Live-Carnival Luminosa 9/14/23 30 Day TP Seattle to Brisbane

[kwokpot]

28 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

And the name of the restaurant that you had ramen after Skytree is called Soratoraya?  Looks yummy!!

Yes. It's on the 1st floor(which is actually the ground flr but the mall calls it 1st flr)arcade of shops and restaurants. There are multiple floors filled with other places to shop and eat including a food court and a food hall sort of setup. The mall is called Tokyo Solamachi and it's integrated/attached to the Skytree tower.

Warning, if you're a shopper you can spend hours in this place! 

Edited September 30, 2023 by kwokpot

[kwokpot]

Day 17 Hiroshima Port Stop

 

Before discussing what we did for the day I wanted to mention that coincidentally exactly eight years ago to this week we were also on A transpacific cruise on the Celebrity Millennium which went from Vancouver and ended in Shanghai, China. Having recently been to China just the previous year we had decided to disembark the cruise early at the last port stop in Japan and then do a seven day land tour of Japan via bullet train. So we disembarked in Kobe, Japan and promptly took the bullet train to Hiroshima, where we stayed overnight and visited all the important sights. This would include the Peace Memorial Park, Atomic Bomb done and Museum, Hiroshima Castle, and Miyajima & Itsukushima Shine/Tori Gate.

I mention this since we will not revisit these sights but instead see things we didn't have time for.

 

Although we docked early at 7:00am we had no intention of going out that early, especially on a Sunday. We were docked in an industrial port West of Hiroshima City Center about 20 minutes away by the closest train station. Carnival did provide a shuttle bus from the ship which would have been a 25 minutes walk away, so that really helped with touring on our own.

 

We decided to check out a historic garden called Shukkeien Garden and a museum that was literally attached to the garden.

Shukkeien Garden is a 400 year old marvel and I can honestly say it was one of the most enjoyable garden walks we've ever been on anywhere in the world. What made it unique was the elaborate landscaping to create miniature environments all within the space of less than 4 city blocks. The meandering paths weaves you in and out, up and down elaborately different garden scenes all perfect Instagram backgrounds (remember the garden was started 400 years ago). It was the perfect way to start our Sunday morning. It was peaceful and tranquil.

 

Our next stop was the Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum which was adjacent to the garden and even had pathways leading to the museum entrance. It has a highly focused collection of modern Western art but also Japanese artists that were contemporaries. Although most of the artwork couldn't be photographed a large piece by Salvador Dali was one of the few pieces allowed photos. I thought the museum was the perfect size to enjoy some time admiring both Western and Eastern artwork and thought it was an excellent curation of it's holdings. 

 

After the museum we were ready for another Japanese lunch experience. Having had ramen a couple of times we wanted to try something else. My husband Robert lives Japanese Tonkastsu, which is battered and deep fried pork cutlets. A quick Google search on my phone came up with a nice looking restaurant inside a fancy department store, so off we went. 

 

The restaurant, Wako, was at the top floor of the department store where a collection of restaurants were located. The was a self reporting waiting list so we put our names down and waited about 20 minutes. Robert had the traditional pork Tonkastsu which also includes rice, shredded cabbage, miso soup. I chose an Autumn seafood special which included shrimp, oyster, pork, and a special croquette of salmon and mushroom. Everything was fresh, crunchy and so very good! 

 

Afterwards we walked around a bit more and then headed back to the ship (both ways via train). It was a great day in Hiroshima and the weather was less hot than our time in Tokyo.

 

Photos of our day in Hiroshima. 

Edited October 2, 2023 by kwokpot

[kwokpot]

Day 17 Hiroshima Port Stop - photos

Having some WiFi problems. 

Correction: My previous TP and Hiroshima visit was 8 years ago.

Hopefully I can get the photos uploaded.

 

[kwokpot]

Day 19 Naha, Okinawa Port Stop

The day has just started so I haven't started today's touring but wanted to inform everyone that we have ANOTHER CRUISE PORT CHANGE DUE TO WEATHER. 

 

Tropical storm Koinu has been upgraded to a typhoon which impacts our getting to the next port of call, Puerto Princesa, The Philippines on October 6th. We are no longer going to that Port of Call and it will be replaced by a seaday. This means our next and final Port of Call before disembarking in Brisbane will be October 8th at Bitung, Indonesia. 

 

I'll report back later what we did here in Okinawa. 

Edited October 3, 2023 by kwokpot

[LouChamp]

Aloha. Our daughter and son in law are coincidentally in Japan on a land vacation and essentially following along with you lol. They are loving it and the food!

[mumofsons]

Amazing pictures and as always enjoying your posts! Thanks 

[kwokpot]

Day 19 Naha, Okinawa Port stop continued

I was quite curious about what Naha was going to be like. One always hears about this island in conjunction with WW2 but not being a war history buff I wasn't planning on going to see any war memorials. As with our Hiroshima Port stop we decided to tour a garden but this time it will be a Chinese Garden. Then it will be lunch out and some shopping/browsing.

 

The dock turned out to be an industrial port (we will later see that Naha does have a proper cruiseship dock closer to the city center but it was occupied by a Costa ship) and there will be free bus shuttles right to the city center. Early morning weather was not good. It was rainy and intensely humid. Think New Orleans in the summertime. As we were about to get off the ship for our sightseeing it began to downpour, so we waited a little bit for the rain to subside. Stepping outside our glasses immediately fogged up. The ride to the shuttle drop-off point was about 15-20 minutes. As I surveyed the scenery Naha immediately reminded me of Honolulu, Hawaii. 

 

The drop-off point was right by City Hall, and straight ahead was the main shopping and restaurant area. The Chinese Gardens was in the opposite direction so off we went. While it was only a 15 minutes walk the heat and humidity made it extremely uncomfortable. It wasn't that hot, about 88 degrees, but the humidity was about the same so the heat index was about 100 degrees. 

 

Walking around the Chinese style garden it was immediately apparent that it pales in comparison to the Japanese garden in Hiroshima we visited two days earlier. The main reason being the lack of maintenance of the structures and attention to details in the landscaping. It made one appreciate the amount of resources that Hiroshima must invest in the upkeep of its wonderful garden.  We still enjoyed seeing the Koi ponds and they even had a fish food dispenser where for 100 yen you can get a fist full of fish food to feed the Koi. Wow, to watch all the fish swarm around where we dropped the food was pretty wild!

 

With the humidity we had enough of the garden and wanted to find somewhere indoors with AC to cool off and find somewhere for lunch. We proceeded back to the main shopping street which by 11:30am was already crowded with tourists. We sucked in and out of tourist stores to cool off and tried to find a restaurant that suited our lunch needs. While there were tons of restaurants many if not most either served steak or seafood, and we weren't in the mood for either. I'll have to Google why Naha is famous for steak. It was a bit strange. 

 

Also strange was how drugstores along the street were all mobbed with shoppers, as if they were giving away stuff for free. We persevered to find the right place for lunch which also had good AC. It took a good 40 minutes before we found a place, this funky looking restaurant that had American memorabilia decorations inside, and most importantly excellent AC. SOLD! We sat down and we were brought menus with some English but also a QR code to order remotely in English. Robert chose a Tonkastsu set meal and I chose a Okinawan set meal. Using our mobile phone to place the order it took only a few minutes for Robert to get his ice cold Coke and about 10 minutes later our food arrived. Both of our meals were delicious.  It included a soba noodle soup with pork and Okinawan fried rice. Robert had the deep fried pork cutlet and what I had was a stir fry of chopped bitter melon, scrambled egg, tofu, and pork. We both enjoyed our lunches and the good AC made it all the more comfortable to eat hot food. 

 

After lunch we did some more shopping/browsing. Off the main shopping street were these covered alleyways/arcades lined with shops and eateries that went on for blocks. We are running low on toothpaste so I bought one for .65 cents! We were ready for some sweets so we found an ice cream stand and had some yummy Okinawan ice cream. We then made our way back to the shuttle bus stop where there was a line of passengers and crew waiting for the shuttle bus. Everyone was relieved when the shuttle buses arrived and they were nicely air conditioned. It was back to the ship for a rest before dinner.

 

Photos from our Port stop in Naha, Okinawa. 

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by kwokpot

[princess76021]

Beautiful pictures!

again, thank you for doing this!

hugs from Texas!

[pe4all]

I want to be on this cruise with you!  Loving every picture and post.  

[kwokpot]

Avoiding Typhoon Koinu update

As you all know by now Typhoon Koinu is in our direct path going Southwest towards our previously scheduled Port stop of Puerto Princesa, The Philippines, necessitating the cancellation of that Port stop and proceeding directly to Bitung, Indonesia, our last Port stop before disembarking in Brisbane, Australia.  We still need to go South to continue our journey so the captain has tried to get us around the Typhoon by taking us southeast so we skirt the typhoon's eastern edges. Still the nighttime after leaving Okinawa was quite rough with rocking and rolling all night long. Today, Day 20 the seas are still rough. The pools are drained but hot tubs still open, and the sun came out midday today and it was hot, humid and rocking. It's 9:41pm and a still rocking and rolling. The Captain did inform us today that the situation is under constant monitoring and rough seas can be expected today and tomorrow. Currently there are no expected delays for our arrival to Bitung, Indonesia on October 8th.

https://www.nytimes.com/article/typhoon-koinu-taiwan.html?unlocked_article_code=l6E36qxQJzlo-0nwW6CKGTnP30xihUVt-o-nzvIrujl3fEU5K5ya7-vZQIeQhgAsBn7HzAsmANy9f5KNkuAI2NAZ6sN5Iz4KjfIyv_-KD5_5IveCAz0hxLXn6TBTFIEQErPHLgH5W7i3GCtug62UVwOlS7ltcBEI2GcQgq_MrA6C5ePUpGK2i8UNmr-VgiwW4fRdcwVAOKfxugwVW7ebEsbQwruO4CHhJA4TD5mW6Xz8WtO-F969QtAyUZEzj7SovJAIOfJWsZTlT-NxP1WBOt9B34H3lhv_B9Og0ru1B8zej7iYgJ62Jo3_4Kiqd6AUBma6&smid=url-share

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by kwokpot

[OfcSupport]

I am also on this sailing and am getting tired of the constant motion. I will be glad when things calm down. 

[georgiacat]

I am enjoying your review so much.

[kwokpot]

Day 21 Typhoon Koinu Avoided! 

 

Our captain has done a great job avoiding the typhoon and actually the rocking and rolling subsided overnight to provide a smooth nights sleep. The day greeted us with smooth seas and sunny skies if not a bit humid. I did a little bit of sunning in the morning and napping in the afternoon before a late afternoon workout.

 

Tonight was Elegant Night and lots of people dressed up a little nicer. Today is my birthday (62) so we had dinner reservations at the steakhouse. It was our second meal at the steakhouse so far on this cruise and the food was excellent as was the first time. My ribeye was tender, flavorful and perfectly charred. My husband arranged for a birthday cake and to made for a great ending to my birthday dinner! 

photos from our steakhouse dinner.

 

 

[ninjacat123]

Great pic of you and your husband and Clint Eastwood (in the background) 👍😁

[Porky55]

On 9/22/2023 at 5:37 AM, kwokpot said:

Day 7 Update:

Our cruise past the International Dateline early this morning so we promptly went from Tuesday to Thursday.

That's how it works in the Pacific, welcome to our side of the Globe 🎉⭐️

[LouChamp]

Aloha. The happiest of birthdays!

[pe4all]

Happy birthday!  Great way to celebrate - on this cruise and in the steakhouse.

[princess76021]

May your birthday be filled with happiness!!

 

I'm really enjoying your cruise, thanks again!!

 

Hugs from Texas!

[lazydayz]

Happy Birthday!  I continue to enjoy your review.  

[mkcurran]

What a way to celebrate a birthday! Happy Birthday!

[karriec]

Happy Birthday 🥳🎂

[kwokpot]

Day 23 Bitung,Indonesia Port stop early arrival.

 

We were notified yesterday that the cancellation of our Puerto Princesa, The Philippines Port stop in order to avoid typhoon Koinu will allow us to arrive at our last Port stop, Bitung, Indonesia, a full day earlier. The estimated arrival time would be 4:30pm today and we would be able to come and go as we please with all aboard at 5:30pm tomorrow.  In anticipation of additional questions the captain also noted that timing and logistics didn't allow visiting any other Port of call. 

 

We had previously arranged a fancy brunch at the steakhouse (compliments of the casino) and we looked forward to attending and didn't have any food before our 11:30am reservation. The brunch didn't disappoint. I had steak and eggs and Robert had pasta carbonara. The food was excellent as was the service.

 

We sailed into Bitung into an industrial port which did have a cruiseship terminal building. It seemed like the whole town was there to greet us and there were people everywhere, and they even had music and entertainment welcoming us. I understand that many crew members will have family members traveling from far away to see their loved ones from the ship. 

 

It doesn't seem there's much to see in Bitung itself but the nearby town of Manado, which is about an hour away by car, is a much larger and built up town. The other tourist sights are the nature that surrounds us. The ship has only three sold out tours for tomorrow that are quite pricey but they added a few shuttle buses(which quickly sold out) that was going tonight to a mall in Manado that would leave around 5:30pm and leave around 11:00-11:30 for the 1 hour/each way trip from Bitung.

 

I think we will take a private taxi tomorrow morning to and from Manado for some sightseeing. 

 

Photos of our Steakhouse brunch and our Bitung arrival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 7, 2023 by kwokpot

[kwokpot]

Day 24 Bitung, Indonesia Port stop Day 2

 

Since the ship docked yesterday afternoon at 5:00pm and there were no restrictions on coming and going there wasn't the normal rushes or crowds at breakfast or anywhere else on the ship for that matter.  Although we had considered taking a taxi for the over 60 minutes ride to the adjacent and larger town of Manado after much thought we decided not to do that and just do a small walk around Bitung. Booking this cruise we were well aware that Bitung is a minor city with little attractions other than the nature preserve an hour away and the mountains and some beaches. We knew this wasn't going to be Bali or Jakarta and we're fine with that.

 

We went out around 10:30am and spent around an hour walking the streets near the port. Bitung is very rural and the buildings and infrastructure are in poor condition. The local people are extremely friendly and everyone, literally everyone says hello and wants to take photos with you. The children are all beautiful and adorable. Having said all this it's a bit jarring when everyone is asking for money from you, especially children of all ages. There's an unspoken expectation that when a parent offers their children for a photograph that it comes along with a donation. The requests for money were never aggressive but still jarring especially when it comes from a 3yr old. We smiled and never took any photos nor gave out any money.

 

There were a handful of eateries that were operated out of tin shacks. There were many ship passengers that were eating and drinking at the limited places. I suppose if you didn't have a drink package the alcohol would be dirt cheap compared to the ship (I never looked closely at local prices) but Robert and I have sensitive GI systems so eating local food in these conditions didn't seem like a good idea.

 

The surroundings were quite rural and poor. What was most jarring was a brand new STARBUCKS several blocks away from the cruise port. It was the nicest building and storefront in the surrounding area and obviously not meant for locals but for tourists. 

 

We heard the prayer call from the nearby mosque and we felt we had walked and seen enough. We were out about an hour. 

 

Sail away was at 5:30 and at around 4:00 it seemed that the entire local population came to the Port to say goodbye to the Luminosa. There was entertainment to see us off and with dusk approaching the crowds grew in huge proportions. It was a sight to see all the locals in one place!

 

We had a nice dinner in the MDR and went to the show which was the Playlist production of 80's to the Max. This wasn't the full blown production show with a full cast of singers and dancers and scenery, but an abridged version with only the singers and no scenery. This is the second show done this way, the previous on being the disco music reveue called Club VIP. 

Photos of Bitung, the locals saying farewell, dinner and show. 

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2023 by kwokpot

[princess76021]

Loving your cruise!!

thanks again!

hugs from Texas!

[WhiteOptima]

Just checking for updates and assume your cruise is over @kwokpot?   How was it overall?