Blossoms, bullet train and beyond: exploring Japan by Land and Sea.

Last night departure from Shimizu was lovely. People waving for ages, and a loudspeaker address thanking us for visiting. And then fireworks which was a little unfortunate timing as it was 4pm.


Well that was supposed to be departure time but one of the ships excursions ran very late and the bus had to drive right up to immigration control.
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Pushka said:
And @RooFlyer - we now have two of the charms. You just walk in at a specified time, say hello and they give you one. Nice.
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Now I realise that the charms are not diamonds it’s all understandable😊.

And the Passport for going ashore. Do you have to do immigration every time you get off in the one country? That’s not normal on cruises is it? Even visiting multiple countries like we did in the Caribbean . No Passport required.
 
I’ve gone into the Luminae lounge to escape the crowd. Everything in here is free for suites. The soft drinks 24/7. The acohol from 8am until last guest leaves at night. And they are fine with a large top up pre dinner and theatre to go.

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It was busy last night for a suite greet with officers. The best wagyu slider! 😂

I’m here while the crowds leave for excursions. MrP ensconced in the gym. On his return we will have a quick lunch then off to MtRokko on our own.
 
In japan you do have to pass by an Immigration officer at each port. though sometimes he/she goes off on a break and people just keep walking past. And not often was the passport actually looked at. this is from 3 Cruises with Japanese ports.
 
RooFlyer said:
Now I realise that the charms are not diamonds it’s all understandable😊.

And the Passport for going ashore. Do you have to do immigration every time you get off in the one country? That’s not normal on cruises is it? Even visiting multiple countries like we did in the Caribbean . No Passport required.
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This is Japan and they consider the ship leaving one Japan port and travelling to another port is leaving the county. It’s their thing. Not sure if it will happen today. It’s rather unique. We did have to do this a bit of the Suez trip as we were going to different countries. Not a thing in Europe.

The charms are quite cute. Worth keeping.
 
drron said:
In japan you do have to pass by an Immigration officer at each port. though sometimes he/she goes off on a break and people just keep walking past. And not often was the passport actually looked at. this is from 3 Cruises with Japanese ports.
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Our passport was scanned the first port. Yesterday. Haven’t gone onshore yet today.

Any tips for a Kobe steak restaurant for lunch tomorrow?
 
Quickstatus said:
Do all the alcohol have to be consumed in place, or can you take back to cabin

Also what is not included in Suites?
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We can take it everywhere. They encourage us to do so with a top up on exit.

Every suite level has different inclusions. The top suites own the ship. 😂. We already have seen the couple who got the Royal Suite. It’s rather funny. They are the least unroyal couple in the lounge. I think we’ll get on great.

Our Butler is pretty awesome. He was the one who set up the perfect tea tray. As we’d run out of milk this morning I took the jug to the buffet for a top up. Got back to the room and he’d already replaced it. Oops.

If we have a celebrity excursion we don’t meet with everyone else in the theatre but in the lounge where we are escorted at the last minute. That’s a big plus. But we only have two booked excursions.

For dinner last night there was an off menu order for butter chicken. I asked our attendant the spice level. He said medium. I said medium tourist or medium Indian. He laughed and said he would provide me a dish of sambal. Perfect.
 
Can you purchase top shelf wines if you wish to? And if you do, will they go and fetch it from wherever it is stored to wherever you happen to have dinner?
 
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RooFlyer said:
Can you purchase top shelf wines if you wish to? And if you do, will they go and fetch it from wherever it is stored to wherever you happen to have dinner?
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Yep. They will find the bottle no matter which restaurant. The logistics are amazing. I’ll grab a picture of the huge tub of bottles tonight.

Most have left the ship now to visit Osaka and Kyoto. So pleased we did this on our own and not have to rush now.
 
Quickstatus said:
I was wondering why you did a japan cruise plus extra DIY component
.....
How the elevator noise?
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Elevator noise is no issue. They are in separate areas adjacent to stairs.

Some love the safety of ship excursions but if at all possible we DIY both pre and during the cruise. If there’s a risk of traffic delays and port a long way then we do ship excursions. Overnight stops - always DIY. The trip we did yesterday was private and we visited the lake for Fuji that ship buses aren’t allowed to go to.
 

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