ROCruiser

This is the link to my blog about our trip to Yangoon.

Have a wonderful trip!

Thanks for sharing the videos. Will be on Voyager in a couple of weeks.

We will be on the July 12 sailing on the Voyager. Hopefully, the protests will stay in the Central/Causeway Bay areas on HK island if they continues and basically on Sundays. I am sure it's going to affect transports on the MTR but probably not too much near the port. 

2 hours ago, inmyfootsteps said:

We will be staying at the Hotel Monterey in November. Any idea how to transfer to this hotel from Hanade airport and not Narita airport?

Our bus from Narita to Hotel New Grand made only two stops on the way to Yokohama, at the two terminals in Haneda, so they should sell bus tickets to Hotel New Grand from Haneda also. Ask the staff at the Airport Limousine Bus counter and specifically for tickets to Hotel New Grand and not YCAT. Bus will drop off at the front door of HNG, then you just need to walk a block to Hotel Monterey.

We stayed at the Rose Hotel in Chinatown the last time we were in Yokohama. It's an older hotel but the room was bigger than the regular hotels in Japan. A convenient Airport limousine bus ride from Narita that ends at Hotel New Grand, we just walked the couple of blocks to the hotel. In the morning we took a taxi to the pier which cost $7. Need to tell the staff that you need the bus that goes to Hotel New Grand and not YCAT. 

If you have more than a couple of days, yes, Tokyo, for visiting various sights close by. But if you have only one or two nights, I would stay in Yokohama to avoid having to transport luggage twice. As Tara Jane stated, there are Limousine buses that go directly from the airport to Yokohama. There is a bus route instead of going to YCAT, it ends at Hotel New Grand but you have to ask specifically for that route otherwise they will sell you the YCAT buses. It's very convenient if staying near the pier (Hotel New Grand, Hotel Monterey, Star Hotel,, etc. )or near Chinatown area. 

When we were there in 2015, the bus that took us from Yichang to Wuhan (where we caught the flight back to Shanghai) was a four-hour ride. Not sure which river boat you are taking but ours was the Gold 8. We left the boat with a packed breakfast at 6:00 in the morning. If you are touring the Three Gorges Dam that morning, I doubt that you would be able to catch a flight late morning. Again, that was four years ago, so things might have changed.

Another vote for Totem Bight. Not as crowded and much nicer.

We do not buy souvenirs any more. The stuff that we used to bring back really don't mean anything to those who did not go to that particular country. Most will end up as garage sale items. Now we bring back certain food/snack items for those at home to try. Something like Kitkat, they have so many flavors in Japan that you maybe able to pick some that cannot be found at your local stores. 

I believe you can buy a one-day pass if you are there on a Saturday. That was what we did last November. A very nice gentleman (staff) was by the ticket machine helping travelers get their tickets at the cruise port Osakako Station. We had the Suica card but we purchased the one-day pass for that day. Not sure if that will work for trains going to Kyoto though. We only went to downtown Osaka. 

Maybe with one exception, Yokohama. We boarded Diamond Princess in Keelung Taiwan last November. First port was Yokohama. Not much delay even though there was a long line going through immigration inside the terminal there. 

If you want to have delicious hawker food but don't have the time to run around, we enjoyed a buffet dinner at the Straits Kitchen in Grand Hyatt featuring all kinds of hawker food in Singapore. It's a buffet, so go hungry.

Whenever a ship enters Japan after visiting another foreign country, immigration process applies. Plan ahead if coming/or coming back to Japan from Korea, Russia etc. Our ship (Diamond Princess) arrived Otaru early in the morning after Kosakov, Russia but we did not get off until around noon. Same thing happened at the port of Maizuru after a stop in Busan, Korea. 

Agree with Philob. I believe they prefer to receive NTD. Exchanging currencies is not as easy as 1,2,3 in Taiwan for locals. If they get certain US dollars (with certain letters or numbers on the bill) they cannot do the exchange. At least that's what I have been told by relatives there. 

Thank you for posting the great report and the wonderful photos. Brought back a lot of memories visiting those ports. 

Sorry! Forgot to mention that Hilton Tokyo Shinjuku is the last stop on the Aiport Limousine bus route. Stop right at the entrance of the hotel and the staff will come out to help with luggage. Very convenient.

Intercontinental Tokyo Bay also have stops on the Aiport Limousine buses from Narita and Haneda, I believe. We did not use the limousine bus when we stayed there though.

9 hours ago, almostnewtocruise said:

Ohhhh.. Sorry!! When I said we booked the Grand Central , I meant the New Grand  Hotel! I suppose viewing all the hotels (and I viewed a LOT! ) made me confused when I wrote the above post.  I know that the bus to YCAT Yokohama has several stops at different hotels (looked them up too, but didn't find anything more attractive than the New Grand, especially the location). 

Thanks for the very useful tips about "our" bus. We'll wait patiently for the right one!

 

Do you have any tips about hotels in Tokyo?? We plan to be there later on in November.. 

 

miriam

Great!

We have stayed at the Hilton Tokyo Shinjuku a couple of times. It's centrally located, walking distance to the Tokyo Metro Government Building for the free viewing deck on top. They also have free shuttles between the hotel and Shinjuku station. We also liked to stay at the Minato-ku area, not as busy but can get to all sights using trains, subways, etc. with stations nearby. Intercontinental and Bayside Hotel were the ones we have stayed in that area. I am sure others will have great suggestions also. Enjoy!

20 hours ago, almostnewtocruise said:

We booked the Grand Central. Thanks everybody for the great tips about hotels and transfers! (ROCruiser, from the website I "suspected" that there were 2 different routes for their buses but I wasn't sure )

 

This is indeed THE place to get valuable advice about anything connected with cruising, so thanks again!

miriam

Hi, Miriam,

I am not sure where the Grand Central is in Yokohama. Can't find it on Google map either. Just make sure that if Grand Central is closer to YCAT Yokohama or  Hotel New Grand so you can get as close to your hotel as possible. They do have different routes to Yokohama, with most frequent buses going to YCAT. We had to wait at Narita Airport for a little over an hour to catch the bus to Hotel New Grand, which was the stop we wanted. The bus we took made 2 stops at the two terminals at Haneda after leaving Narita and then the third stop was Hotel New Grand. 

Have a wonderful trip!

If you are getting off at Hotel New Grand in Yokohama using the airport limo bus, make sure you tell them that you want the bus that goes to Hotel New Grand. Otherwise, they may sell you tickets of buses that get to YCAT as their final destination. The staff at the counter were not aware of the buses that go to Hotel New Grand, which are not as frequent as the YCAT buses. Hotel New Grand is at a great location, right across from Yamashita Park and couple of blocks from Chinatown.

We also did the HCMC tour from Phu My with Pham Tours. It was very well planned and we had a great day there. On another cruise we did My Son and Hoi An on one day. Personally I enjoyed our visit there at My Son and liked that better than the Cham Towers at Nha Trang. 

9 hours ago, kpark895 said:

 

Try the first post of the first page!

Thanks! 

I am Asian (Chinese) and I am a little worried about our upcoming cruise on the Voyager in July. We are expecting mostly local passengers and are preparing ourselves for a very different experience from our previous 33 cruises. Will try to enjoy the cruise no matter what.

1 minute ago, Host Clarea said:

 

 There may be a parade or two and the 70's dance party on the Royal Promenade.

Thank you Host Clarea for the quick reply! 

Thanks for all the information regarding PV cabins. Will be cruising on the Voyager in July in a PV cabin on deck 7. Does that mean all the big parties will be at the Promenade? Getting excited about this first-time experience.

Where can I find the door sign if I don't want to go through the 15 pages and years of this thread?