs are in both languages.

Thank you again for taking the time to answer my post, I really appreciate it!