Best of Japan - Millennium 5/2 - 5/15

[MustBCruzn]

19 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 I had not planned to post pictures of the base since it’s not really a place cruise tourist may be interested, but since you asked now I will. I was on the USS Oklahoma City 70 - 73, Navy Communications Station 73 - 78, and USS Midway 81 - 84.  That all seems so long ago.

 

 

 

I was stationed on Okinawa 76 - 77, and at NH Yokosuka from 77 - 79. Yup, it was a long time ago. 😅

[StopTheWorld]

30 minutes ago, soccermommy said:

I wish we had had more time in Yokohama, we spent only 1 night at the Hyatt Regency. We did visit Chinatown, only a couple of blocks from the hotel, and had a great dinner there. There is quite a large Chinese population in Yokohama, and Chinese food is very popular. Who knew?
We got a great rate at the Hyatt, and we really liked the hotel. We were so close to the terminal we just walked a few blocks. Even with our not small suitcases, it only took about 10 minutes, but the weather was good. If I ever get back to Japan, and I really, really want to return, I think we’d spend a few days in Yokohama.

Your pictures are great!

We have the Hyatt booked for a night post cruise in October. Glad to hear it’s walkable! 😊

[Northern Aurora]

On 4/28/2024 at 11:09 PM, FionaMG said:

Apart from the cherry blossoms, did you have a preference as to which time of year to visit?

 

We have now done B2B Japan cruises in the fall (2018) and in April (we boarded on March 28th this year). My husband and I discussed your question last night, and we don't have a preference.

 

Last month we did luck out with cherry blossoms, and the fact that we were B2B helped the cherry blossom viewing as we saw more on the first leg which focused more on southern Japan.  On the second leg (starting April 9) some of the blossoms at the northern ports were just starting to bud.  The cruise before ours in March 2024 lost a port due to high winds (which prevented them from docking).   While we hit all of our ports we did have absolutely miserable weather on the March 28th cruise at Shimizu.  We actually stayed on the ship since we were there in 2018 and were going to repeat that port on the second leg.  Winds were so bad that a Retreat bartender told us that an aft mooring line snapped.  While that was never confirmed by the captain we certainly did have a tug pushing us against the pier for over an hour and the gangway was closed for about 50 minutes.

 

In the fall of 2018 we dealt with two typhoons which impacted our itinerary.  My attitude always is that I am just going where the ship goes but this caused a significant amount of consternation among some of the passengers.  We did spend five full days in Tokyo after leaving the ship in 2018 and we had absolutely spectacular weather.

[Pushka]

We are planning for April 2025 and had only planned for a quick overnight in Yokohama. We have now extended our time there after reading your TR. 

[Alan2504]

On 4/28/2024 at 8:21 PM, DaKahuna said:

 

 

I encourage my fellow travelers to share their experiences here with me as our experience has been that what we like or dislike may be different from someone else's experience. 

 

 

We flew in from Helsinki yesterday to NRT was expecting it to take some time to get through immigration customs etc. I reckon it took from landing to pulling away from the airport less than 30mins!

Woke up this morning to a rather soggy Yokohama so our side trip to Kakamura is looking unlikely, see you onboard tomorrow, weather looks much better for sailaway😎

[prairie girl]

Hi everyone!  We are on this sailing as well!  Thank you DaKahuna for starting the thread and allowing us to follow along.

We arrived at Narita from our direct flight from Calgary yesterday at 4:30 pm.  It took us longer to taxi to our gate in terminal 1, than it did to go through Customs and Immigration!  We also had an unusually long wait time for our luggage to arrive to the carousel.  We managed to catch the 1740 limo bus to the Yokohama Intercontinental Grand with no issues.  It’s great to finally arrive into Yokohama as this sailing (or variation of) was originally booked in 2019…better late than never!!

We had a wonderful rest and sleep last night and already feel adjusted to the time difference.  We set out this morning with great plans to spend the day on foot in a light drizzle.  The light rain was heavy at times, and even with rain gear and being prepared, the rain won!  There are not very many days in our travels where we have had to surrender to inclement weather, but today was one of them!  
I would highly recommend to others to spend more than one day in this beautiful city as there is much to see and do, even if it is raining.

Sandy
 

 

 

[scorfman]

We arrived at Haneda about 12:30, a good hour ahead of schedule. We were in Delta premium economy and it was quite nice. Still a very long flight but comfortable. We were through immigration and customs in about 50 minutes. We headed to a bus ticket kiosk and grabbed a Keiku Limo Bus to Osanbashi Pier for $10 for both of us that left at 1340. It was a 2 block walk in the rain to the Hyatt Yokohama with bags. They really treated us well as we entered. They took our bags from us and took us up to the club lounge, gave us a cold hand towel and a glass of cold peach tea, and checked us in and briefed us as we sat in comfort. A+.

We then went up to our room and our bags quickly followed. We paid about $200 for the room but spent 9000 Hyatt points to upgrade to an amazing room with a view of the harbor. It’s still pouring rain but we’re off to do some exploring, even if it’s just a Lawsons or 7-11, or some food in China Town 😀

[DaKahuna]

Love to see all these names from our Roll Call spreadsheet announcing their safe arrivals.  Glad to see many of you also took advantage of the Keikyu airport Limousine Bus.  It’s very inexpensive, comfortable and a safe way to travel. 

 

 We just returned from venturing down to Yokosuka via train. The weather was not very cooperative as has already been noted.  We just arrived back at our hotel shortly before 1600 and cancelled the plans we had to have dinner in Chinatown.  We will try and make China Town and possibly Kamikura/Diabutsu on our post cruise stay.  

 

 I am dried out and changed into my clothes for embarkation tomorrow and we’ll be packing our bags just a little later.  In the mean time, I have a ticket for a free drink at the hotel lobby bar that I am going to use and possibly add one or two more with it.  

 

While out and about today I got a notice about the safety survey.  Went into the Celebrity App and completed the Health Questionnaire and watched the safety video’s.  

 

On the way back to the hotel, my wife decided there was a shortage of pastry onboard so she stopped in this store to gather up some supplies to take onboard tomorrow.  

 

 

Time for a cold wet drink with alcohol in it.  

 

 

[DaKahuna]

17 hours ago, MustBCruzn said:

 

I was stationed on Okinawa 76 - 77, and at NH Yokosuka from 77 - 79. Yup, it was a long time ago. 😅

 

 Thank you for your service and yes, that was a long time ago. 

 

 Unfortunately the weather prevented me from taking the pictures I had in mind as any plans I had to walk from the main gate to the NEX, via the road that goes past the hospital were blown away in the wind and the rain.  I did try to walk from the exchange up to the skeet and trap pits beyond the baseball field but by the time I got to the field the wind had become unbearable so i turned around.  

 

 Here are the few photo’s I did capture .. 

 

 This use to be the field house for the gym.  I don’t think it is used today. 

 The new gym/field house is in back to the Benny Decker Theater to the left of the baseball diamonds.

 

 

 

 These anchors have been there for as long as I can remember. 

 

 

Home of the Yokosuka Seahawks.  Watched a lot of softball at this place. 

 

 

 The thrift shop 

 

 

 The base theater — showing its

 

 

Our daughter started middle school here .

 

 

Another part of the school 

 

 

The food court — There is also a Baskin Robin, an American Cafe, and a Pizza Hut in the main Exchange building. 

 

[DaKahuna]

I just had a pop up come up and then disappear asking if someone could join me in the bar.  Most certainly.  I am the fat old guy in a blue shirt and black pants.  Most likely sitting at the bar itself .. headed down now. 

 

[FionaMG]

Thanks @Northern Aurora, that's very helpful. 😊

[scorfman]

Street Dim Sum for the win.

[Alan2504]

We managed, despite the weather to get over to the Red Brick Warehouse where my DW browsed the shops, whereas I found a spot at an authentic German beer festival 🍺 

 

A nice way to spend sometime on a rainy day

 

 

 

[hcat]

20 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 We took a nice nap after our busy morning.  Fortunately we had planned for this and had purchased bento’s for this evening’s meal in the room.  

 

Outside:

 

 

Inside:  For a prepared meal you normally cannot go wrong with a nice bento box

 

.

 

 

So after waking up from our afternoon nap, we made a pot of hot water for some green tea and had our bento’s.  We are now relaxing and watching YouTube videos while planning for our visit to Yokosuka tomorrow.  

 

I am going to go to the Navy base, where I was stationed on three occasions, just to look around while my DW is going to be meeting with her sister for lunch and shopping.   It’s going to be interesting to see how much the base has changed in 34 years. 

love the Bento, & with green tea = perfect!

 

sounds like you are enjoying pre cruise sights and food..police boxes and child kidnap warning signs? ...did the city  feel safe?

 

hope you have another nice day ahead!

[hcat]

looks like weather had an impact on plans.. great reading all the posts so far.

BON VOYAGE!

[DaKahuna]

44 minutes ago, hcat said:

sounds like you are enjoying pre cruise sights and food..police boxes and child kidnap warning signs? ...did the city  feel safe?

 

 

 The weather could have been better.  We’ve not had a chance to eat the foods we know and love but what we have had was to our liking.  We’ll save the sushi and sashimi for our post cruise adventures.  

 

 The cities are very safe. I am still not convince my DW was correct as to the meaning of that sign.  I still think both the adult and child look like aliens. 

 

[DaKahuna]

38 minutes ago, hcat said:

looks like weather had an impact on plans.. great reading all the posts so far.

BON VOYAGE!

 

 Thanks.  Your weather is definitely better from your review photo’s.  Enjoy Mexico — take a walk over to WalMart and play the “how many crew members can you spot” game.   We ran into quite a few even though most, if not all, of them were shopping for others who could not leave the ship.  

 

[DaKahuna]

@prairie girl  It was great meeting and talking with your and your husband.  We’ll have to get together at Cellar Masters for a glass or two of wine on a sea day or one evening. 

 

Look forward to meeting up at the sail away around 4:30 - 5:00 PM tomorrow at the Sunset Bar. 

 

[MustBCruzn]

5 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Thank you for your service and yes, that was a long time ago. 

 

 Unfortunately the weather prevented me from taking the pictures I had in mind as any plans I had to walk from the main gate to the NEX, via the road that goes past the hospital were blown away in the wind and the rain.  I did try to walk from the exchange up to the skeet and trap pits beyond the baseball field but by the time I got to the field the wind had become unbearable so i turned around.  

 

 Here are the few photo’s I did capture .. 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow!!! Thank you so much for this walk through memory lane. Nothing has changed...even the anchors. Thank you for taking the time to take these photos. It took me right back.

[Alan2504]

Just a heads-up for future cruisers regarding the welcome suica card, if, as we did, you get these in advance of arrival in Japan, it's worth activating these at JR counters at the airport otherwise if you get a transfer direct to your hotel in Yokohama, as we did you'll need to get to the nearest JR station (Yokohama) to do this, then you can re-load these up at any 7/11

Alternatively use e-suica if you have an i-phone

Edited May 1 by Alan2504
Add

[Rick&Jeannie]

We will be doing this same cruise in August...have really enjoyed following!

[JackE]

8 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Thank you for your service and yes, that was a long time ago. 

 

 Unfortunately the weather prevented me from taking the pictures I had in mind as any plans I had to walk from the main gate to the NEX, via the road that goes past the hospital were blown away in the wind and the rain.  I did try to walk from the exchange up to the skeet and trap pits beyond the baseball field but by the time I got to the field the wind had become unbearable so i turned around.  

 

 Here are the few photo’s I did capture .. 

 

 This use to be the field house for the gym.  I don’t think it is used today. 

 The new gym/field house is in back to the Benny Decker Theater to the left of the baseball diamonds.

 

 

 

 These anchors have been there for as long as I can remember. 

 

 

Home of the Yokosuka Seahawks.  Watched a lot of softball at this place. 

 

 

 The thrift shop 

 

 

 The base theater — showing its

 

 

Our daughter started middle school here .

 

 

Another part of the school 

 

 

The food court — There is also a Baskin Robin, an American Cafe, and a Pizza Hut in the main Exchange building. 

 

Thank you for your service and the photos!

[AstoriaPreppy]

On 4/29/2024 at 7:39 PM, DaKahuna said:

We went down to the hotel’s Ocean Terrace buffet for breakfast.  A very wide selection of food was available, including typical Japanese breakfast items as well as American and European fare (thankfully no beans though that I saw). It was good but I am not sure it was worth the price. 

 

 

This morning was cold, 65 F, and raining but it is starting to warm up a couple of degrees and it is cloudy and over cast.  

 

 This is where Millennium will be docking Thursday morning. 

 

 

 

 Yokohama Bay bridge.  We crossed over it last evening on the way from the airport.  Millennium will be sailing under her when we pull out Thursday. 

 

 

Our plan for this morning is to walk to Minatomirai station and take the train to Yokohama station.  It’s a six minute ride and cost 200 Yen per person.   Have Suica app, will travel!

 

 

When we did this sailing on Millennium in October 2019, we departed and arrived at the Daikoku terminal on the opposite side of the bridge. Getting there was a major PITA from both Tokyo and Yokohama (no public transportation), and the terminal was more like a random tent on what we ended up calling "parking lot island." You'll have a much better sailaway from Osanbashi. 

[DaKahuna]

6 hours ago, Alan2504 said:

it's worth activating these at JR counters at the airport otherwise if you get a transfer direct to your hotel in Yokohama,

 

  Thank you for this information.  We both use the Surica app in our Apple Wallet.  Has worked well for all our train rides.  Interestingly enough, the fare is cheaper if you use IC to pay than if you buy a physical ticket.  I think I only noticed one or two people in all our travels using a physical ticket.  

 

[DaKahuna]

Good morning .. 

 

 Am waiting to see if I can get anything close to a decent picture of Millennium as she crosses under the Yokohama Bay Bridge and proceeds to Osanbashi dock.  It is foggy this morning and she’s not quite at the bridge yet.