drron29

Some of the floral displays on board.

Up at 0600 to see the Muse come in. Our last breakfast at the IC Yokohama. BA must put their staff up here. We did see several Asian airline staff as well Not that far from Haneda. And my breakfast. It was the worst day of our trip so far. Cold, rain and wind. I had been going for another walk this morning and planning on buying a bottle or 2 of Japanese gin. Did walk over to the gin stalls. Only 3 of 6 open, one only sold mixed drinks, one didn't sell by the bottle and the last was packing up and leaving but they agreed to sell a bottle. fortunately they were my number 1 pick. Coming back to the hotel I thought the umbrella was going to invert on several occasions. Virtually no one out and about. There was one Japanese fellow in a phone box taking pictures of the harbour though. Then when back in the room there were hardy souls queuing to get into the Exhibition building next door. As it was such an awful day and we were able to have a late check out we only left the hotel at 1430, Got a taxi to the pier. Took the taxi a while to get access as a couple of vans were blocking all traffic So ended up a 1300 yen fare ( $A15 ). But all undercover. Dropped off our bags fairly quickly, Filled in the health Questionnaire, checked in and had our photos taken, Ship card issued and on boarding straight to our suite. Were in there a bit before 1515. Luggage arrived 5 minutes later. So our verandah suite.

Our last night and a parade of boats to watch fireworks. I assumed their way of saying goodbye to us.

And we love miss Vicki.

So time to walk back to the hotel. At the Queen's mall another festival. The Keio University Jazz band were playing and they were good. The drummer was excellent. At one stage he dropped the stick from his left hand,reached behind and caught it and then threw it in the air catching again as if it was part of the act. It was then time to take Rojaan out to another mall where I had found some of her favourite shops. Uniglo, Marimekko and another Daiso store. Once again at Daiso she found a few items she didn't realise she needed. I had intended to find a restaurant for a late lunch. Also found a supermarket. Love walking around Japanese supermarkets. Ended up buying some sushi and Kyoho grapes for dinner. An extensive array of sushi and cheaper than our local supermarkets. There was also live music in the mall.

Now time to disembark. A most important sign. There were a lot of staff presenting an exhibition of mariner's photos. One young fellow speaking perfect English persuaded me to don the Captain's Uniform and he would take my picture. Fitted perfectly. So when I hopped up on the box several older staff were going around the crowd speaking Japanese. This resulted in several young children running over and taking my photo. So now a Yokohama legend.

The Captain's quarters. They had the same tiles as our bathroom in the 1950s. More officer's digs. Lovely stained glass ceiling. Cadets shower. The real steering wheel.

The cadets bunks. Doctors rooms and medical unit. O Operating theatre. Lecture theatre and dining room for cadets. the galley. And what is said was a normal meal. But then a photo of the cadets eating. I think maybe the last picture was of the Captain's meal. Some photos of when it was a working ship. But at times they do have it fully rigged.

I wondered what the coconuts were for. Well it was these that were used to scrub the decks. For the weekly wash. Fortunately a better set of stairs to go up. Time to practice your knots. The engine. The engineers office.

So now onwards to the Nippon Maru. The admission was 1000 yen but 800 for seniors. There was audio at every point around the ship. First in Japanese and then English. And in the cadet training days the deck was scrubbed every morning.

OK so back to Yokohama. After breakfast I went for a walk heading for the Nippon Maru. Saw the Landmark Tower from the ground. Walked past Number 2 dock. Looked back to the Hard Rock cafe. The watched an intriguing game of kayak polo. So the aim was to keep your kayak between the ball and your opponents. The blue team was better. And they scored a goal.

Dress code holding up in Atlantide. But lending jackets though seems to be fewer. La Terraza last night. Informal dress code but a clear majority of men > 80% wearing a jacket. Venetian cocktail event tonight and of course formal dress code.

August would be better. Cyclone season lasts until April. It would be more humid in May although the waterfalls would be more spectacular. If the cruise ends in Broome 2 nights means you would have enough time to see the main sights in Broome. Plus hotel rooms are quite expensive in Broome. If starting in Broome I would recommend going a day or two before as flights are quite often cancelled. To or from Broome I would suggest a stop in Perth as it is wildflower season and in Western Australia it’s spectacular but hire a car to get to a greater variety. Well worth some time in Darwin as a trip to Kakadu National Park is highly recommended. Trips usually take in Katherine as well for it’s spectacular gorge.

On our current cruise on the Muse for the first time ever on a mid cruise questionnaire I made 4 complaints plus a couple of compliments. 3 were things I just don't like and one serious. 1. really don't like the TV in the mirror. I find it very slow to respond to the remote. 2. when the adjoining suite has there TV on we can hear it. Told our butler who did intervene and not as loud now but you still can hear it. Need better insulation. 3. No list of cheeses in Atlantide. Told that officially not on the menu but they make it up with what they have. hence waiters have no idea which cheeses are available on the night. I like to pick my cheeses. But really worried by number 4. As usual we made a donation to the crew fund. As usual I just handed an envelope containing cash to the reception staff. This has not been a problem on the last 10 cruises. This time no recognition letter so asked why on the questionnaire. 1030 pm on the day I put in the questionnaire got a ring from the finance office as there was no record of the donation. It woke Rojaan up, I was not yet asleep. I was able to give the time i handed it in but I would be the worst person for a police sketch artist to draw a face but I said a line up I would have no trouble identifying the person. was just wanting to make sure the crew were recognised. So today a letter of appreciation from the Captain. No advice on what happened and I don't expect to find out. But next cruise I will take a photo of the staff on Reception and ask for a receipt.

OK there is another twist. On my iPhone I can only see one of the pictures in the posts from yesterda. But using my PC with Windows 11 I can see all the pictures. Maybe there is a problem in how CC works with Apple. I do have a problem some times that pictures I post from my iPhone are upside down or sideways, that is never a proble with my camera photos which are always downloaded to my computer.

So do I today so I will do a post with just the pictures as too late to edit. Had this problem in the past on a couple of occasions. Obviously my computer just likes to be different.

I am on the Muse now. At times very good and I can do several posts with many photos in a short time and sometimes quite slow. That was particularly true on the sea day as obviously a lot were connected.

Well jacket wearing in Atlantide on informal nights is virtually 100%. Some on sitting immediately take the jacket off and put it over their seat. A couple of them when walking out leave the jacket behind so it was a loaner jacket given to them when entering the restaurant. Last night a young fellow turned up at La Dame without a jacket and was brought into Atlantide to get a jacket. On the Moon earlier this year a few were without a jacket. So enforcement of the dress code is more common than our last 2 cruises on the Moon and Dawn.

Not a problem. At dinner tonight a fellow wearing a very expensive designer outfit said he liked my jacket and was impressed when I told him the cost. So to each his own.

She did indeed.

Certainly tonight the Maitre'D of Indochine was not enforcing the dress code.

We have left Yokohama but are back next April so will keep that in mind.

Awoke early before the sun had risen. The MSC Bellisima had come in overnight. couldn't make it under the Bridge so at a Pier that the car transporters had been using. Then the Regent Seven seas Explorer arrived.