Journey to the Center of the Earth: An Asian Cruising Tale

[ARandomTraveler]

30 minutes ago, little britain said:

@bonsai3s fab pics and review as always x

 

Could you kindly get a close up pic of the Gold/ Silver /P lounge opening hours ?

 

Guessing the pool is not full of sunbathers?

What is the solarium like ? I’m sure I read of a separate area/access from the Silver lounge area??

thanks 

LBxx

@bonsai3s has access to better photos than me, but I took these photos earlier today when walking by the ultimate family suite and the suite lounge entrance (they're next to eachother on floor 13).

 

I also have a photo of the entrance to the pinnacle club (inside the solarium). And my 4th photo is the inside of the solarium. 
 

You are correct that there aren't as many sun worshippers on this trip, but there are some. There's plenty of seating everywhere. I've even seen empty loungers around the pool a few times.

 

 

 

[bonsai3s]

On 8/8/2023 at 4:18 PM, little britain said:

@bonsai3s fab pics and review as always x

 

Could you kindly get a close up pic of the Silver /P lounge opening hours ?

 

Guessing the pool is not full of sunbathers?

What is the solarium like ? I’m sure I read of a separate area/access from the Silver lounge area??

thanks 

LBxx

Hi LB!

 

There's a large contingency of Brits, Aussies, Canadians, and Americans for this sailing. Still plenty of lounge chairs.

 

 

Pinnacle lounge - Hours of Operation

Note: This lounge was designated only for this sailing, and perhaps the next, because of the 92 Pinnacles onboard.

 

Entrance to the Silver Dining Room

(seapass card access only) completely separated from the Solarium.

 

Port side designated as Pinnacle Lounge (one side of the solarium)

 

Entrance to the Solarium, starboard side.

 

Solarium

 

Solarium

 

Solarium

 

Solarium

 

Indoor pool

 

Outdoor pool

 

Kids pool

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, little britain said:

Could you kindly get a close up pic of the Gold/ Silver /P lounge opening hours ?

The Gold and Silver lounge hours are listed in the app. 

[mugtech]

9 hours ago, Etta1213 said:

Hello from Texas, from a Moravian grad. I love Bethlehem.

Greetings from the fifth day of Musikfest, will be visiting Moravian again today.

[aussierangers]

Was the rest of the Solarium unrestricted access (apart from under 16s of course)? It looks like somewhere I'd be spending plenty of time, being a sun-loving Aussie from Melbourne, who is desperately looking forward to some warmth, but who isnt a suite guest.

[bonsai3s]

On 8/8/2023 at 9:45 PM, aussierangers said:

Was the rest of the Solarium unrestricted access (apart from under 16s of course)? It looks like somewhere I'd be spending plenty of time, being a sun-loving Aussie from Melbourne, who is desperately looking forward to some warmth, but who isnt a suite guest.

Yes, the Solarium has unrestricted access to all guest...16 yrs of age and above...a wonderful place to be...with a bar.

[bonsai3s]

Day 10, Pinnacle Lunch menu.

 

 

[ARandomTraveler]

Rough day at sea today (day 10), we're navigating around a typhoon and the boat is rockin' and rollin'. Pool and flow rider are still open, but a lot of the deck chairs have been tied up. 

They gave back our passports today, we were required to pick them up at a designated location between 2:30pm-4:30pm. They were stamped by Vietnam, and Taiwan, but not Hong Kong. 
 

We also received customs and immigration forms to fill out. Everyone must attend the immigration tomorrow morning at 8:30am, regardless of whether you plan to get off the ship. They also won't let people back onto the ship until everyone has done the immigration.
 

They gave us a ticket with our designated group # on it today when we picked up our passports. I guess they'll call everyone in groups to go through the process. If you have an excursion, you'll do the immigration screening in the Royal theater, deck 4 instead of with your group, before going ashore for the excursion. 

 

Here are some photos of the forms:

 

Left on the bed the night of day 9 

 

Instructions for picking up your passport on day 10 (sea day before we enter Japan) and information about where to report tomorrow morning (day 11) to go through the immigration process.

 

Instructions for filling out the forms 

 

Front of customs card (only 1 card to be filled out for all members of your family)

 

Back of customs card 

Immigration Card (everyone needs to fill out their own)

Edited August 9, 2023 by ARandomTraveler

[ARandomTraveler]

We watched "Showgirls" last night, it was a really excellent show! I'm surprised that this isn't their headlining show instead of "Silk Road." I'm really glad we didn't miss this. Get a seat in the theater early because it fills up, and there are a lot of obstructed views. Probably the best show I've seen on a cruise ship. Great costumes, great singing and dancing talent, upbeat music that had people dancing in their seats pretty much the whole show.

 

We have not yet tried the main dining room. I keep intending to do that so I can comment on the food there, but we've been getting really good use of our dining package (and eating way too much food). The food in the specialty restaurants has been excellent. We've gone to every restaurant at least once. We made reservations on boarding day for each day of the cruise. We've changed a couple on a whim based on what we felt like eating. The only place we couldn't make a change at was Chops. Every other restaurant has been easy to walk up to and get a table pretty much every time, so I don't know if they actually had as many packages sold as they said.
 

There seems to be a lot of people eating in the dining room. I haven't heard much feedback about the food other than one person who said their meatball portion was too small. The windjammer has had excellent food the whole trip. I've eaten in there for most breakfasts and some lunches. There's so much variety and the food always seems flavorful and fresh. They use a lot more spices in the food on this ship which is nice, it's not bland like it can often be on other ships. 
 

We've gotten "ok" use of our refreshment drink package, but we would have been totally fine without one. There's a lack of soft drinks to choose from (Coke, Diet Coke, sprite, ginger ale, Fanta and tonic water). And they all taste like diet. They have free water, tea, orange juice, lemonade and coffee, and the free lemonade tastes better (has more flavor) than the specialty lemonade you get at Jamie's. We've had fresh squeezed juice every morning and that's been delicious every time, but again, we could have lived without it (or paid out of pocket).

 

The specialty coffee is not very good, but maybe I'm spoiled by having my own espresso machine at home. I've tried getting specialty coffee at La Patisserie, the Leaf and Bean and in the windjammer, and it just tasted like hot milk every time. I've reverted to drinking the free coffee, but there is no cream on board for the pleabs (there may be some for the upper class folks in the suites). I've asked at multiple venues (La Patisserie, Leaf & Bean, windjammer, the dining room at breakfast and chops at dinner). They only put out containers of milk (and they are labeled as milk). They have almond and soy milk at La Patisserie for specialty coffees and they'll pour almond milk into your free coffee for you if you ask.

 

Frozen drinks are always good on a hot day, but there's only so many of them that we can drink, and we tired out on them days ago. We paid $24.99/day ($29.49 with the 18%), so just over $700 for the 2 of us. Not a big deal and I'm not sorry I bought it, but I doubt we've broken even, and if we have it's been by force. The cost of non-alcoholic drinks on board is pretty cheap. Soda is $3 at restaurants. It's $3 for specialty teas (these are actually pretty good and are unique to this ship at the Leaf and Bean). $4.50 for specialty coffees. $11 (with the 18%) for a non-alcoholic piña colada (the alcoholic drink special each day is only $8). I don't know what they're charging for bottled water but half the time when I ask for one they don't even ask for my card. Sometimes they ask if I have a drink package and when I say yes they just give them to me. Other times they don't even ask, they just hand them over. 
 

Overall, I'm very happy with this trip. I expected to dislike the Quantum Class ship but I like it a lot. Plenty of room and lots of stuff to do, and everything is also easy to get to. I didn't even notice until today (day 10) that we can't access the front of the ship (that must be where they're housing the suite folks), so it's not like you try to go somewhere on the ship and are suddenly denied entry if you're not in a suite. You just simply feel like you've reached the end of the ship, and don't even notice that there's more to it. 
 

Another unique thing on this ship is the  private karaoke rooms that you can rent for $25/hr (plus 18%). They're a blast. 

 

I was expecting the passengers to be rude and pushy (based on prior reviews and trip reports of Asian cruises) but I've found it to be the opposite. It's possible that because this is a longer cruise that it attracts a different type of clientele, or maybe it's cultural, but I've found everyone to be extremely polite. Kids are well behaved. It's just such a classy ship with a classy group of people on it and I've really enjoyed meeting all of the people from different countries and hearing all the different languages. I'm really grateful we had the opportunity to do this trip. 

Edited August 9, 2023 by ARandomTraveler

[aussierangers]

Lots of interesting news articles in various HK media about the transport issues you guys experienced at the cruise terminal.  Apparently they held several meetings, and have now organised several free shuttle bus routes, and made the 22R public bus route free too.  Also taxi drivers are being given incentive payments to do cruise pickups.  Sounds like it is working, with no queues today.

[ARandomTraveler]

We arrived in Tokyo (technically Yokohama) on Saturday for the end of our cruise. We're now spending 3 weeks in Japan touring around. I've had a busy last several days since our last 2 cruise days were port days, and I've been getting my bearings here in Tokyo since we arrived. 
 

Some final thoughts on the cruise (probably mostly interesting for those of you who will be doing it in the upcoming months but not insightful for any other cruise routes):

 

1) Don't plan to have reliable Internet. For the 5 days we were within Chinese airspace (sea day leading up to Hong Kong, 2 days in Hong Kong, another sea day, then a day in Taiwan), we were completely 100% without ship Internet. You can only use your cell phone data (LTE) when you're in port, and it's slow, and of course that also means you're either paying really high fees to your cell phone company, or you have to have a cell phone plan with free international roaming (our T-Mobile plan thankfully does). 
 

There was a long line at Guest Services and the Voom Internet desk every day with people asking why the internet wasn't working and requesting refunds. Finally on the last night of the cruise, they agreed to give us a 3 day refund (even though we were without Internet for 5 days). 
 

2) You should definitely plan to stay a few days (minimally) in Tokyo on your own because the Japan port stops they offered (Kobe and Mt Fuji) did not give you any real information or experiences in the real Japan.
 

In Kobe, the ship tours took some people to shrines, but most tours (including the ones with shrines) ended with a couple hours in Chinatown. I personally enjoyed Chinatown, it was interesting and had fun food to try, but everyone else I spoke to on the ship was really unhappy about it because they felt like we had just spent so many days in Chinese ports, and they didn't come to Japan to go to Chinatown, which is understandable. I didn't care because I have almost a month of my own time in Japan, but if I didn't I guess I'd have been disappointed too.

 

In Mt. Fuji (really a port called Shimizu) there's virtually nothing to do. There's very few excursion options, and they all basically take you to a location where you can view Mt Fuji in the distance, but that's it.
 

If you didn't have a tour, there was a taxi line at the port you could use, and also a free shuttle that would take you to a shopping mall. If you stayed at the port, there was another shopping mall (which was much larger than the one the shuttle takes you to), and also some small kiddie rides if you have children (a Ferris wheel, some trampolines etc). There wasn't a lot of time to really do anything in Mt Fuji (Shimizu), because the ship was only in port for 5 hours, plus it took almost an hour to get off the ship, and another hour standing in the shuttle or taxi lines. Which leads me to item #3. 
 

3) Plan for VERY delayed disembarking at almost every port. We lost 3 hours in port in Vietnam due to terrible logistics and tendering there. People with independent excursions couldn't get off the ship in time to meet their tours and were out of luck unless they could find a way to call their tour operator, which means you need a cell phone that works internationally without a separate SIM card, or has wi-fi enabled calling (which means you need to have paid for ship wi-fi or have a cell phone plan that gives you free or inexpensive data roaming (LTE)). 
 

Hong Kong and Taiwan were very organized ports that were easy to get off the ship. Taxis were available, and most people speak enough English to understand where you want to go. But you'll also need Hong Kong and Taiwanese dollars. It's best to order money from your bank or AAA before you leave for your trip.

 

Japan disembarking was terrible in all 3 ports. At the first port you enter in Japan, you have to go through the full immigration and customs process just like if you were at the airport. They look at your passport, they take your fingerprints, they scan a photo of your face, you turn in some forms etc. We had a ship excursion, meaning we got to get off the ship right away, but even with being in a separate line from the other passengers on the ship, it took us 2 hours to get outside to our tour bus. Our excursion was supposed to leave at 9am, and we didn't leave until 10:30am, and 4 people got left behind because they still weren't off the ship by that time and our tour guide didn't want to wait any longer because she already had to cut one of our stops short. 
 

They told us we would only have to do that process once and the rest of the stops in Japan would be easy, but that's not entirely true. While we didn't have to be fingerprinted each time, we did have to go through a passport screening every time. I'm not sure if the people who had ship excursions got off in Mt Fuji more quickly, but those of us without excursions took an hour to stand in the passport line, and then another hour waiting for taxis or shuttles.

 

On disembarkation day in Tokyo (really Yokohama), we had tag #6 out of 50, so we were almost the first people off the ship, and it still took an hour. The taxi line was also another hour long. I can't imagine how backed up things got for the people getting off later.

 

4) It's easy to get by in all of the Chinese ports if you speak English, but almost nobody in Vietnam or Japan speak English. Download the  Google translate app and then also download the dictionary for each language (Vietnamese and Japanese) before you leave home because they're large files and take a while to download, even with fast internet at home).

 

5) You can't use US dollars in most of the ports. It's not like the Caribbean where they prefer US dollars. Here, if they see it, they look at it as if they don't even recognize it, and they also think that whatever you're giving them is not enough money. Their paper money starts at such high dollar figures that even if you pull out a $100 bill they think you're ripping them off because it's such a small amount in their terms (for example, in japan, their paper money starts at ¥1,000, which is about $7 US dollars, so if you pull out 7 $1 dollar bills they look at you like you're offering them scrap pieces of paper).
 

It's very easy to get cash in Japan if you have an ATM card (there are 7-11 stores all over the place and they have ATM's, subway stations also have ATM's and there's currency exchange desks at all the ports). The exchange rate at the ports and at the ATM machines is pretty good, they both charge about 3.5%. The problem is that if you have an excursion, you're not going to have time to exchange money first. Taxi's in Japan take credit cards but I don't think they take them in Vietnam, Hong Kong or Taiwan. It's more difficult to find ATM's and currency exchange places in Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan. 

Also, almost nobody accepts credit cards in Vietnam, Hong Kong or Taiwan. In Japan it's very easy to use credit cards (though some places still require cash), but oddly enough, you can't use credit cards at the subway stations.
 

Those are all the tips I can think of for now. I'm off to enjoy another day in Japan (my absolute favorite place we've visited on this trip so far). I'm still doing a bad job doing currency conversion in my head (I spent $600 on souvenirs chopsticks yesterday when I thought I was spending $60 😂), and I really miss eating peanut butter (it wasn't anywhere on the ship, and it doesn't exist here in Japan either), but other than that, there is absolutely no shortage of interesting things to see and do, and delicious food to eat. I highly recommend extending your cruise stay to visit Japan more thoroughly, same with Singapore (but Japan moreso than Singapore).

 

Oh and one final thing for those of you wondering how my initial airline fiasco turned out - I'm in the process of a credit card dispute trying to get 60% of my money back. Originally Chase credit card told me they can't dispute an airline charge if you took the flight because they have a rule that says you can't dispute that. But I took it up the chain of command and spoke to a supervisor who understood my issue, and she told me she could do a dispute for part of the money, and she let me choose the dollar amount to dispute. I quickly calculated the fare difference based on other flights for sale and came up with 60%. She told me that Singapore Airlines might argue that they need more evidence etc, and they'd let me know if so. For now, I've received a temporary 60% credit to my Chase Sapphire Reserve card.  I'm flying home on Delta, thankfully. 

[bonsai3s]

ARandomTraveler...thanks for sharing some pretty accurate information and valuable tips...wishing you safe travels! 

 

 

* We're still onboard, heading back to Singapore...over 600 B2B passengers...the Manila port stop was cancelled even before this sailing started...then Shimizu was cancelled due to Typhoon Lan...it was replaced by an overnight stay in Osaka...which was then cancelled again because of bad weather...the ship is now sailing to Kumamoto, arriving tomorrow, Day 4.

[ARandomTraveler]

3 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

ARandomTraveler...thanks for sharing some pretty accurate information and valuable tips...wishing you safe travels! 

 

 

* We're still onboard, heading back to Singapore...over 600 B2B passengers...the Manila port stop was cancelled even before this sailing started...then Shimizu was cancelled due to Typhoon Lan...it was replaced by an overnight stay in Osaka...which was then cancelled again because of bad weather...the ship is now sailing to Kumamoto, arriving tomorrow, Day 4.

Major bummer to have those places canceled. Someone at guest services told me about the Manila port change, they said it was because the port taxes were too high to visit for a short time. They were going to try and go to Goa (India) instead, but it was too far away. Sounds like they could have done Goa, given you missed 3 port days already. Oh well, it's a fun journey anyway. 
 

I hope you enjoy your trip back to Singapore. We're getting another Typhoon here tomorrow that's supposed to last 3 days, so we may reschedule our trip to Kyoto and go next week instead (the Hyatt said they'd refund my money if the trains are cancelled), so we'll just hang out and see what happens. 
 

 

[EllieinNJ]

6 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

ARandomTraveler...thanks for sharing some pretty accurate information and valuable tips...wishing you safe travels! 

 

 

* We're still onboard, heading back to Singapore...over 600 B2B passengers...the Manila port stop was cancelled even before this sailing started...then Shimizu was cancelled due to Typhoon Lan...it was replaced by an overnight stay in Osaka...which was then cancelled again because of bad weather...the ship is now sailing to Kumamoto, arriving tomorrow, Day 4.

Bonsai, I hope you will continue with this review.  I have enjoyed it very much. 

[EllieinNJ]

3 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

Major bummer to have those places canceled. Someone at guest services told me about the Manila port change, they said it was because the port taxes were too high to visit for a short time. They were going to try and go to Goa (India) instead, but it was too far away. Sounds like they could have done Goa, given you missed 3 port days already. Oh well, it's a fun journey anyway. 
 

I hope you enjoy your trip back to Singapore. We're getting another Typhoon here tomorrow that's supposed to last 3 days, so we may reschedule our trip to Kyoto and go next week instead (the Hyatt said they'd refund my money if the trains are cancelled), so we'll just hang out and see what happens. 
 

 

I have really enjoyed your review and hope to hear about your land travels.

[BecciBoo]

On 8/9/2023 at 3:06 AM, ARandomTraveler said:

just tasted like hot milk every time.

Could you ask for double or triple shots in your coffee?

 

The gardens photos were lovely, I bet those Bonsi's were hundreds of years old, right?  Just gorgeous.  I myself will never get over to the orient but love your review anyway. Thx.

[bonsai3s]

On 8/14/2023 at 9:20 PM, EllieinNJ said:

Bonsai, I hope you will continue with this review.  I have enjoyed it very much. 

Echoing what ARandomTraveler stated, it was an extremely difficult process getting off the ship.

 

Fortunately, the City of Kobe provided a free shuttle right into town...a block from "Kobe Motomachi"...a wonderful walking street full of shops and restaurants.

 

* Our goal was to taste Kobe beef...we did...it was sublime.

 

One of many Japanese vending machines.

 

 

 

 

 

[bonsai3s]

Port stop: Shimizu

Not sure if you can see Mt. Fuji...but it was the best we could do. Clouds covered the majestic mountain all day.

 

 

[mugtech]

           Great review, wondering if anyone could tell us anything about Sichuan Red, looking forward to trying the scallops and garlic broccoli. 

[aussierangers]

11 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

Bonsai, I hope you will continue with this review.  I have enjoyed it very much. 

Yes please keep up the posts!  Especially now that you're going to Kumamoto and Kagoshima, which are two of the ports on our cruise in September.  I will be very interested to hear about what there was to see and do in both ports, how difficult it was to get off the ship, and into the towns (as both are quite a distance from the cruise terminals), and whether RC provided shuttles etc (although I guess the late changes mean they might not have time to arrange much for you).  And I love your photos.

[Lazirus65]

Thank you to ARandonTraveler and Bonsai3s for supplying us with so much useful information, this has definitely helped towards our travels plans for next month’s cruise from  Singapore to Japan. 

[bonsai3s]

On 8/15/2023 at 12:44 AM, mugtech said:

           Great review, wondering if anyone could tell us anything about Sichuan Red, looking forward to trying the scallops and garlic broccoli. 

Sichuan Red was the place to try how high (or how low) the Scoville Scale your mouth can handle.  They will make the dishes as spicy as you want.

 

We did order the Crispy Fried Sea Scallops ($25)...and since I'm a wimp when it comes to spicy food, I asked for it to be mild...about a 6 from 1 to 10.

 

The scallops and the rest of our dishes (all ala carte pricing) were cooked to perfection. I had sweat coming down my forehead, tears coming down my eyes...the "mild 6" was still a bit spicy for me. But I was still smiling...tears of joy...best scallops I've had in a long time. 

[little britain]

@bonsai3s how’s the weather.. rocking and rolling? 🌊 

[bonsai3s]

On 8/15/2023 at 8:29 AM, aussierangers said:

Yes please keep up the posts!  Especially now that you're going to Kumamoto and Kagoshima, which are two of the ports on our cruise in September.  I will be very interested to hear about what there was to see and do in both ports, how difficult it was to get off the ship, and into the towns (as both are quite a distance from the cruise terminals), and whether RC provided shuttles etc (although I guess the late changes mean they might not have time to arrange much for you).  And I love your photos.

Kumamoto...Goal: DIY to the iconic Kumamoto Castle...built in 1607.

 

* Docked in Kumamon Port in Yatsushiro.

 

* Shuttles were available at the dock...one queue going to a mall, and one queue going to the train station. ($10/person roundtrip...you can charge it to your seapass card)

 

* We got off the ship at 9:30am...and were told all shuttle tickets to the train station were already sold out. Some passengers took taxis to the train station. About $25 one-way.

 

* A group of us waited a few minutes and were told additional buses are coming...wooweee...off to the Shin-Yatsushiro train Station. Travel time...about 25 minutes.

 

* Two ways to get train tickets: vending machine or the window. (The machine wouldn't accept our Visa card, so we got our tickets at the window.)

 

* We wanted to ride and experience the "Bullet Train"...Cost: ¥1530 per person each way...travel time: 10 minutes!

 

*** While standing next to Track 11, waiting for our train, a "Bullet Train" literally flew by us and took our breath away...if you're wearing a wig, it's gone...a hat, it's off...everyone standing there were smiling...the train was so fast, no one managed to videotape it.

 

* Kumamoto Train Station to the Kumamoto Castle...3 ways to get there...1. Walk...2. Bus...3. Tram...we opted for the tram. Cost: ¥1.80 per person each way...this time, the tram accepted our Visa.

 

* The train station was Stop #3...Kumamoto Castle was Stop #10. Travel time about 15 minutes.

 

* From the tram Stop #10, you immediately see the castle walls and moat...but it is another 400 meters to the entrance. Cost to enter: ¥800 per person.

 

 

 

 

 

[bonsai3s]

On 8/15/2023 at 4:29 PM, little britain said:

@bonsai3s how’s the weather.. rocking and rolling? 🌊 

Hi LB,

Yes, a bit of rocking and rolling...but Captain Wu (that's what everyone calls him), has been absolutely brilliant keeping us away from Typhoon Lan.