LaBellaDonna

Hate to say if this is the way immigration works we won’t make any of our tours. We have a hiking trip in Yatsushiru, our first stop in Japan coming from SK, it will probably take ½ a day to get through.

Thank you so much for the information. One more question, did you have delays disembarking once you got into port? I have read some horror stories about immigration checks taking hours.

We are traveling on Riviera and it is scheduled for Kobe overnight stop on 3/16. Checked 2 different websites and Oceania is scheduled for Kobe docking not Osaka. I finally did find a trains schedule which gave me three options on the Shinkansen as we would like to be in Kyoto by 9:00 am (the ship is scheduled to dock at 7:00. We were planning on purchasing the ticket at the station. Do all the Shin trains go to the Kyoto central station? Thanks for the info on the carriages to use.

have been following your travel suggestions as our cruise arrives in Kobe on 3/16 and have plans to take the train to Kyoto and spend the night. Was hoping to get a good schedule when the trains depart for Kyoto as we were hoping to take the Shinkansen and get to Kyoto by around 9:00. Lots of post say there are frequent trains, but I can't seem to find a comprehensive site. I am looking at departing from Shin Kobe. Any suggestions?