LIVE - Coral Princess - Circle the Pacific - 09-19-2018

[Astro Flyer]

Charles...if you’re unaware of it the CC forums will be Read-Only beginning on Tuesday 10/9 at 0730 ET. They’re implementing a new system so you won’t be able to post for several days.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/announcement.php?f=197&a=518

 

“Our existing forums will become read-only on Tuesday, October 9th at 7:30am ET. We're hoping to re-open for new posts shortly thereafter, with minimal downtime to our members of only a few days.  But we also want to get it right.  So, stay tuned to this announcement for future updates and specifics“.

[bobby3334]

Yikes! How does one spend 60 days on a cruise ship? Even if I was retired, and I’m not, I don’t think I could be away from my life that long. The longest vacay we have done is 2 weeks and that seems to be the amount of time that I’m really longing for my own bed and to get back to my routine.

 

I’m sure it’s a super fun time and an amazing experience, but even the thought of 60 days away makes me anxious! LOL

 

 

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You would be surprised! Last year I did 50 and had the same question. But by day 50 I was ready for another! Mike

 

 

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[bobby3334]

You would be surprised! Last year I did 50 and had the same question. But by day 50 I was ready for another 50! Mike

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Host CJSKIDS]

Charles...if you’re unaware of it the CC forums will be Read-Only beginning on Tuesday 10/9 at 0730 ET. They’re implementing a new system so you won’t be able to post for several days.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/announcement.php?f=197&a=518

 

“Our existing forums will become read-only on Tuesday, October 9th at 7:30am ET. We're hoping to re-open for new posts shortly thereafter, with minimal downtime to our members of only a few days.  But we also want to get it right.  So, stay tuned to this announcement for future updates and specifics“.

 

Thanks for posting this so they know to put up any announcements tonight.

 

Lots of fun new features are on there! It’s been fun to play around on in preparation. I think everyone will love it.

 

Hopefully it will be up and running soon so the live from can continue quickly.

[Astro Flyer]

Thanks for posting this so they know to put up any announcements tonight.

 

Lots of fun new features are on there! It’s been fun to play around on in preparation. I think everyone will love it.

 

Hopefully it will be up and running soon so the live from can continue quickly.

 

 

Thanks for the update & hopefully the changes will go as smoothly as possible.

[Barry H]

Charles:

CC is finally back up and running. We felt like mushrooms in the dark. We missed your updates. We will have to get a really "LIVE" update when we board Thursday in Shanghai.

[TheRabbit]

Today is the scrap heap challenge, 1pm at the Lido Pool deck 14 and cheese on the Coral Reefer!

[Astro Flyer]

9 minutes ago, TheRabbit said:

Today is the scrap heap challenge, 1pm at the Lido Pool deck 14 and cheese on the Coral Reefer!

John...is that all you’ve done during your week without CC being operational? 🤣

Maybe consuming more of your 🍷 while CC was down?  😉

Been tracking the Coral’s course & it appears that you’re now arriving in all of your ports. 👍

Edited October 17, 2018 by Astro Flyer

[ccrain]

10-10-2018 – At Sea to Hiroshima – We Hope!

 

Warm ocean breezes, calm seas, hot coffee, cool drinks, no shoes, no shirts, no problems!

 

Lots to cover from the last couple of days.

 

So yes, Osaka was cancelled. The official version is that the refueling bunker was delayed by weather. Our planned adventure on the Shinkansen was aborted. The extra day in Yokohama did serve to catch the things we missed due to the immigration delay, but there are a lot of ticked off people over the whole affair. We had to stay anchored in Tokyo Bay because the Diamond was doing disembarkation and embarkation at Osanbashi. I guess not even tendering was an option so the day anchored was pretty much a wasted day – the pools were even empty.

 

The terminal was shut down when we redocked that night, so the free wifi was not available. Some of the crew got off during the overnight, but most places in Chinatown were shut down. I’m sure there were several 7/11’s open somewhere. We chose not to get off.

 

We decided to revisit the Sankien Gardens plan on Tuesday morning since we missed them on Sunday. The gardens don’t open until 0900 and five of us (Pam, Sue, Judy, CL and myself) jumped in one of those great Toyota Alfard taxis. About 2500 YEN later, yes, 2500 YEN for the 5 of us. We were at Sankien Gardens. (Note that the Princess 2 hour tour was $70 per person.) The taxi was not $100 as told by the destination lecturer.

 

700YEN per person entry fee into the gardens was a bargain. We spent 3 hours wandering the gardens and the exhibits having CL translate the Kanji for us just for fun – almost everything had English translations as well, but having him translate the characters directly was pretty cool. The gardens were not crowded at all, but did have several wedding picture parties. The formal wedding kimonos were incredibly colorful, detailed and beautiful. The brides radiant and beautiful. The koi in the pond were a lot of fun to feed and watch. All of us were cheering on the turtles trying to get a piece of bread before the swarming koi got it. Unfortunately they were not successful. The koi invariably got all the bread.

 

Incredible pictures of an egret stalking and spearing an insect. Japanese and Chinese gardens, as explained by CL, are not botanical gardens exhibiting flowering plants. Rather they are islands of peace and serenity with everything strategically and deliberately placed to promote a unique view from every perspective. This was a private garden at one time and I can see how this would have been a unique and beautiful oasis for the family back in the day. There are refreshments (including beer) and toilets with the incredibly technologically advanced, AND CLEAN, stalls – including the electronic running water sound to encourage one to get the job done. All in all, a great and inexpensive way to spend a couple of hours in Yokohama.

 

During our walk we decided we wanted Sushi for lunch. A quick google search later showed a conveyor belt sushi restaurant in the World Porters building just to the north of Osanbashi. There was a taxi stand at the main entrance to the gardens, but only had 4 person taxis. A quick phone call on the card the previous driver gave me connected me to an operator and all I had to say was “English Please” and an English speaking operator got on the phone. I ordered an Alphard for 5. Exactly 20 minutes later he showed up and off we went! Again, around 2500 YEN we were at the World Porters building. So basically $10 each round trip from Osanbashi to Sankien for the 5 of us. A pretty good bargain.

 

Osanbashi pier juts out into the bay and has a two lane road access to it. At the main intersection heading west, if you turn left you go into Yamashita park and access to Chinatown, one of the main gates, by turning right at the statue in the fountain in the park. Diagonally across the intersection is a drug/sundry store. Continuing due west gets you within 1 block of the Nihon-Odori metro station with access to Yokohama station. Turning left and heading south at this point also gets you to Chinatown. Before the main intersection, you can veer to the right along the marine walkway and head north to Minato-Morai and a host of retail shops. (There was also an Octoberfest beer garden going on as well.)

 

The entire ground floor of the World Porters building is various restaurants. One of which is a sushi conveyor restaurant. Also a Baskin Robbins! There was a burger place, a McDonalds and a Starbucks as well. (The building has free wi-fi. It also has a 30 minute time limit and it was pretty slow, so not many updates can be loaded there.) The sushi restaurant was just what the doctor ordered. You could order off the menu or just wait as sushi came conveying by your table. The fish was incredibly fresh. The rice was wonderful. We did order 3 plates of 5 different types of tuna sushi for 850 yen each. The total bill for all 5 of us was less than 7000 YEN. Most double nigiri sushi plates ranged from 200 to 400 YEN. Very reasonable compared to US prices and the quality was very good.

 

The walk back to the ship from world porters is great along the pedestrian paths of the marine walkway. The day was definitely cooler and there were a LOT less people than on Sunday. Great pictures of the ship alongside. The roof of Osanbashi is basically a public park and there were at least 4 wedding couples getting their formal pictures taken during the late afternoon to catch the setting sunlight. All of these were in traditional western dresses with long veils and trains, and tuxedos. Interesting – modern bridal garb on a modern pier with a modern city backdrop, traditional dress in a traditional garden with a natural backdrop.

 

Sailaway was unique. Apparently it is a big deal at Osanbashi, complete with loudspeakers urging the people to say farewell to the Coral Princess, glow sticks waving bye-bye, chants and music. A real nice cap to a full and interesting day. Yes, we missed Osaka and Kyoto, but Yokohama had its own charm and provided us with a pretty darn good day ashore for a very reasonable price. Great fun, great food and great newly found friends. Things could be a lot worse!

 

Later!

[ccrain]

10-10-2018 – The great search for high speed bandwidth

 

So we are now in the “good” ship board satellite communications latitude and during the day, between 0700 and 1700, connections are very slow. In the morning I can almost watch the speed go downhill in direct proportion to the number of people in line for coffee. Similarly, on the other hand, the speed goes up immensely starting at 1700 to 1830 (dinnertime – first shift). Judy was able to update two apps on her iphone, with about 250mb of data, in the 90 minutes of “decent” connectivity. BTW – those two apps exceeded the daily data limit of the basic on-board $19.95 internet package.

 

First of all, both our phones use T-Mobile One Plus with the 256kB/sec throttled unlimited data in 120 countries including all on our itinerary. This speed is sufficient for google maps and facebook, but not updating of apps. For serious app updates, security updates, and most serious use, you need high speed access and because of today’s graphic intensive applications, a lot of data bandwidth.

 

For this cruise I specifically bought a TEPPY – an international virtual SIM MyFi spot – with a 1GB high speed data limit and unlimited 256kB (2G) for a 24 hour $9 day pass. As a backup, Tmobile has 512mb high speed data pass for $5 with a maximum for 2 passes per day per phone.

 

First of all, let me say that the Tmobile $5 day pass was the most disappointing. I was only able to access the page once on the way into Yokohama harbor and was not able to tell which phone received the boost or when the boost occurred or even if I got the boost in the first place. I was never able to access that page, it simply would not load, for more passes again over the next 3 days, and still cannot tell if I got billed or not. Even chatting with t-mobile via the 256kB/sec 2G data rate was too painful to endure to try and straighten things out.

 

Future note – Was able to re-access the page in Beijing. Actually got it to work and load properly with 2G and was able to designate which phone received the boost. Default was the prime phone on your account so it loaded on Judy’s phone the last time, not the one I wanted. Got an email that it was in effect, on the phone it was in effect on, but it recommended a restart just to make sure. Restarted and it was definitely very fast and loaded 3 updates, plus updated facebook and several other things, but nothing major or important. Just a check of the functionality and it worked great.

 

Another future note edit – Was not able to access the page in Seoul very easily. Long time to load, which indicates connection issues. Maybe not 2G since even Google was not loading properly. I loeft the page loading in my pocket and it was up the next time I looked at the phone. Ordering was easy and it did provide very fast connections, after rebooting the phone, but it still was not as good as the connection in Beijing. Go figure!

 

The TEPPY worked perfectly. Turned on, easy to use, high speed, but the laptop burned through the 1GB data limit in a matter of minutes. When throttled to 2G speeds, its not much more useful than the Tmobile phones on basic. Phone connection via the TEPPY is the best option for judicious use of the high speed. I had forgotten that a Windows PC will automatically start downloading ‘stuff’. Symantec burned through 500MB during a download, followed by Windows security and monthly update stuff. I turned off as much of that as I could.

 

Free WiFi – Everyone touts free wi-fi and how to follow the crew to find it. To a large extent this is true. To a smaller extent, free wifi is still limited in bandwidth, because the crew is there, and the time it takes to update stuff or do business is still a long time. And in Yokohama, the internet connection was limited to 30 minutes at Osanbashi and at World Porters, meaning if you can’t download it in 30 minutes, you aren’t getting it. On the other hand, the WiFi at Hiroshima was incredibly fast. Almost as fast as home, but with 300+ users sitting in the terminal. We were able to update at least 15GB worth of stuff in about 20 minutes across four different devices. Nice!

 

[ccrain]

10-12-2018 – At Sea to Tianjin (Beijing)

 

The day in Hiroshima was incredible despite the rain showers and overcast day. We essentially DIY’ed to Miyajima Island via tram and ferry, ate our way back across the island, ferried and tramed to the Peace Park and Atomic Bomb dome, had a lot of fun with some local students, trammed back to the port stop, shuttled to the ship, updated all the electronics, dragged our tired worn out carcasses back to the ship, had a few drinks and collapsed for the night…a perfect cruising day!

 

Apparently the Diamond Princess got the parking spot at the Hiroshima Port, but that actually worked out better for us. By docking at Itsukaichi we were between Peace Park and Miyajima Island. 30 minutes to the Peace Park via Hiroden, 20 minutes to the ferry at Hiroden Miyajima-guchi. The shuttle was not supposed to start until 0900 according to the Patter, but was running at 0700 when we got off the ship. We headed for Hiroden-Itsukaichi, the Hiroden station on the east side of the tracks. The JR Itsukaichi station is on the west side of the tracks connected by a bridge. There we were directed to conductors to purchase the 850YEN daily Hiroden and Ferry pass. A bargain as a taxi from the Ship to Peace Park was over 3800 YEN, to Hiroden Miyajima-guchi over 3500 YEN and just from the ship to the Hiroden-Itsukaichi station was about 2800 YEN. We saved at least $200 running around on the trams vs. Taxis and lots more considering the cost of Princess excursions.

 

The internet description of purchasing the pass from the conductor is a bit misleading. Conductors are on every train, in addition to the drivers, but there are also conductors at the major stations selling tickets and passes. The trams can get a bit stuffy and hot, so brings fans or cool towels, especially on a hot day. Seating is very limited so expect to stand, and all of the trams need new shocks and springs and are very bouncy, as well as stopping and starting very frequently. But a lot of fun to ride.

 

We were shown the line (#2 line) tram to get on for the trip to the ferry, then shown the path to the ferry, marked in English as well, and the ferry ride was quick and very scenic.

 

Miyajima is a tourist destination for sure, but at least they have strictly enforced the building codes to give it a consistent look and while there are a few vehicles, most of the paths are walking only paths and easily traversed with fear of getting run over. The shopkeepers are friendly, although not a lot of English is spoken there – especially of the main ways back in the back alleys. No matter though, you can find anything to eat or drink and it’s a lot of fun communicating with gestures and hand signals, plus a few choice spoken Japanese words.

 

The great Torii gate is magnificent. Unfortunately, low tide would be in the late afternoon and we would be unable to walk out to it. But it is still one of those things you must see in person to appreciate. We walked around the shore line, taking pictures of the deer, fish, birds, temples, pagodas, the mountain side, the streams (perfectly clear and clean looking) to the Kiyomori Shrine, doubled back to the entrance to the ropeway. The mountain tops were still shrouded in fog, so we opted to sample the local cuisine. Roasted oysters with a lemon soy sauce, the little maple leaf shaped cakes with ‘stuff’ inside (lemon custard, green tea, chocolate and plum flavored red bean paste). BTW – this particular shop had the most perfect Japanese garden out the back door. A small tranquil island of green beauty, a clear pond with humungous Koi in it and a gorgeous miniature waterfall. We found the steamed buns filled with beef, eel or vegetables. Of course we had the one with the Eel! Very slightly fishy, a soy-ginger-curry flavored filling and that light fluffy steamed bun. I wanted more, but Judy wanted fried oysters, which we went in search of, and found, along with Kirin beer, fried prawns and the most delightfully simple and fresh green salad. The oysters and prawns were perfectly cooked. Not greasy at all. Crispy prawn heads! Yum!

 

After finishing lunch I attempted to tell the chef how delicious the food was. Apparently I did not pronounce it correctly as I saw a couple of puzzled looks. So I opted for the sign language approach by patting my stomach, smiling and given him a big thumbs up! He got the message.

 

When we left the restaurant we saw that the mountain tops were clear, so we had a choice – go up on the rope way or head to the Peace Park. We headed to the Peace Park. About an hour and a half via ferry and tram to the Genbaku Dome-mae Tram stop. We started at the Atomic bomb dome and wandered around the area seeing a lot of crew and fellow passengers. We had a great time with a group of 6 local students, there were lots of groups of students on field trips, groups of 10 to 40 of age groups from 10 to 18, whom wanted to practice their English on us. It was a really good time as we introduced ourselves to each other and they traded practicing English on us to me practicing Japanese on them. It was funny and a bit emotional. I sure wish our schools required learning of other languages.

 

After the Peace Park area we returned to the ship via tram and shuttle, using the Port Free Wifi to update all the electronics in about 30 minutes (10-15GB’s of updates) while shopping around the unique food items set up in a market type atmosphere. There were dried seaweed, fish, fruits and vegetables of all types along with nuts and candied fruits. Samples were available and plentiful. That was dinner! The crew, including those from the engineering decks, were able to stock up on delicacies that were not available in Alaskan ports.

 

[ccrain]

10-15-2018 – At Sea to Incheon

 

Everything hurts again. Another time change, this time forward, put us in bed last night at 11:30. It was a long, long day in Beijing. Satisfying, a little rushed, but satisfying. Docking was at 0700, but the Chinese are serious about immigration. It was around 0800 when we finally got clearance to leave the ship. The numbering system used, similar to tenders, was confusing and hectic. People were lined up at 0500 in Crooners, which only had one exit to fore and one exit aft and it was on the same deck and basic location as the Deck 7 gangway exit. So it was a mess. The Patter clearly stated that each person in line should get tickets for their “group”, like a tender port, but with no ‘lounge’ to meet in. And Ralph got 19 numbers for our “group”. Didn’t go over well. Incheon will probably return to individual ticketing again with even more mass chaos. They need to do it in the Universe lounge where at least you can separate ticketed vs. unticketed persons away from the gangway chaos.

 

The Chinese pretty much had their act together. Multiple stations for independents and a separate area with multiple stations for Princess tours. Nice terminal. Good signage. Plentiful restrooms. Immigration was serious. Face to face, passport, photo, no fingerprints though and the computers were up and running!

 

So an aside about the Chinese Visa. Several people didn’t have it. Some never intended to get off the ship. The couple next to us was told by their travel agent they didn’t need it! They were allowed on the ship in Los Angeles, but not into the country. Our Visa’s were checked. The ship did have to be zeroed and ship’s personnel were going to escort the non-Visa holders through immigration after all had left.

 

We got through and were outside at 0840. After rounding up members of our group we headed for Beijing, about 2.5 hours away. The bus was very nice. We had 18 of us in a 33 seat bus, so it was comfortable to be able to stretch out. We made one stop on the way in. The restrooms were typical  roadside rest restrooms, but with squatty potties and no TP. For snacks we found some sesame crackers and some cucumber flavored Pringles! Very few of the labels are in English and unlike Japan, the contents are not pictured on the front, so we had to go with something safe and recognizable. Even in Chinese! The cucumber pringles were pretty good BTW.

 

The first stop was the Forbidden City. And yes, this is a city! Good grief, this thing is huge! Courtyard after courtyard, wall after wall, like a giant Russian nesting doll. The emperor had to have a huge family just to use all the space available. Apparently they limit entry to 80,000 tickets, which made for a relatively uncrowded experience. Tieneman square has no such limit and was packed cheek to jowl with people. Just a few security checks and bag x-rays were required into the main entrance and the forbidden palace area. We saw the various building, the exterior statuary, the gardens, the huge and elaborate marble carvings and a lot of people, although this place could have held 5x the people and still not been full.

 

After the Forbidden City we went to lunch near the Olympic stadium in the Olympic Village area. It was a nice and tasty Chinese lunch, but the highlight for me was the Chinese beer – very good stuff. We didn’t get to lunch until 1430, which made everything taste better anyway.

 

After lunch we went to the Summer Palace, did the boat across the lake to the Lama temple and then walked alongside the 1km corridor back to the boat dock via the Confuscian temple. We did get a good look at the Marco Polo bridge, had fun with some other Chinese tourists, got our picture taken by same, apparently they thought we were Australian – probably based on our Tilley hats. Saw the marble boat, the Emperor’s personal shopping center and the mother in law’s house. Because of the time, we had to almost rush through the summer palace.

 

The most fun we had during the day was traveling with CL. (Meei did not make it and we walked about 6 miles at the Forbidden City and another 3 at the Summer Palace, so its probably a good thing she didn’t.) He can speak and read Chinese, but the formal old version. History is written by the victors held true here as well. The guide’s version of the history of China, let’s say, varies just a bit from CL’s version of the same history.

 

It did bother me a bit that CL had to conceal his ability to speak and understand Mandarin. He did not want to “rock the boat” and reveal where he was born. He spoke English only to the Chinese. But while that bothered me, it was also interesting to hear his side of the story and also to have him read the Kanji directly so that we could judge the written English.

 

For example, the gate of “The Palace Museum Digital Gallery at the Gate of Correct Deportment” in the Forbidden city. I had to ask CL what they heck “deportment” meant?!? Clothing? Attitude? Behavior? He read the Kanji script underneath and we discovered that the script meant “department”, not “deportment”! Holy imperial misspellings Batman!

 

So where is my flowing and glowing words of WOW and OVERWHELMING and MIND BLOWING? Three things. 1 - IMHO we tried to do much in one day. 2 – The Smog. 3 – The people.

 

There is a legit argument that if you never intend to come back, these are two major things to come see, but in all honesty, the Forbidden City should be done on its own in a full day or even two. (The Summer Palace could be seen in a quick half day, but even there, to really see everything and spend time admiring and photographing the architecture, you could easily spend a full day at the Summer Palace.) We basically walked from the entry to the exit of the Forbidden City with no major breaks and just a few quick lectures, but there was so much to see! So many questions about the construction, the meaning of the various statuary, the uses of the various buildings. It takes time to move through the crowds to get pictures of the interior or pictures of us in front of various items of interest. We simply didn’t have the time.

 

Highly recommended – You bet! The Forbidden City is a must see. Up there with the Wall, the Pyramids, the Parthenon, the Acropolis, St. Peter’s Cathedral, etc. The Summer Palace a somewhat less must see, can be seen faster, but still very interesting and worthwhile.

 

The other thing that was omnipresent was the smog. OMG, this stuff was thick and nasty. Think LA back in the 70’s and then double it. In the afternoon around 1500, everything started to take on a twilight colorless pall. Lousy for photographs or even seeing for that matter. I smelled it when we pulled into the harbor and by the time we were half way to Beijing, my throat felt like I started smoking again, but with none of the nicotine buzz! After a while we got used to it, but by later in the afternoon at the summer palace it got very noticeable again. Our guide touted that since he grew up in the Beijing area he was used to it, but he had a nasty ‘smokers’ cough. Several of our group wore masks. Not sure if that helped, CL said it did.

 

Another noticeable difference was the people themselves and the contrast to the Japanese we had just left. In a nutshell, no smiling. In Japan almost everyone smiled and got a big kick out of foreign tourists. Here in Beijing, no one hardly ever smiled. I expected it from the various security guards and military personnel – even the ones wearing JEEP logoed hats (go figure that one out!) – but this was from almost all the retail people, tickets sellers and checkers and from most of the Chinese around us. We did get a lot of strange looks as well. Like checking us out from toe to hair looks, and not too subtle either. Pam was told more than once she was in the incorrect line for the restroom – due to her short hair and tall stature according to the lady in front of her who spoke English and Chinese.

 

The only ones who really smiled and were friendly were tourists themselves to the city and they certainly looked Chinese!

 

Bottom line. We’ve now seen the wall, the summer palace, the forbidden city, so Beijing and China have now dropped back down the list of places to see. On to South Korea!

 

[ccrain]

10-17-18 – At Sea to Shanghai

 

Yesterday in Seoul was on of those dream trips that Andrew, Josh and Guy take. Where you end up with a bunch of locals experiencing their culture and their hospitality. Well, we got to do just that. It was simply the highlight of the trip so far and one experience we will never forget.

 

It started with the ship docking at the location of the new cruise terminal, where only a dock exists. The building is still under construction! This was miles from the previous location and there was absolutely nothing around for miles but bare dirt and lots of excavators. I hope the DIY people were able to adjust, but there were a lot of cabs available. Pam had arranged two tours and several cars and busses for each tour. Three cars went to the DMZ and the rest went on a Seoul city tour. Imjingak was where we parked.

 

Our guide was Kevin, hired by the tour company to take 6 of us to the DMZ.

 

The Seoul area is very western. Unlike Japan that retains quite a bit of Japanese culture in design, Seoul is a lot like Hong Kong with high rise condominiums being constructed everywhere. (Sort of sobering to know that all of those buildings were within artillery range of the forces arrayed north of the DMZ.) Unlike our trip to Busan in 2012, the theme of re-unification is a very present and powerful theme in Seoul and the DMZ. Even the movie at the DMZ emphasized the spread of the ‘blue’ south over the ‘red’ north as the theme of unification was emphasized in movie animation.

 

We had to get on a shuttle bus there to get to the formal DMZ area which has a military checkpoint before entering. This is not the DMZ proper. The DMZ is a non-militarized zone two km below and above the actual cease fire demarcation line. The actual lines on either side are heavily fortified. This area overlooks a portion of the DMZ near the 3^rd Infiltration tunnel. It includes an opportunity to walk down into the tunnel, go up to an observation point. The checkpoint is over the Imjim river and there is still a lot of South Korea up to the DMZ line. Farms and little villages dot the area, but as you would expect the military presence is very heavy.

 

The 3^rd infiltration tunnel was really interesting. There was a steep tunnel, built by the South Koreans for tourists, intercepts the 3^rd tunnel after a steep 350 meter trek down into the granite bedrock. Then you can go 150 meters horizontal in a very short narrow tunnel to a point about 150 meters from the actual DMZ line. Did I say a very short tunnel? Without the hard hats I would have knocked myself silly. Not to mention the claustrophobic factor in such tight places. They suspect that the tunnel originated in an industrialized village about 1k north of the DMZ and would have exited nearer to Seoul. It was a personnel tunnel. Light artillery only. No heavy vehicles could have traversed the tunnel. The trek out was a real calf burner. After that we saw a short 8 minute film in the theater.

 

From there we went to the Dorasan Observatory to actually look into North Korea and see the model villages and towns constructed on the north side of the DMZ. And the opposing flag poles of each country – very tall and with very large flags. The views were incredible. There were a lot of soldiers on break or just passing through looking across to North Korea.

 

After Dorasan Observatory, we went to Dorasan Station. The northernmost train station in the Seoul network.

 

After this stop we had to say goodbye to our Korean friends on the shuttle bus. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that aspect of the trip – saving the best part for last.! Instead of a standard shuttle bus, Kevin got us on a party bus. Yes a neon lighted, wood grain, great stereo system, large screen tv party bus! This bus was from a village over 4 hours away and they had been traveling all morning to see the DMZ, but did not have 30 people on the bus to allow them to drive on themselves to the DMZ area. So we were invited to join them to get the group up over 30.

 

Once we were on the bus there was that initial period of cautiousness and awkwardness. No one spoke English, Kevin had left to buy tickets, and we didn’t speak a lick of Korean. By the time the tour was over and we said goodbye, we were part of the family. They plied us with home made food, fresh vegetables and fruits, espresso, liquor and went out of their way to welcome us to their country as well as get their pictures taken with the Americans and Canadians! It was amazing. As a gesture on our part, I bought a large bag of sweet munchies in one store and passed them out to the bus on the way to the train station. Everyone wanted to shake our hand on the way out, bow to us, and thank us for joining their bus. We wanted to go home with them!

 

This was the highlight of our trip so far. It was absolutely fantastic.

 

This was a really interesting tour and highly recommended for those visiting South Korea.

 

We did move on to the northern part of Seoul for lunch – a typical Korean braised chicken dish with noodles, crispy rice and beer. Very, very nice and a welcome break!

 

After the lunch we went to Changdeokgung Palace and spent about 30 minutes wandering the area. Not as large as the Forbidden City, but it was only 1 of 5 palaces inside Seoul. (So they made up for size with numbers.) I immediately noticed the architecture paralleled that seen in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Just missing the guy riding the chicken on the eaves of the building! In response to this observation, Kevin said that they had copied Chinese architecture as part of the Korean heritage.

 

After the Palace the 6 groups convened nearby and split up. 14 of us went to dinner. The rest went back to the ship. We went to one of the shopping streets in Incheon (I believe it was in the Yeokchon-Dong area) and walked up and down the street food vendors. This is where we should have eaten dinner! It was an incredible blend of sights and sounds. But Pam had put together, with the guide company, a real Korean BBQ dinner about 10 minutes away. That was fantastic. We had the cheapest combo plates, 35,000 WON, a couple of beers, 6000 WON, and a whole lot of fun. We had pork, beef, a bowel of biminmap, and all the bon chon (kimchi, pickled veggies, cole slaw, and hot peppers that Judy and I grilled before eating!) we could eat. Fantastic meal and great company. We had a blast for about an hour and headed back to the ship, returning about 2100 hours. Long day, great tour, fantastic time.

[ccrain]

Luncheon has changed to October 24 @ 1200 in the MDR.

[TheRabbit]

10 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

John...is that all you’ve done during your week without CC being operational? 🤣

Maybe consuming more of your 🍷 while CC was down?  😉

Been tracking the Coral’s course & it appears that you’re now arriving in all of your ports. 👍

Yes

Have made the last three after being 1 for three.

As for staying busy, trivia. About to head to the trough!

[BLJBLJ]

CCRAIN thanks for getting us caught up.  Brenda

[ccrain]

10-19-2018 – At Sea to Okinawa

 

Lost an hour last night, and it was a pretty long day with lots of walking.

 

Immigration has become the #1 issue on this cruise. We left China and went to Incheon and we left Japan to go to China, therefore we exited the country. Shanghai and Okinawa, tomorrow, require a complete immigration inspection. Face to passport. That takes time. The itinerary could have been structured a bit more friendlier for immigration purposes, but then would have been operationally an issue with the extra time and fuel required to backtrack as well as trying to get an embarkation port somewhere in the middle. Quite frankly Incheon was an excellent example of what happens when the ship has some control over the immigration process. Stations were set up in the Universe and it was an all hands call out of the crew to help process people as quickly and efficiently as possible. On the other hand, Yokohama was a disaster with the terminal just not being prepared to process so many people on a holiday. Tienjen was better because it is a major embarkation/disembarkation port with permanent and nice immigration clearance infrastructure – markings, lanes, computers, terminals, etc. Likewise Shanghai was also set up for immigration processing. But China and Japan take immigration seriously and it takes 30 to 45 minutes at each port, AFTER DOCKING, to get everything set up and functioning AND to review the ship’s paperwork, clear the crew, read the manifests, etc.

 

Bottom Line – When docking in China or Japan expect to get off the ship 75 to 90 minutes after the scheduled docking time – IF you are diligent enough to get up early and get in line – 2 to 3 hours if you are not. Then factor in that all-aboard is 30 minutes before departure. For example, Okinawa has a scheduled time of 0700 to 1430. With an all-aboard time of 1400, one could easily expect to be off the ship by 0830 giving you 4 to 4.5 hours in port.

 

Another good example. Because of the Cluster in Yokohama, and to some extent Tianjin, of the ship issuing immigration numbers, like tender tickets, in Crooner’s, one of the passengers issued hand written tickets, starting at 0500, to form a line to get the immigration tickets when the cruise staff arrived. While that may seem presumptuous on our part, it helped organize the line in Crooners to stretch back to the wheelhouse rather than be a free for all mob when the cruise staff arrived. Of course then with the exit on deck 6, the line to go out formed well before the numbers were called. So when the 1-100 group was called, we had to ‘cut’ in front of the existing line with people holding tickets 101+, and had to hear the grumbling. But that was the instructions from the crew. Get your ticket number and go to the gangway from a public lounge area when called.

 

Update on High Speed Internet. Purchasing the $5 T-Mobile 512MB day pass continues to be a pain. The page will simply not load in most places, and the port was not one of them. The TEPPY was easy to use and hook up to. But as usual, burned through 1GB very quickly and 256kB is simply not very useful when dealing with 100’s of MB. The T-Mobile international at 2G continues to be useful when ashore. Google maps downloads, facebook uploads and Map.me continues to give me very accurate mapping and location information at greater precision and quicker access than Google Maps, but doesn’t have the public transit information and routing that Google maps does.

 

Shanghai in a nutshell – lots cleaner, friendlier and more modern than Beijing, except for cell phone networks and cars. Go figure. Lots of new cars in Beijing. Lots of scooters in Shanghai. Great LTE access in Beijing, 3G in most of Shanghai. Modern high rise buildings of every imaginable design and construction technique – without a lot of Russian influence that dominated downtown Beijing. A cornucopia of skyline features. Think Hong Kong. Very, very interesting. Architects’ dream designs, builder nightmares – you want the tower to do what?!?

 

Pam had set up a private tour for Shanghai – The China Guide. (Note that China Guide hired Jenny as an independent tour guide. Jenny does guiding on her own and she is highly recommended.) 3 busses. We were on the big bus. Double decker, plenty of room to spread out and Jenny excellent English. We did the Jing Mao tower in 2012, but the Shanghai tower this time. Much better views of the river. One of the Silverseas ships was docking at the downtown pier which made for an interesting perspective. 118 floors in about 70 seconds. Enough to cause ears to pop frequently on the way up. Standard tower photos, souvenirs, tea shop, hardly any smog so the views were pretty good. We couldn’t hardly see the river in 2012. But we could actually see the Coral docked at the cruise terminal this time.

 

From there we went across the river on a ferry to the Bund. A very interesting river walk area. Would be great for DIYs. The metro station near the port would provide great access to the Bund area. (There was a free shuttle into Shanghai, but the time (1.5 hours each way) would be too much of a waste of time.) The area is very walkable and easily traversed with lots of great picture opportunities. The west bank is the modern city. The east bank, the Bund, the more colonial part of the city.

 

Lunch was in a typical multi-story shopping and eating mall/building. It was ok. Standard Chinese food, Cantonese style – not very spicy. Almost bland. Good thing we had Chinese food in Yokohama, which really spoiled us!

 

After lunch was the Yu Gardens. This was a much better tour to the gardens than in 2012 where we had to almost run to keep up with our tour guide. This time we were able to take the time to take photos, learn about parts of the garden and see sights that we did not see in 2012, like the rooftop figurines that were incredibly detailed, as well as the wall dragons. After Yu Gardens, we had 30 minutes of shopping to do in the market area.

 

So this was my first test of negotiating skills in an Asian market, and it is intense. Rule #1, never start a negotiation of something you might not really want. Rule #2, walk away as part of the negotiating tactic. She started at $280 US. I offered $20. She came down to $250, I went up to $30, then started walking away. Judy left. At the end, she came down to $150 and I stuck at $50 for 3 rounds, walked out of the shop again, and she accepted. I probably still overpaid. So ended my first Asian negotiation. I think they are marking up 10x on the first round as a tactic. The market had food, sundries, collectibles, toys, candies, everything imaginable. The main store areas, with lots of name brands, are surrounded by streets with little shops, like the one we went to, that are basically flea market stall type shops.

 

Very crowded, but we always felt safe.

 

After the flea market Jenny treated us to a tea ceremony and demonstration in a tea house. Very interesting. Three teas were prepared and tasted. We ended up spending about 200 RMB on a very expensive white tea, preserving our last 40 RMB for the bus driver’s tip.

 

On the way back to the ship we drove through the French Quarter. A several block area of colonial French buildings now being converted to a restaurant and nightlife area. Housing prices in Shanghai are INSANE, with 100m^2 condo’s going for $1500k USD – and that’s not in the CBD or French Quarter. I don’t know how people can afford to live there!

 

We returned to the ship around 1730. A very full day of visiting Shanghai! On to Okinawa!

[homeinboca]

Following along, thank you for sharing your experiences of this exotic adventure!

[sunny88]

Thank for the trip write up, enjoy reading them.  Like I am traveling with you.

Have you tried Shanghai's steam Bun near Yu's garden area?  They are right in the shopping area you mentioned.

 

This is the link from the  Tripadvisor : https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g308272-d10260512-r510561649-Nanxiang_Steamed_Bun_Restaurant-Shanghai.html

This restaurant been around for a long long time, always a long line for take out, you also can watch them make buns from a glass window while waiting. 

 I do miss the local Chinese food.   

 

 

[ccrain]

10-21-2018 Pulling Into Keelung

 

So much for ‘Accuweather’. It says highs in the lower 60’s. Its warm today and going to get warmer. Into the upper 70’s. Time to switch to shorts.

 

Okinawa, Naha, is a great cruise port. For me, all great cruise ports have things to do DIY that are fun, easy to get to, and CHEAP! Too bad we had to be aboard at 1400. Marty and Sue joined us. Immigration was actually not that bad. We could have left earlier, but would have missed some great stuff at the port. There was a bunch of kids doing several drum dance routines as we got off the ship. We spent at least 45 minutes experiencing that. It was great! The little ones were the most adorable in their dance outfits and concentrating facial expressions on getting their steps right. The teenagers were really into the zone, smiling and dancing and beating the drums. Great experience!

 

We walked toward downtown Naha, heading for Fukushuen Garden. For a 200 YEN entry fee you got to wander the grounds of a very serene and incredibly artistic garden with granite statues everywhere, a waterfall, a granite pagoda, caves, a koi pond, an inner garden and a bridge with all 12 chinese year sign statues on the balusters. A bargain excursion for anyone. Highly recommended.

 

From there we did one of my favorite things. Got on the monorail and rode it to Shuri Castle, then stayed on and rode it to the airport, then back to where we got on. An unguided up in the air tour of Naha. We actually could have used a cheaper ticket, but I opted for the day pass and spent 800YEN each for the ‘tour’. Great views of the city. Air conditioned and comfortable. When everyone got off at the airport we moved to the 4 most forward seats looking out the front of the train watching the driver conduct his checklist and move the train forward. A cheap way to spend an hour touring a city.

 

From there we had lunch at KFC. Yes, KFC. Several people had commented that we had to try Japanese KFC. We really didn’t have time to have a really comfortable sit down lunch, so we opted for the KFC route and it was really good. Almost a tempura battered and fried piece of moist chicken. And their ‘mexican’ flavored chicken had a little spice to it. One advantage of Naha is that with the US military bases they actually had an English menu – complete with pictures. And the service and cleanliness of the place was top notch!

 

Then it was time for shopping. We did not have time to go to the market. Just a few shops in the shopping district and we didn’t make it to Don Quixote for a variety of KitKats. But we did find a new sake flavored kitkat and the other one we really like. Plus some more candy for Halloween. And some ice cream.

 

And then we found the strangest store I still cannot believe because I’m not sure what it was. First of all the entry way had 5’ tall Gundhams, a bench with a Goku (DragonBall Z) character on it, a Ronald Mc Donald and tweety bird inside a sharks mouth. Inside the store were models of planes, ships, a whole bunch of kitzy items, key chains, magnets, pens, and an entire rack/display of prophylactics – I kid you not. But in individual weird collector style packaging with Anime like characters on the wrappers. Like fiery peppers, cucumbers, dragons, etc. And of course they even had stress relief balls in the shape of, you guessed it, female anatomy. Think of a Spencer’s in the states on a weird Japanese Anime style steroid rage!

 

Unfortunately we were unable to get to the rest of the market as all-aboard was 1400. We walked back to the port and was able to tap into the local wifi for a few updates but it was slow and weird. Getting back on board we noticed the kids were back setting up for a sailaway show so we got rail space on the Promenade deck. It was a great show. Kids of all ages through the teens were dancing and drumming, but the 4 year old stole the show. He didn’t have the dance steps down, but he had the drum strikes down pat and he was so CUTE! They even had a pair of lions and this was in the hot afternoon sun, so I know those kids were broiling in those suits.

 

In all, it was the best shows, combined with the morning show, that we’ve seen so far. Loved it.

 

Okinawa! Don’t miss it, but try to spend more time there. It’s definitely worth it!

 

Off to Taipei! Later!

[ccrain]

10-22-2018 – At Sea to Hong Kong

Guess what? There are two Taipei’s on Accuweather! One was in the 60’s yesterday, one was in the 80’s – where we were. One busy, busy day. More and more I am trending towards private excursions. Our tour yesterday was only 15 people on a very comfortable bus with an excellent tour guide and a separate bus driver. Lunch included for $100 each? A bargain. And we hit the highlights of Taipei. The Palace Museum, Taipei 101 with beef noodle soup lunch, the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial and the changing of the guard, and finally the Lungshan temple. After a quick drop of stuff at the room we were then treated to the highlight of the day, a private guided tour of the Keelung night market by non-other than CL himself and two of his old college buddies! What a long exhausting day – but oh so satisfying.

We met Phoebe and the driver right alongside the ship on the dock. No problems, no issues. She is 24 years old, cute as a bug, speaks very good English and is very, very passionate about her country and her job. We headed for the Palace Museum where the governments stores the treasures taken from the Forbidden Palace as the Nationalists were being driven from mainland China to Taiwan.

Yes, it was another museum, which I had forsworn after Baltic cruising, but heck, let’s take a look. I noticed three things that caught my attention – 1) No gold. Apparently China is lacking in gold deposits and the ancient emperors just didn’t have a lot of gold to make a lot of things. 2) The Jade cabbage. A single stalk of napa-like cabbage carved from a single piece of Jade complete with the white of the lower stalk to the green of the upper leaves curled around two expertly carved miniature insects – a Katydid and a locust. It is absolutely gorgeous, intricate and breathtaking. 3) A large bronze hot pot, used to cook stews, doing double duty as a contract between two individuals with intricate carvings of the contract on the interior of the pot. The museum was very crowded with lots of tour groups, independent and Princess tours, along with a whole bunch of Asian tourists as well. Tour guide flags of all shapes and sizes all over the place. Definitely a must see on a less crowded day, but even worthwhile on a crowded day just to see the cabbage! Oh, and we finally got to see a real Ming Vase up close and personal – priceless art at its best.

From there we went to Taipei 101. A very beautiful and modern skyscraper overlooking a very modern and varied architecture city. We had lunch on 35^th floor. Beef noodle soup. The broth was excellent. Could have used a bit more spice, but still very nice. After lunch we went down into the mall under 101 and the food court, looking for ice cream. We found it, and superfast wifi, near a 7-11. Taipei 101 had free public wifi that is incredibly fast. Updated both phones with no issues. Phoebe uploaded all of her photos to a Google drive and I downloaded them to my phone, a couple of gigs of work in just 15 minutes. It is here where I noticed the huge contrast between Taipei and Beijing. Taipei is a lot like Seoul. The people seem much, much happier! Smiles everywhere. People on their cell phones, chatting with others, taking pictures, laughing and conversing. The contrast with Beijing is striking. Shanghai was not as ‘closed’ off as Beijing, but nothing like Taipei. We sat for about 15 minutes waiting for the bus watching the world go by. It was great!

After Taipei 101 we went to the Chiang Kai Shek memorial. Wow. This place is pretty incredible. Think Beijing Imperial Palace replicas for the two buildings flanking the square (National Theatre and Opera House), but then his memorial hall is a combination of the Imperial Palace (Pagoda roof and all) with the Lincoln Memorial. Complete with marble entry hall, large statue and marble reliefs flanking the stairways ala the Forbidden City. And the people! Families having a Sunday evening outing. School kids practicing dance routines and young girls, giggling in that universal language, at a foreign tourist flashing them the peace sign. Smiles everywhere. The changing of the guard ceremony, about 15 minutes long, was impressive. These dudes are precise in every movement, perfect in every detail of dress and deportment (NOT department!). Two stand at parade rest facing each other, moving every 10 minutes to salute each other, and scare the unwary tourist, wielding chromed receiver M1 Garands with chrome bayonets and wearing chromed helmets. Three come out, one sergeant, two guards, to replace the two standing guard. It’s a complex, intricate, but well choreographed replacement routine. The soldiers are stone faced throughout and their movements mirror each other in perfect synchronization. After the replacement, and the soldiers are back standing guard on their pedestals, an attendant checks every detail of their ‘deportment’, wipes the sweat from their brow, fixes their tassels, straightens their uniforms and helmuts in an almost ritualistic manner. Quite fascinating, memorable and a must see in Taipei.

Lungshan Temple is a Buddhist temple with the addition of several Taoist gods and Taoist architectural features and rituals. Quite interesting to watch the various people pray at each of the gods. Quite frankly if you think Catholic Saints and chapels in St. Peters in Rome, you would not be far off in a parallel between the two. Even though at this time we were simply exhausted, it was a worthwhile stop.

After getting back to the port about 0630 we dropped stuff off in the room and went down to meet our foodie party. Pam (Pamandcookie), Sue (BigKahuna), Judy and I, Susie and Ken (SandKinWA) had persuaded CL(Steiner2010) to take us on a food tour in the Keelung Night Market about 5 blocks from the ship. Unbeknownst to us, CL had recruited two of his old college buddies from Taiwan to join us. Talk about a great time. This was memorable. CL and his two buddies were having a blast. They would actually clear seats for us at the ramshackle tables and stools, keep the local away while we were seated together, run and get food, bring it back to us and keep us fed. We went from vendor to vendor while they discussed which food to try next in rapid fire Taiwanese. That alone was worth the price of admission! To watch three physicists try to decide where to eat next! Big Bang Theory all over again! We tried Crab Soup, a tempura dish, Okanamyoki, noodle soup, an oyster omelet and some sweet potato fried balls that were a lot like doughnuts. To top it all off, CL’s buddies had to find a particular shaved ice shop. Not like Hawaiian shaved ice, but more like sherbet or sorbet. They found it after many hilarious huddles in the middle of a very busy street market.

You could not get a more authentic food experience, a more friendly atmosphere and a more realistic experience of a local culture. We spent about 2 hours in the night market, eating, drinking, traveling here and yonder, backtracking and following CL and his friends, who were having an absolute blast as well. This was a once in a lifetime experience and we all greatly appreciated CL’s willingness to help and his friend’s hospitality. WOW!

In summary, Taiwan was a beautiful port. Could have used an actual terminal building and some super fast wifi, but still, with all the transportation options, DIY is not a problem in this port. From the nearby environment of Keelung to the attractions and sights of Taipei itself, everything is easily in reach from the port. Pam did the Sky Lantern’s tour and from what I heard it was fabulous as well. So there is a lot to see and do the next time we are back in Taiwan.

Later!

[Colo Cruiser]

Enjoying your updates!

[Woobstr112G]

Sounds like you're having a great time.....

 

Bob

[Host CJSKIDS]

Sounds like an amazing cruise.  Thanks for sharing it all.

[TheRabbit]

3 hours ago, Woobstr112G said:

Sounds like you're having a great time.....

 

Bob

Hi Bob

There have been a vast array of tours being done. Yesterday we did a tour with Pam that included releasing Sky Lanterns. It may have been the most fun we have ever had on a tour. Envision a big mass of people lighting a launching Sky Lanterns on train tracks, several per minute, someone blows a whistle and everyone clears the train tracks down the middle of the town. The train goes by and the mass lighting and releasing continues on the tracks. Fun had by all.