Musing across the Pacific (7-25 Sep) Live!

[photosg]

12 hours ago, Port Power said:

Thank you, @photosg for you pr travel blog.  I have decided to try and fill in the gap until @drron29 takes over for their cruise to Honk Kong, Singapore and Cairns.

 

Have a safe trip home.

Oh! you mean you are still onboard for the Japan circumnavigation?

 

Bon voyage!

Safely back home, but need to sleep!

 

[Port Power]

3 hours ago, photosg said:

Oh! you mean you are still onboard for the Japan circumnavigation?

 

Bon voyage!

Safely back home, but need to sleep!

 

Indeed I am.  In fact, 105 remained aboard.

[irvington]

On 9/9/2023 at 5:50 AM, Port Power said:

Interesting statistics from the cruise director on the first night is that there are 74 Australians on the ship (and 9 from New Zealand), making us the second largest nationality aboard.  There is quite a large range of nationalities in fact.  I haven’t come across anyone else from Cruise Critic yet though.

 

It will be interesting to compare impressions with @photosg.  I agree that the Japanese ladies looked lovely.  

I agree with all these observations! and the Japanese attire was exquisite,

[irvington]

On 9/18/2023 at 11:34 AM, photosg said:

it is now 6am on Tuesday 19 September, we have left the Bering Sea and are now trying to get through a low pressure system in the North Pacific, We lost Monday 18 Sep when we crossed the International Date Line and last night we were advised to change our time zone from Hawaii Time to New Zealand Time.

 

I was worried about what the weather would be like for the crossing. I would say you can definitely feel the motion and people who are prone to seasickness (including some crew, poor things) are feeling it.

 

Thing started to get really bumpy during our solo get together in the evening and during dinner in Atlantide we were treated to some spectacular splashes that went higher than the windows. (Atlantide is part of the four restaurant cluster midships on Deck 4.) As dinner wound down suddenly everyone got up and clustered round the windows. The sunset must have looked especially beautiful. Although the morning had started a little overcast we had bright sunshine all through the day despite the increasingly heavy seas.

 

There was even an Oktoberfest buffet on the pool deck in the bright sunshine. It was still cold and getting windier as the day progressed.

 

When i got back to the room, after dinner and the show, there was a high pitched whistling. A few minutes after my call to reception a maintenance guy came and quickly pasted a strip on my balcony door track and it was silenced. With the whistling gone you could now hear the creaking. So he tinkered with the door frame and that stopped too!

 

Unfortunately, as i was getting ready to sleep the whistling and creaking came back (reduced but still audible). I had to open and shut the balcony door which had come unlocked and turn the handle down tight to stop the whistling again. In the middle of the night there was a huge bang (ship’s motion) and the whistling started up again. I eventually had to get out of bed to fiddle with the balcony door again.

 

I’m not sure if the seas were calming down or I just got used to the wooshing sound and creaks but I managed to sleep though the rest of the night.

 

Unsung pro of getting an ocean view: you balcony door will not misbehave in bad weather.

Several of us had troubles with the balcony doors when the sea got bumpy. The repair team were old hands at it.

[photosg]

12 hours ago, Port Power said:

Indeed I am.  In fact, 105 remained aboard.

Wow that's more than i thought. That's just about a quarter. I was thinking more like a third!

 

But i am sure the ship is much nearer to capacity for this sailing?

[photosg]

catching up a bit:

Saturday 23 September. Muroran.

 

I actually had lower expectations for Muroran than Kushiro, but the day began well with an on time departure of all our tours.

I am not exactly sure WHY i booked a Ninja show, possibly because there were not many options by at the time of booking but I didn't try to change, and possibly after choosing many nature themed excursions I thought i might like some culture.

Firstly let's be clear I should say "culture" because far from a museum or heritage site this was a visit to a Ninja or Edo Period THEME PARK.

(Noboribetsu Date Jidaimura. https://edo-trip.jp/en/about/)

And as such it was great fun!

We had time for 2 shows but unfortunately the 3rd was outdoor and a very light rain caused it to be cancelled. While we were disappointed it did mean we had time to explore some of the other attractions which were fun too. I couldn't resist trying out the shuriken target practice.

I would have gladly spent up to a whole day at that place but we had another place to visit.

 

Jigokudani (地獄谷) or "Hell Valley" is a spectacular, appropriately named valley just above the town of Noboribetsu Onsen.

There were various trails, the longest one to a "Natural Foot Bath" which the guide tried to dissuade us from visiting as it was "too far" for the time given.

It was tiring and we did have to hot foot it back but we made it back with some minutes to spare.

Thanks to a forward thinking (and researching) fellow guest I was loaned a towel, so I eagerly though briefly in view of the time constraint dipped my feet into the naturally warm waters at our turning point.

So much more of a hike than the previous day's stroll around the marshlands,

 

Back on the ship before we sailed out a high school band set up right next to the ship and played a set of Jazz pieces until we sailed out. They were really good!

 

So all in all we had a great day in Muroran.

 

[photosg]

Oh oops! I hope I have got it right but the night we left Muroran was also the night of the Death By Chocolate Disco Deck Party. A perfect end to a perfect day.

 

(I think our team finally won 1st place at Trivia so that was super too!)

[photosg]

Our final sea day meant packing and fond farewells.

 

All too soon it was Monday morning and disembarkation at Yokohama.

 

We had a couple of places to see before we headed to Narita. I enjoyed the Garden more than the Buddhist Temple Complex so fortunately we had more time allocated at the garden.

 

And then it was goodbye to SilverSea,

 

Narita is has lots to do if you have time before your flight but I would say the food and shopping is better before you clear security.

 

Although for @Port Power and the other lucky 105 it was the start of another 14 days onboard the wonderful Silver Muse.

 

Coming up next: more photos from my cameras which I am going to download now!

(i'm not done yet!)

[drron29]

1 hour ago, photosg said:

 

Back on the ship before we sailed out a high school band set up right next to the ship and played a set of Jazz pieces until we sailed out. They were really good!

 

So all in all we had a great day in Muroran.

 

I loved the sail aways from Japanese ports. always a show. I think it was Kanazawa where the played and sang the Sukiyaki song. Just loved it.

 

[mchell810]

3 hours ago, drron29 said:

I loved the sail aways from Japanese ports. always a show. I think it was Kanazawa where the played and sang the Sukiyaki song. Just loved it.

 

 

Thanks for this.... I've only ever heard the English version by the group A Taste of Honey.  It's very different!

 

 

 

[photosg]

A few more photos from Ketchikan on Saturday September 9th.

 

Harbour Seal seen while kayaking.

Disney Wonder in port.

 

while sailing out.

 

[photosg]

Supplementary photos from later (afternoon) whale watching tour in Juneau. (Sun 10 Sep)

 

close up of the sunflower starfish.

 

i mentioned we saw many whales but I noticed my earlier photos show solitary flukes. So here are some clearly showing 2 whales at a time.

 

 

You can imagine how this might give rise to loch ness monster sightings.

 

this one is single again but much nearer to us. Unfortunately it was not doing anything exciting other than just swimming along.

[photosg]

a few more photos from the Sea Otter and Wildlife Quest in Sitka on Monday 11 Sep.

 

 

 

[photosg]

A few catch up photos from our Kodiak tour on Wed 13 September.

"everyone owns a gun in Alaska."

 

all the creeks were full of salmon.

 

a better view of the bears.

[photosg]

a more from Dutch Harbour on Friday 15 September.

one of the better preserved bunkers on the hill.

 

interior of the command post right at the top of the hill.

 

 

 

one of the many whales we spotted during our sail out. (taken from deck 12 forward.)

 

zooming in a bit more.

[irvington]

you're so lucky you got onto the Bunker Hill hike!

[photosg]

9 minutes ago, irvington said:

you're so lucky you got onto the Bunker Hill hike!

oh, heh. i guess i was!

I was down on the dock while it was still dark, amidst all the confusion of missing tour guide and uncertainty about the actual time, hoping for a no show or cancellation.

as it turned out because of the confusion several people decided to skip the tour and just take the shuttle around town and to the museum so I managed to squeeze in....

Edited September 30, 2023 by photosg
correction

[photosg]

Photos from Muroran Saturday 23 September.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[photosg]

and after we disembarked in Yokohama.

 

 

 

 

[Port Power]

I can’t wait any longer!  I just have to post some photos from the chocolate extravaganza night.

 

to

 

 

 

 

 

 

[photosg]

Oh! thanks for your patience and reminder @Port Power. You needn’t have been so patient…

Here are a few more from a very memorable “Death by Chocolate” deck party!

 

 

 

 

 

white chocolate martinis and white chocolate with ameretto. 
 

 

[les37b]

Your photos bring back some great memories of our Seward to Osaka voyage on the Muse in April /  May. Sounds like you did the same tours we did. Did you get a great send off in Miyako? Felt very humble.

 

We didn’t get a death by chocolate though.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed Japan and intend to go back for a land tour. On the down side, we hated the huge number of sea days once we left Japan. Rough weather meant we missed the 2 Alaskan stops and the time changes each night were horrible.  Rained constantly too so no deck days. It was far too cold anyway. We also missed what would have been our highlight - the railroad journey from Anchorage.

 

 

[les37b]

48 minutes ago, les37b said:

Your photos bring back some great memories of our Seward to Osaka voyage on the Muse in April /  May.

 

 

Correction…. Osaka to Seward! Cruise critic broke down after posting so unable to edit it time.

[photosg]

3 hours ago, les37b said:

Your photos bring back some great memories of our Seward to Osaka voyage on the Muse in April /  May. Sounds like you did the same tours we did. Did you get a great send off in Miyako? Felt very humble.

 

We didn’t get a death by chocolate though.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed Japan and intend to go back for a land tour. On the down side, we hated the huge number of sea days once we left Japan. Rough weather meant we missed the 2 Alaskan stops and the time changes each night were horrible.  Rained constantly too so no deck days. It was far too cold anyway. We also missed what would have been our highlight - the railroad journey from Anchorage.

 

 

Our send off was from both Kushiro where we had the drummers and Muroran where the Brass Band played Jazz for most of the afternoon until we left the pier!

 

Oh! I didn't know skipping the two Alaskan ports was possible. I can see how that would make for too many sea days. Honestly Dutch Harbour was only OK but I did enjoy our time in Kodiak very much. I suggest you try again the other way, or find your way to Kodiak at a different time of year.

 

We did seem to be blessed by better than usual weather and having one hour extra of sleep is definitely better than losing an hour several nights in a row.

 

Having said that we also braved Hot Rocks in the cold and it was an experience!

[Lois R]

Loving those photos😃thanks for sharing.