EllieB

Glad I could help! These boards are a great resource and have helped me ensure that our trips run more smoothly. Enjoy your cruise!

Husband and I just returned from this cruise and loved it. This being basically our first real visit to Japan, we were concerned about navigating on our own at ports with the language barrier so we did book the ship's excursions for the three festivals. Absolutely loved the festivals...it was great being in smaller towns and getting to experience more local, cultural, family activities as these towns celebrated. All three festival excursions were offered as evening trips, which left you with time for other interests during the day. I would also add that at all three locations, there were numerous guides located in Akita and Tokushima that were directing people between shuttle drop off points and the venue, making it hard to get lost in the crowds, usually wearing a yellow arm bands.

Our favorite of the three was probably the first one in Akita, the Kanto festival which involved teams that balance bamboo poles carrying up to 46 candle lit paper lanterns. The teams are supported by a group of musicians playing drums and flutes. The various teams compete during the day and then demonstrate their skills at the night event. The ship charged $150, which included the bus to town with a guide to lead you to your paid seating at the venue and then priority boarding of shuttles back to town. As per norm, they scare you that if you do this on your own, with all of the crowds, you may not be able to make it back to the ship in time, hence the priority boarding for the shuttle back to the ship. While our guide was helpful with preparing us for the festival, herding us to the location, pointing out restrooms and places to buy food; this festival can fairly easily be done on your own.

Princess had a Shuttle into Akita (about 30 minute ride), which they charged $10/pp for the day. The shuttle took you from the ship and dropped you off near Senshu Park and close to the museum of art where some of the judging was occurring (got to watch the little ones balance the poles with lanterns.) That shuttle drop off location was only until 4pm, and then was moved to Bunka Kaikan Hall from 4pm-9:50pm. If I recall correctly, the Kanto ended around 8:30pm, so you had a little more than an hour afterwards to make the last shuttle, which was probably about a 20 minute walk from the venue, depending upon crowds and traffic. The paid seating was located in the middle of the streets with benches, while other people just secured the curbs of the street on both sides for free viewing, using chairs they brought, blankets, etc. There was no wait for the shuttle to return to the ship.

An alternative to the Princess shuttles was a free bus to the Akita Port Cruise Train, located across the street from the port. The train cost 200 yen each way and took you right to Akita station, and you could purchase another 200 yen ticket to return to the port. The negative to the train was that the return schedule only ran every 2 hours, which made it more tricky on a tight schedule.

We were in port for the last day of the Nebuta festival in Aomori, which involved a daytime parade of the floats from 1pm-3pm and an evening water parade with fireworks that started around 7:15pm. Since the floats are illuminated from the inside, I would imagine that daytime viewing would not be as dramatic as evening viewing. The festival evening event would probably be impossible without booking an excursion because the city closes the bridge/streets between the port and the event viewing area around 6pm till after the event. Princess did offer a $5/pp shuttle pass from the ship to the train station, but the shuttle only ran until 5pm due to the street closures for the evening show. The Princess excursion involved paid seating for the evening water parade with fireworks and required a meeting time at around 3:30pm, which made it a tight window to see the day parade and get back to the ship in time for the evening excursion, so we did not see the daytime parade in the street. This excursion cost $85/pp and featured seating of probably 15-20 rows of chairs, with no elevation, on a pier. The one hour and 45 minute fireworks show may have been viewed from the ship, but it was very dramatic to view them exploding directly overhead at times. The Diamond Princess sponsored a segment of the firework show, so you could hear the ship blowing its horn during their segment of the show, which was kind of neat. Many people were unhappy with this excursion as it was difficult to view the floats as they boated past the pier from their seats. It was cool and breezy that night on the pier, and as the evening went on, I observed more and more people huddling around the porta potties, I assume to use as wind breaks, and perhaps to stand up so they could see the floats. Prior to the evening show, since the excursion had to drop you off early at the event due to access closures, you could walk around the Aspam building, where they had the floats on display and could take pictures. There were also lots of food vendors and it was great for people watching.

For Tokushima, the ships docks in Komatsushima and Princess provides a free shuttle to take you to the Komatsushima train station, where you may then purchase train or bus tickets to get into Tokushima. The ship's evening excursion cost $240 and had paid bleacher seating, which seems crazy. Again, they brought you in early, leaving you a few hours to walk around prior to the event. Since there were multiple performances of Awa Odori dance going on throughout the city (we walked past 2 of them while waiting for our show), this is a festival that you could do on your own if you left earlier in the evening. Keep in mind, though, with no Princess shuttle between Tokushima and the ship, you are completely relying on public transportation and competing with all of the locals for space on trains, buses, taxis to get back to Komatsushima. I would also say that it was kind of a long walk for people with mobility issues to get from bus drop-off and pick-up sites, especially with the heat, and some seemed to be struggling.

Kochi was also having the Yosakoi festival while we were in port, but Princess did not have an excursion for it. Instead of going to the festival, we chose to go into the mountains, so cannot comment on this festival.

Hope this helps answer some of your questions.