cruiseaholic78

If you get a bit further with your planning this is an invaluable site for checking each individual cabin. Happy planning https://halfacts.com/signature-class/

Here is something rather different. https://www.teamlab.art/e/planets/ and this is also a great website https://tokyocheapo.com/ they have other cities as well happy planning

You could always tell on the tender returning to the ship that someone had ridden the donkeys. There was a definite smell of donkey!

Just registered and got the one Q code took less than fifteen minutes! Time will tell if it was worth it.

I would save your money for excursions etc as many said above jeans are perfectly acceptable by HAL. He will not look out of place, so don’t worry and enjoy your cruise.

With all the above mentioned problems with dining times why not just choose “anytime dining”?

I stand corrected you are absolutely correct it was January 2024 not 2025, as it is a rainy day I will wade through the forms and apply. Here is a great website for Tokyo and they also have other Japanese ports as well. https://tokyocheapo.com/?utm_source=pwa&utm_campaign=direct Happy planning

Some additional info added with the exact details you need to fill in on the app. Have a great time and don’t forget stroopwafels.

Slightly off topic but has nobody ever suggested you change your Avatar name, we are encouraged to not give our mail addresses here to avoid being targeted by spam. In your case you would quote RCClark6369 at aol dot com to avoid this happening. Maybe the above is not your email so disregard my suggestion and understand I am only trying to help not interfere.

Once you are templed/shrined out I would suggest this. https://www.teamlab.art/e/planets/ A totally unexpected experience, if it is sold out do persever as we managed to find a booking when it had been sold out. We just had to work out if we could make it in time! we did raced into the shower hurried breakfast etc and then we couldn’t find it. (No data on phone, next time we will have it) ended up at police station trying to say TeamLabs into his phone. One man worked out what we wanted and then with no English but lots of sign language he gave us directions. We also enjoyed Kawagoe and Kamakura but you might have to decide on just one as there is so much to see in Tokyo. Happy planning

Maybe you can join a waitlist,(if HAL has one) its a long way away so much can happen in the meantime.

Have you checked the cabin sticky at the top of this forum? There are not many comments but always worth a look.

Totally off topic but if you have some free time in Tokyo and have seen enough temples might I suggest this. https://www.teamlab.art/e/planets/ Very different and great fun, if its booked keep checking as some become available on the day.

Actually there are two registrations one for immigration and one for customs. We have used them twice once at Narita (within Covid) when we sailed straight through and once at Haneda when we just seemed to join the queue. I think I read that from February there will only be one code so going in January we will have two and then returning only have one so I think we will have to do two applications. Will check this and return if my info is not correct. Above info is correct, I would advise filling it in it does take a while though. https://services.digital.go.jp/en/visit-japan-web/news/20240125-01/

Azamara Journey has Port Louis to Cape Town on 20th January 2026, maybe this is an option?

This is what I would look at booking a day room at/near the airport. Dayuse.com

We always take Muesli/Granola bars with us when leaving the ship in case we get back late and get peckish. They took away these as they had raisins in them which are of course dried grapes so fruit. Despite warnings on board this had never occurred to us.

I hope they haven’t done away with the dispensers for breakfast cereals including servings of Granola! It took me a while to find them but I take my Granola in a bowl then off to the yoghurt station to get some Greek yogurt which I top off with some dates/figs/nuts etc and I am good to go. I hate sloppy muesli too but love Granola so I am hoping this will still be available next month on Zuiderdam.

We couldn't find it got directed to the police station, hilarious trying to pronounce Team Labs into their phone no luck with that, then one knew what we meant and acted out two bridges found them. Still looking then saw a small crowd and found it.

I was going to post this tip but just saw your recommendation, we loved it so different to all the temples. I do have one tip though, in our few days in Tokyo it was sold out then our last free morning I checked again and found eight places, while discussing the logistics it was down to three so clicked on it! Happy planning

I agree its difficult to compare the R ships to Vista but in my opinion I would not say that O has better food. We were on a Christmas New Years cruise on Regatta and they had a Red Ginger evening, I went to get the famous Duck salad, there were some bowls with tiny bits of meat in them. I asked about the salad and he pointed to them, to this day I regret not taking a photo. There were some who complained about the food who got phone call from management and to be honest it did improve. To see if Azamara was as good as we remembered we went on a short cruise a few months later. I was blown away by their welcome buffet and brunch later on and the usual offerings were also as good as O. On another note we had more entertainment on this short cruise than on the Australia navigation, BBQ on deck etc. Christmas and New Year on O were disappointing to say the least! I was nearly forgetting the Azamazing evening an onboard or offshore event organized for the whole ship. We have had some fantastic ones. Here are some examples.

Sometimes cruise companies will offer a city tour dropping off at the airport. I would suggest you book a day room at Auckland airport, this gives you the chance to relax before your flights home. We have done this in Sydney and chose a hotel with a pool, it was private we were the only ones there, then a relaxing meal before changing back into cold weather gear before returning home. Here is one example but there are many google day room etc. https://www.dayrooms.com/en/day-rooms-auckland/novotel-auckland-airport/

When you fill in your pre booking docs you are asked what language you want. Why not just print out your luggage tags? At this time of year I wouldn’t expect many cruisers with children as the little darlings all have to be in school! That said there might be some with younger children but HAL customers are more likely to be grandparents than parents. Fijne vakantie Rosalyn

You will be getting some wonderful history with a combination of Hotel New York and SS Rotterdam. Here is all the info you might nedd. Happy planning Rosalyn https://ssrotterdam.com/

There is not much to do here, most people wandered around and went to the 7/11 to spend their remaining Yen.