bazzaw

40 minutes ago, Down-Unders said:

Sir you did not do your home work, on the Queen Elizabeth are Japanese Hosts who speak English all you have to do is to ask them to write out where you want to go.Just completed 19 nights and when we arrived in Nagasaki the ship lets you off beside the train and bus and as we had been before we knew how to navigate. First time PRE  COVID had everything written in Japanese where we wanted to go to, as for AKITA one of the best days ever bus drops you off in the center and thanks to our Japanese hosts everything written in Japanese for one of the best times,beautiful park for CB, Japanese tea ceremony, Akita dogs and the food stalls on a beautiful sunny day. As far as a balcony goes I will not start an argument with you and by the way you did not mention how great a rate you got with your currency. 

Didn't know and still dont know anything about Japanese hosts onboard QE in March this year. 

21 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

 

 

Getting to some platforms / lines at the linked Shimbashi / Shiodome stations was very confusing - we ended up going around in circles before discovering the line we wanted was actually at Shiodome, right next to our hotel. 

Finding the beginning of the Yurikamome line supposedly at Shimbashi for our trip to the Cruise Terminal - was difficult as it is actually outside that station and between it and the Shiodome station. Nothing actually even looks like a train station - mostly all above ground office highrise blocks  - all the action is below ground . Did you see this clock in that general area?

2 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I forgot my Suica card on for one outing last year so had to buy tickets. I'm sure you could choose the destination when buying the ticket so it charged the correct amount.

 

After research back here at home, I think you are right - you can do a search for your destination at the machine and the machine then tells you how much  - we were working by just looking at the huge underground network diagrams on the wall. (which are often in Japanese only) - everything becomes easy when you know how to 🙂

On 4/17/2024 at 9:11 AM, resordanis said:

Morning all,

For all of you that have been to Japan, can you see Mt Fuiji easily from this Port (subject to weather) or do I need a ships excursion. It is the last day afternoon of our cruise and as we have been to Japan before this is the only interest in this Port. If we can do something on our own for a short time it would be our choice. If we need the tour, so be it!

Thanks

Yes - you can see it clearly from this port - IF the weather allows you to. We could not see the mountain at all when we arrived and although the weather cleared during the day, we could see the mountain but I would not call it " clear" 

BTW - the reason that people find the underground a bit daunting can be exemplified by Shinjuku station - it has 36 platforms, caters for 4/5 million passengers each day and has 200 entries/edits to/from the station!!  🙂 

The Suica card can only be installed into an Apple Iphone - not Android phones. The ship shaped building is adjacent to the cruise terminal and is a Maritime Museum (wasn't open last month when we were there) . I know the London Underground well and have always enjoyed using it. BUT - that was using an Oyster card ( like a Suica card) and everything was in English. We didn't have a card in Tokyo, and much is in Japanese  so had to buy a paper ticket for every leg of the Tokyo Underground - the biggest problem with this was knowing how much to pay but have now come across a workaround that eliminates the requirement of knowing how much to put into the machine)  - basically you put in the minimum amount for any journey on that line - and the system will tell you how much you owe when you try to get out at the other end. 

5 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Yes, any shore excursions in Japan are expensive whether private or via the ship, however Japan is relatively easy to get around so the shuttles are handy.

Yes - the shuttles at least got us away from the ports - as an example, the Kanazawa railway station (where the shuttle busses took us) is a sight to behold in itself - but the World famous Castle park and adjoining Kenroken gardens are 10Klms on foot after that . 

54 minutes ago, icat2000 said:

Yes please share more on balcony issue as I'm looking at Cunard as possible cruise at Xmas if they cruise fares settle down 🙂 

 

Why was Japan hard to cruise? Was it the language barrier?

I guess I was more referring to when you are ashore - especially before and after the cruise. But those difficulties can be solved with money. Seems that most Japanese ports are very "industrial" so you have to get well away form the port to see anything. Cunard did provide shuttles to the main railway station in every port we visited - but we still had to walk fair distances to the sights. eg 12 klms in Kanazawa , 10 Klms in Nagasaki and six klms in  Akita. We did a shore tour in Busan which was a good but long day and which cost us $500 AUD - these USD cruises are expensive for tours and drinks. 

56 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Can you please elaborate on the balcony issue?

Much depends on where and when. Balconies are commonly too cold or too hot, too wet or too windy 🙂 An outside cabin down low and centre (Deck 1 on QE) is ideal. Also makes your front door just a short walk when everybody else is trying to get home after the show 🙂

Just back a few days ago from Japan - a week in Tokyo plus a 10 day Cunard QE cruise. Had a good time (first time Japan - 5th time QE) - Japan is certainly a challenging hard work destination. It could be less so at some added cost. ABSOLUTELY convinced now that Balcony cabins are a waste of money. If anybody has any specific questions regarding a possible future cruise to Japan please ask. Personally I would probably not do another cruise around Japan for a number of reasons - mostly including port locations, and necessity to do ship tours.  We managed to see the Cherry blossoms. 

On 3/16/2024 at 10:27 PM, PORT ROYAL said:

Totally agree.  No “Steerage Class” is a great idea.

But that apparently is where all the fun is at!

In Australia, tipping is not customary - and any price advertised must include taxes, etc. BUT - other cultures are different - and we all need to understand that the final Cunard price is not what we pay when we book 🙂 So we need to include these gratuities into the the total price we pay. BUT - it does not mean that I then have to additionally tip staff for doing their jobs. I cant really think of anything that a waiter or cabin attendant could do for me to warrant any kind of tip. Nobody has ever tipped me for simply doing my job well  - except somebody did once advise me to be nice to my wife!! 

Don't forget that you can watch the fabulous movie TANNA on SBS on demand. This ranks as one of my favourite movies of all time. How anybody could produce and direct such a big movie using only native tribal people who mostly had never even see an movie themselves is beyond me !! 🙂 https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/tanna/1751931459619    The Vanuatuan version of Romeo and Juliet.

Yes - I think you are right. Our first 3 Queens they were all together for the Queens Jubilee - but the second one was just a back to back to back 🙂

I wouldn't be bothered with this one for a few reasons - 1. Three nights in Seattle!! Look up the Youtube video called "Seattle is dying" 2. We were really happy with our 5 nights in New York at the end of our Transatlantic on QM2 back in 2018 - but I wouldn't even think about staying in New York City today 3. Have already done the "Crossing" on QM2 

2 minutes ago, aussielil said:

Not that cheap, but interesting...

We have done the 3Queens cruises twice - 5 years apart . The first was for the celebration of the Queens Silver Jubilee. 

We are about to do our 10th Cunard cruise - having sailed with them in Australian, American and European waters. They , like most other cruise lines , serve up what I call "Western hotel food" . There was one Scandinavian cruise where they seemed to serve  up a lot of pickled type herrings and raw fish at the breakfast buffet (which I enjoyed) - but for the rest of the time, I would never have been able to guess where we were in the World by the food being served. So now we are about to embark on a QE cruise around Japan and am wondering if there will be any Japanese food?? I am hoping so 😞

23 hours ago, Mareblu said:

“My Cunard” site was down yesterday, all good now.

Yes - thank you - have done everything I needed to do now. I sympathise with those who dont have at least 10 years of Internet usage plus a Degree in Computing these days. 🙂 How do they get anything done?? 

Thanks everybody - yes, My Cunard is down !

Just got an email from Cunard that we now can check in online - but "My Cunard" will not let me in - booked a cruise tour in there last week - any Cunarders here who have a cruise booked can see if it is working for them please?? 

Just got an email saying that I can now check in online - but "My Cunard" will not accept the Booking number, etc. Was inside there only last week when I booked a shore tour. 

I am starting to get a bit worried - we board QE In Tokyo on 28 March . She had better start making arrangements to sail North soon!! 🙂

I think that Cunard place a hold on funds in the Credit card that we give them details of when boarding and also think it is a daily amount. Anybody know what that is please?? 

All fixed now!! Could get no sense from the bank. They claim that there is no reason for the cc to have been declined - it is fully active (just bought a couple of bottles of red with it) Booking agency basically arranged for the hotel to contact me, they gave me a link to pay for the booking, my cc was declined again so I tried my wifes cc from a different bank - BINGO! went through immediately. Lesson is that all these technological wonders - Apps, online booking agencies - all work wonderfully , until they dont . Then it is almost impossible to contact them to work out what is going wrong!!!

10 hours ago, Cbtours said:

Can you book it through booking.com which though we usually try to go through direct to hotel, we’ve used booking.vom over last few years with great success and good savings.

This booking is through Booking.com - they have several means of payment but I think it depends on the requirements of the hotel. This one involved the hotel claiming payment before the date of accommodation. There seems to be no way I can get back into this booking to change it to pay either now or on the day. I did also have another hotel booked to be paid on the day - I could go back into that booking and pay it now. I don't want hickups when away !!