debfed65

10 hours ago, monkey@cruise said:

Some CC members did go to Kamakura Big Buddha during turn around day.
1. From Osanbashi Pier either taxi to Yokohama station or walk to Nihon-Odori Station take metro Minatomirai Line to Yokohama Station.
2. From Yokohama Station, take JR Yokosuka Line to Kamakura station, then transfer Enoden Line to Hase station. Walk 10 min to Kotoku-in temple.

https://www.city.kamakura.kanagawa.jp/visitkamakura/en/access/index.html

 

Yokosuka Line runs every 10-15 min

 

Follow the signage in Kamakura station to Enoden Line

 

Enoden Lines runs every 15 min:

 

Amazing details, this is great....thank you so much 🙂 

18 minutes ago, rinshin said:

Being on your own as a woman in Japan depends on your temperament, how independent you are traveling  in the past, prior planning, studying train routes and maps of Tokyo area. It will be safe no doubt about it, but you need to be used to traveling on your own. In the past you would see Japanese coming up to ask if you need help with directions etc, but with so many foreigners coming to Japan, I see less of that in metro areas. Google map works well for finding where you need to go.  
 

I lived in Yokohama too as a child, but instead of hanging out there, go to Kamakura.  Much more interesting area.  Traditional tea houses, decent restaurants, and shopping for more higher end craft items. I have taken two groups of my close women friends through Japan in the past showing them  both well travelled tourist areas as well as less known to tourists areas and their ages then ranged from early 20’s to early 50’s (mothers and their daughters).  They were all great sport and we had great time traveling together.  They knew we would be walking a lot so they were prepared for that.  And traveled light. 

rinshin- is it fairly easy to get to Kamakura on our own from the pier in Yokohama? Taxi or train? 
 

We have a turn around day for our b2b so do you think there is enough time to do it on that day? 
 

thanks! 

9 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

 

@debfed65:  I didn't do a review.  But after we boarded on March 28th @DaKahuna asked some questions for those actually on the ship and we exchanged a number of comments on Cruise Critic.

 

We did B2B cruises (embarking March 28th and April 9).  We also did B2B Japan cruises in 2018.  Given the distance from our home in Fairbanks, Alaska B2B or longer cruises work well for us.  While our itineraries were not identical for each leg there were some repeat ports.  And there are enough attractions in the ports that repeat visits are not an issue.  The B2B pair also gave us more "wiggle room" regarding cherry blossoms, and we hit the jack pot on that March 28th cruise.  Great cherry blossoms.

 

Just to offer some general comments -- we thought the Millennium was well organized.  Hotel Director Andrea Muegge is one of our favorites.  She is very "hands on" and it shows.  We had two different "retreat hosts" and both were excellent.  We saw the butler frequently.

 

The ship was tastefully decorated with some boughs of silk cherry blossoms and empty (I assume) sake casks in Cellar Masters and the Ocean View.  During the second Zenith luncheon, when I told Andrea that I found the ship to be nicely decorated, she told us that she had the pastry chefs create pastry cranes shaped like origami cranes to decorate the dessert section in the Ocean View.  We checked, and sure enough -- there were the pastry cranes with large signs regarding their significance.

 

Our Beyond the Podium speakers were clearly different than those on DaKahuna's itinerary.  We did have the same taiko drum group when we overnighted at Osaka (on both itineraries).  We did have some Japanese food food on board, but folks did have to look for it.  We also had more than usual events in the Retreat Lounge on each leg with special martini nights and the event to sample Japanese tea on both legs.

 

We were also in a suite, and thought that Mr. Fernando runs a great Luminae.  We have been with him on prior cruises.  The Luminae sommelier on our cruises was Mark, and he did a great job.  We found one of the Retreat Concierges to be stronger than the other but we were also privy to some information which needs to be kept discrete so will not comment.

 

We have visited over 70 countries and find Japan to be one of our favorites.  A very clean, safe and well organized country.  Their public transport is easy to use.  For example, we had no issues going to visit the deer of Nara on our own out of Osaka using the metro and train system.

 

I expect we will return again in the future.

No wonder I couldn't find your review 😉, but I did see your comments on DaKahuna's review.  The review as a whole was all very helpful as we have not been to Japan before.  I am happy to hear the public transit is easy to use as we like to do things on our own.  We are also doing a b2b with Best of Japan followed by North East Asia this coming October.  So much research & planning to do, but these boards help immensely!

Thanks again...Debbie & Ron   

16 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 

There are some other reviews, especially the on prior to our cruise by @Northern Aurora and @Miaminice that are well done and would be great references as well, especially if doing your own excursions.

 

@monkey@cruise made a lot of very valid observations as well.  
 

Have a great cruise.  I know we thoroughly enjoyed ours.

 

I have found the review by Miaminice but cannot locate a review from Northern Aurora.  Do you have a link or the name of her review so I can try to locate it? 

Thanks 🙂 

5 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

We’ve been sitting in the Retreat Lounge since around 0650.  The ship was cleared and suit passengers were told their bags were ready around 0722.

 

it’s going pretty fast and they are up to bags number 11 and 12 which are airport transfers. 
 

So it seems things are progressing smoothly.  We are going to try and wait it out until around 0900-0915 and then grab a taxi to our hotel. 
 

Is your hotel in Yokohama or Tokyo ?  I’m still undecided where to stay pre-cruise….

42 minutes ago, monkey@cruise said:

1. Taxi - 50 min, ¥18000
2. Taxi to Yokohama City Air Terminal - 10 min, ¥2200, airport bus to Haneda Airport ¥650
   a) flat-rate taxi to Shinjuku Area : ¥8,300 https://www.haneda-tokyo-access.com/en/haneda-airport/taxi.html
   b) Haneda Airport bus to Shinjuku Station West Exit, 35 minutes  ¥1,400, runs every 25 min
  https://webservice.limousinebus.co.jp/web/en/Top.aspx
3. Metro from Nihon-Odori Station -> Shinjuku-sanchome Station, 50 min ¥720, requires 1500 feet of walk from cruise terminal,   and appr.  2000 feet of walking  from Shinjuku-sanchome Station to your hotel.

Note: not all metro stations have ground elevator access and taxi stand. 
The metro starts from Yokohama Chinatown station, stay at the end of the train car to avoid the crowd. Take the metro to Hoya, Wakoshi, or Kawagoeshi, stay on the metro and exit at Shinjuku-sanchome Station

The elevator to Nihon-Odori Station is on Citadines Harbour Front Yokohama Hotel ground floor (Honmachi Dori), behind the city bus stop.

 

Shinjuku-sanchome Station exit directory: Take the elevator near Exit E8 from Fukutoshin Line platform.

 

Elevator on right side and left is EXIT 8 escalator.

 

If your hotel is on the west side of Shinjuku Station, here is the walk through the bridge.

 

 

Metro station elevator ground location.

 

Elevator to the bridge to across Shinjuku Station

 

Shinjuku area map:
http://www.kanko-shinjuku.jp/pdf/map_001_2.pdf

 

Have Fun !
 

 

 

 

 

 

This is very helpful! Thank you for posting! 

On 5/10/2024 at 3:26 PM, Miaminice said:

@debfed65 @ClarP

 

Hi, those are Koichi’s details. Let him know I sent you and he’ll surely take good care of you! 
 

I looked up Koichi on Tours by Locals and he does not show any availability for the day we are in port 😞   Should I still try emailing him directly? 

Do you mind if I ask how much he would have charged to do a tour like the one you did? I have never booked anything with Tours by Locals before.  Was it just for you & your wife, or were there others in your group? 

Thanks...Debbie & Ron

5 hours ago, Miaminice said:

Sure, no problem!
There’s also a review of our first cruise to Japan on our website. Also on Millennium.

Thank you I will look on your website and read everything! 😊 

1 hour ago, Miaminice said:

Hello and thank you!

 

The Tempozan Metro station is actually not far away from the pier. Maybe five minutes on foot. The trains, incl. Shinkansen, are fairly inexpensive. Japan is the land of trains. The total time to Kyoto is probably around an hour. The Shinkansen part is only 15 minutes or so.

 

However, I would strongly recommend hiring a guide. Since this is your first visit to Japan and Kyoto, you would spend too much time trying to figure out how to get from A to B. Kyoto has so much to offer. We have now been there three times and we still haven’t seen it all. The individual sites are not very close to each other, so it’s really the best to hire a guide, arrange a tour with him and just follow his lead instead of wasting time on figuring out which train to take and were to go. I am no fan of Celebrity tours at all so I can only recommend taking a private guide. I can highly recommend Koichi, with whom we booked our tours over the last cruises. I can give you his contact information.

Since this report a few others followed my recommendation and toured with Kochi. All came back very happy. 

 

Osaka on the other hand is very easy to do on your own. Walk to the train station take the train to the castle, walk around, visit the castle and then take a train to the Dotonbori area to enjoy the weird and entertaining buzz. Koichi also offers tours in Osaka, but contrary to Kyoto, I‘d say you can easily do it on your own.

 

The best way to find the right train connection is Google Maps or Apple Maps. The pricing is not really a problem because the Metro rides are only between 1 and 4 USD. I used an Airalo eSim so we always had internet to look at maps and connections etc.

Oliver

 

 

Thank you Oliver for this information.  I dislike ship tours as well but we had OBC to use up so that is where I spent it.  We will do Osaka on our own,  and drop that ship excursion. 

I am not sure if you can post Kochi contact info on this board, but if you can that would be great.  

I will have to research eSim - I have never used one but I do hear a lot of people mentioning them on these boards.  I don't know how they work 🤔

I am in the process of reading your "Cherry Blossoms and Tranquility" on the Westerdam right now as some of the ports you visited are on either the Japan cruise, or the northeast Asia following.  If I have any questions from that post, would you mind if I posed the questions on this forum, if you don't mind me reaching out?

Again, thank you very much for your time. The details you provide are very helpful. 

Debbie & Ron

PS.  I think I will need to learn how to use chopsticks as well before we get to Japan! 🥢🍜 Your local food pics looked amazing!

On 10/27/2023 at 11:13 AM, Miaminice said:

First we took the local train to Osaka Station where we changed to Japans marvelous Shinkansen Bullet Train. Smoothly soaring along the track at 265 kmh or 165 mph we reached Kyoto in no time. 

 

Hello from Toronto🇨🇦!

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your live(ish) report & all your beautiful pictures and all the details you have provided.  Your wife always looks so happy in the photos 😃

We are taking our first Japan cruise on Millennium this October followed by the northeast Asia cruise.  I hope you can help me out with a couple of questions!

Taking the local train to Osaka Station - is the local train station close to Tempozan Pier? How much does it cost, and how much does it cost for the Bullet Train from Osaka to Kyoto? How long is the total journey (approx.) from the ship pier to Kyoto? 

Is it possible to do Kyoto on our own or do we need to hire a guide? I completely understand that hiring a guide would be optimal, but if we could see a few sights on our own then we could do that unless it is too difficult to navigate?  We have an overnight there so we have plenty of time to go at our own pace if it isn't too overwhelming.

We have the Osaka Castle and Dotonburi District tour booked with Celebrity, but it looked like you did it on your own (which I would prefer).  Was this fairly simple to do, with enough time for our 3pm port departure? How do I find the train schedule for this?  

It seems there are many train lines, but I do not know if there is one simple website where you can see the train schedules and pricing.  I thought the trains in Italy were confusing, but this is truly confusing! 

We are very excited to see Japan and all of it's beauty!  I appreciate any & all advice/information you can provide.

Thank you...Debbie & Ron

After following this live report I have been researching and found a cruise I like for next May. How has the weather been overall this time of year? I am from north of Toronto so I know what cold weather is lol …hopefully it’s not that cold there in May? Although I did see the post with the snow capped mountain, and the comment about the north winds 🥶

9 hours ago, scorfman said:

Yes it was. Please see this post for a full description.

Thank you scorfman for directing me directly to your post.  It was very descriptive and looks wonderful!

5 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

There was still a terrace outside the fitness center and it is open to all. Deck 12.

That's good to know...thank you for clarifying this 🙂 it is always nice to be outside in the front for sail ins.  

kk20 - great photos and I appreciate all the description so we know what we are looking at! Can't wait to see more.   

1 hour ago, Bexpo said:

We chose Silhouette because this ship allows access to the outside terrace at the front of the ship on two levels - Edge class ships only allow  front of ship access to people in retreat class or first class! There was no access whatsoever on Edge class!

I thought Silhouette was revolutionized and had the Retreat only areas at the front of the ship now?  I understand that the sky lounge is still there (inside only), but I thought they changed the two outdoor terraced areas in the front of the ship for Retreat only.  Perhaps I'm mistaken.  That is one drawback from Edge class for sure, unless you go into the gym and then you can have an inside view at the front!

10 hours ago, scorfman said:

Time for lunch now. What we didn’t expect, and maybe should have, is that they took us to the same place as the tour dinner last night

Thank you for posting such a detailed review of your excursion.  Did you also take a Celebrity excursion the night before? If so, which one?  Did you enjoy it?  This will be our first time to Japan and I am trying to pick as many brains as I can for information lol.

As always, I appreciate all the hard work everyone does posting these live reviews with such wonderful pictures & details!

Thanks...Debbie & Ron

9 hours ago, kk20 said:

Yes! This is why we decided to do this cruise this year

9 hours ago, Bexpo said:

 

Norway is banning larger ships to go thru Fjords…. Starting in 2026, only cruise ships powered by alternative fuels will be allowed to visit the fjords in Norway. Lawmakers want to protect the unique natural environment and stop marine diesel oil and mass tourism from damaging the ecosystem.

Thank you for posting this! The Fjords are on my bucket list so I am very excited to follow your report!  I better start looking at booking. Can I ask why you chose Silhouette over Apex for this cruise?  

7 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 We did feel a little rushed at Osaka Castle but there was adequate time to wait for the elevator to the 5th floor, walk up to the 8th floor, walk all the way around the 8th floor taking pictures, and then walking back down to floors 4 and 3, where pictures are not allowed but a lot of historical artifacts are on display. All in all, we had about an hour and a half at the Castle. 

 

 In Dotonbouri we had a little over an hour and a half, but not quite two hours.  This was more than enough time, given the crowds, to get a feel for what it was like and to have lunch in a restaurant.  To really do Dotonbouri you need to spend hours and hours there as you can see from the map I posted, it is really a big area.  We only walked from one end to the other of the main Dotonbouri street and did not feel like fighting the crowds to go down some of the others.  

 

 I felt the tour was well worth the price we paid for it.  And in October you are not going to have to deal with the crowds remaining from the last day of Golden Week.  

 

Thank you for all these additional details! 
 

How long was the drive to the castle, and how long was the drive from Dotonbouri back to the ship? 

14 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

today, we made final preparation for going ashore on our booked shore excursion - Osaka Castle and Dotonbouri District. 

What were you thoughts on this tour?  We have booked the same on for our Best of Japan in October.

Was it too long?  Did you have ample time in Dotonbouri District or was the majority of the tour spent at the Castle?  Was it enjoyable? How much time was actually spent on the bus travelling as the tour is only 4.5 hours long? 

Did you get any feedback from your fellow cruisers on any other tour they took that day?

Appreciate any & all information that you can provide 🙂

Thanks...Debbie & Ron 

10 minutes ago, txtechmk said:

Regarding the weather in Japan in October:  In Tokyo and other "northern cities", it was pleasant.  I did wear jeans, knit tops with a hoodie or lightweight jacket.  Our particular cruise went south to Okinawa, Jeju Island, South Korea, Kyoto, and others.  It was warm enough for shorts during the day while on a tour.  You may have to wait until closer to your cruise and check the weather forecast.  We lucked out, but your cruise could be cooler. 

2 minutes ago, rinshin said:

Weather in October will be very good as long as no typhoons decide to make its presence known.  You will be missing the fall color though. I now avoid cherry blossom season due to all the tourists flocking there.   It gets very crowded in spring.  

6 minutes ago, soccermommy said:

We had thought, and had read the weather in October was much like we have in New England…warm-ish  days and cool nights. Well, we had hot days and warm nights in Tokyo, and warm to hot days in various ports. I would take layers, a good rain jacket, and really good walking shoes. Most of the time on the ship, tees are fine, but it could get chilly. So, layers.If, hopefully when, we go back, I would take a couple more lightweight tops, and maybe shorts for the ship.

You will be so astonished and excited to be in Japan, the weather won’t bother you much!

txtechmk & soccermommy - thank you for all the details.  Sounds like we will need to pack a little bit of everything but I am happy to hear you both had great weather. Japan is definately a bucket list destination for us and we are looking forward to it!  I love reading these live reviews with all the information & pictures about the ports.  

Again, thank you to DakKahuna for posting this live. 

rinshin - I live north of Toronto and our fall colours in Canada are pretty spectacular 🍁 ...although I am sure it would have been unique to see it Japan. 

On 4/29/2024 at 11:03 AM, soccermommy said:

We were on Millennium in October doing the Best of Southern Japan, and it was, hands down, the best and most memorable cruise we have taken on Celebrity. We were in Concierge, and we found the food much improved with the new menus. I don’t remember any particular problems with staffing or service, in fact, the service was stellar.
I am excited to follow your posts, because it will bring back great memories of our time in Japan. We’d go back to Japan again, all we have to do is survive the trip from Boston.

On 4/29/2024 at 11:35 AM, txtechmk said:

This is one of our favorite cruises.  We did this last October.  I would definitely go to Japan again.

 

Yes, that walk at the airport is LONG!!

 

Enjoy your cruise.  I'll be following along.

Thank you DaKahuna for posting this live review, I am enjoying following along.  We are onboard Millennium this October 6-29 for the Best of Japan followed by Northeast Asia.  I know you have helped me by answering some other other questions I have posted on CC previously on other boards 😊

With that being said, I am hoping soccermommy &/or txtechmk could give me some insight regarding the weather in October?  Any info from anyone for travelling in October would be appreciated!

Thanks...Debbie 

You have a fantastic itinerary on this crossing, even with skipping Loyalty Island! And it’s nice that Celebrity gave you an overnight in Honolulu to replace Maui after the devastating fires.  We aren’t so lucky on our upcoming TP on Edge - we received nothing to replace Maui except another day at sea…..

4 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Every place I saw at the Saturday Market had portable Wireless Credit Card machines. 

 

22 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Sydney is a wonderful modern city and like many places around the world Covid was probably responsible for a cashless world.    We don't have a cent in Australian with us and haven't needed any cash.    I use ApplePay while at home as well as when traveling and it is accepted almost everywhere. 

 

You can use it as well as chipped cards on the Trains, Busses and trams.   Just click on and click off.  

 

All shops we have been in... including convenience stores and coffee shops all have chip enabled payment terminals.

 

One thing I like in Australia as well as most of Europe is when dining they bring a handheld charge machine to your table and your CC never leaves you hand.  Unlike in America where you CC disappears into the backroom when you pay.

Thank you for the detailed and polite response.  We use ApplePay extensively at home so I will leave my cash behind.  Also, in Toronto (and surrounding cities) our servers come to our tables with a handheld terminal for payment as you have said about Australia & Europe.  

I am so happy to follow your live report - perfect timing for us as we have never been to the South Pacific and your pictures & commentary have been wonderful!  We fly out on Wednesday, and I will be faithfully be following along with anticipation! 

Safe travels 🚢🏝️

Debbie & Ron

1 hour ago, Travelexpert35 said:

You better pick up some Australian dollars as they won’t accept US or Canadian dollars. 
 

Enjoy your cruise…

18 minutes ago, FeebeeH said:

USD & CAD are not used in Australia, you'd have to get them converted at a bank or traveller exchange (plus conversion fee).  Widely used are credit cards (though American Express is not acceptable in some restaurants instead they prefer Mastercard or Visa).  It's only very rarely that I carry cash with me instead I just use my cards (and after Covid-19 some places prefer credit cards over cash).

Thank you both for replying! It is appreciated 😊

I was just wondering if  AUD cash was better for the Saturday Market at the Rocks with the local vendors. 

Hello from Toronto 🇨🇦   We are thoroughly enjoying your report, love all the pictures & details you have provided. We are arriving on Friday to board Edge for the TP.  Do we need to change funds into AUD, or like any large city, are USD or CAD widely accepted? What is your opinion?  We will use our VISA for dinners, but just curious for shopping at The Rocks and coffee shops etc...

Thank you, and enjoy your travels across the Pacific!  Your itinerary looks amazing!

Debbie & Ron