Tokyo to Alaska cruise: which port to clear immigration?

[Bob WM]

We are pretty new to cruising and are on Oceania Insignia from Tokyo to SFO from late June. After Tokyo we will be going north to Aomori, Hakodate and Kushiro before heading to Alaska.
If you have cruised this itinerary before can you please let me know where the Japanese immigration officials are going to require exit procedures. Although Kushiro is the last port of call I thought that it’s unlikely to happen there since it’s a very small city of around 170,000, but I don’t know. Thanks in advance.

[Essiesmom]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.  Have you asked this on the board here for Oceania?  There might be some answers there.  Or on the roll call for this cruise, if there is one? 
On the Holland America (HAL) board there is a lengthy thread by @Hlitner titled En route with Hank in Japan and the Westerdam.  Start at the end and move backward.  It might answer some of your procedural questions…. EM

[cruisemom42]

I was on the same cruise as Hank although I disembarked in Yokohama prior to the transpacific segment. On the day I got off the ship it was announced that due to bad weather the final stop in Japan (Kushiro) was to be canceled and so the passport/exit formalities were to be conducted in Yokohama -- and the ship stayed there an extra day to accommodate this.

 

So -- it appears that Holland America was planning on having these procedures done in Kushiro, prior to the change in plans...

[Bob WM]

8 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

Welcome to Cruise Critic.  Have you asked this on the board here for Oceania?  There might be some answers there.  Or on the roll call for this cruise, if there is one? 
On the Holland America (HAL) board there is a lengthy thread by @Hlitner titled En route with Hank in Japan and the Westerdam.  Start at the end and move backward.  It might answer some of your procedural questions…. EM

Thanks Essiesmom. I will look at the thread and if the info is not there I’ll try reposting as you suggested. Your kind advice is greatly appreciated by this CC newbie.

[Bob WM]

7 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

I was on the same cruise as Hank although I disembarked in Yokohama prior to the transpacific segment. On the day I got off the ship it was announced that due to bad weather the final stop in Japan (Kushiro) was to be canceled and so the passport/exit formalities were to be conducted in Yokohama -- and the ship stayed there an extra day to accommodate this.

 

So -- it appears that Holland America was planning on having these procedures done in Kushiro, prior to the change in plans...

So Kushiro does have border control staff stationed there despite its modest size. That’s helpful to know for planning our port day there. Thanks for the information!

[Hlitner]

On 5/16/2023 at 6:03 PM, Bob WM said:

So Kushiro does have border control staff stationed there despite its modest size. That’s helpful to know for planning our port day there. Thanks for the information!

Not sure if there are enough officials stationed in Kushiro, but the Japanese do move folks around as necessary.  As Cruisemom said, on our recent Westerdam cruise we were originally scheduled to go through the Exit Interview at Kushiro.  The Japanese are somewhat inflexible with their procedures so you will need to go through the exit interview process at your last Japanese port.  The procedure to clear all the passengers can take many hours, and we have no clue as to how "O" will handle the priority/procedure.

 

Hank

[Bob WM]

@ Hlitner thanks for your feedback. My question was actually prompted by our recent experience on a Westerdam cruise from Yokohama to Taiwan. The last Japanese port before Taiwan was Ishigaki but because it is only a small island, Japanese exit procedures were done a day earlier in the larger port of Naha, Okinawa.
It’s hard to make plans for ports, especially any private tours, without knowing where or when we need to clear immigration control. 

[cruisemom42]

13 hours ago, Bob WM said:

@ Hlitner thanks for your feedback. My question was actually prompted by our recent experience on a Westerdam cruise from Yokohama to Taiwan. The last Japanese port before Taiwan was Ishigaki but because it is only a small island, Japanese exit procedures were done a day earlier in the larger port of Naha, Okinawa.
It’s hard to make plans for ports, especially any private tours, without knowing where or when we need to clear immigration control. 

 

Interesting. Our last port before Taiwan was also Ishigaki and I'm almost 100% sure they did the exit procedure there.

 

Edited to add:  Yes -- I went back and checked Hank's thread on the HAL forum and the exit was done on Ishigaki, here is his statement: "Tomorrow, after a day on Ishigaki, everyone must have a face to face with Japanese authorities to "exit" Japan.  Even the Captain seems to be concerned that this be done in time not to mess up dinner (for those who dine at 5pm).  He made a late afternoon announcement warning that the exit immigration process could "take a long time."   The Japanese do this immigration process AFTER we have been in their country, and it is part of what is known as Exit Immigration."

 

Also, the Taiwanese officials apparently came aboard in Ishigaki as well, to begin processing our passports for entrance to that country.

 

Edited May 18, 2023 by cruisemom42

[Hlitner]

17 hours ago, Bob WM said:

@ Hlitner thanks for your feedback. My question was actually prompted by our recent experience on a Westerdam cruise from Yokohama to Taiwan. The last Japanese port before Taiwan was Ishigaki but because it is only a small island, Japanese exit procedures were done a day earlier in the larger port of Naha, Okinawa.
It’s hard to make plans for ports, especially any private tours, without knowing where or when we need to clear immigration control. 

We agree with you and have no solution.  The Japanese do as the Japanese do and HAL (and all cruise lines) as well as the passengers must simply go along with their procedures...whatever they happen to be at any point in time.  Trying to predict what will happen in the future and how long Japanese procedures will delay your ability to go ashore (and meet your tour) is just beyond the ability of anyone (including HAL) to predict.  

 

I will tell you that on our Westy cruise, the onboard folks did go out of their way to accommodate folks who had confirmed private tours.  In many cases, those folks were able to get a low number (we had to get numbers which told us when to report to immigration) which allowed them to get off the ship relatively early.  But given the wishy washy way that HAL now does things, there is no way to guarantee that your ship will follow the same procedures.  If you are trying to schedule an early private tour then you will have to take your chances with the system.  Yes, it does suck (for lack of a better word), but that is life.  During our Westy cruise there was one port where we went through the Japanese entry procedures (which included an onboard face to face) and in the course of less than 10 minutes, we had our Passports checked five times by five different Japanese officials (after we had cleared their immigration process).  The 5th time happened on the pier and I just smiles at the official and mentioned "go" (means 5) and he actually laughed and asked me "really?"

 

Hank