Miaminice

Hi and thank you! We did post while on the cruise. You can find it here: If you are looking for private tours in Vietnam, contact Rose! She is absolutely the best!!!

To Japan we usually Fly ANA. Of course, since we start all our flights from Germany, we otherwise often fly Lufthansa. Lufthansa is a reliable and safe airline. Their business class is pretty good. LH is not my favorite airline (for personal reasons) but as an airline they are good. But I also have to say that we don´t have too many expectations. We just want to get there 🙂

we have been to Kagoshima 3 times so far - incl. immigration process. I think it’s fair to say we know our way around there and how to do the things we like to do 😉 On our last visit the only problem we encountered was traffic. We happened to be there on the day of the Ohara Festival. Great experience.

Anyhow... I wouldn´t recommend limiting a visit of Kagoshima to a bus tour of the city. The nice thing about the Cute pass is that the ferry to Sakurajima and the loop bus on Sakurajima are included as well a the public bus which one can take to the Sengan-en Gardens.

in October it was available at the port terminal.

Btw… getting the CUTE card (sold at the port) is a good idea. Very inexpensive and includes the ferry etc. https://www.kagoshima-yokanavi.jp/en/feature/one-day-pass2

Yes!!! We also organized all our tours in Vietnam with Rose - she is absolutely fabulous!

We have been to Japan 3 times. Some cabs do, we found most cabs don’t. Check before you get on. In some places - like Tokyo / Yokohama - you can also use the uber app.

You can also do Shimizu easily on your own. With or without a guide. we have been there 3 times already. read more here: or here https://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/HAL-Westerdam-Japan-01/hal-westerdam-japan-01.html https://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/Celebrity-Millennium-Japan/celebrity-millennium-japan.html

We have been to Tokyo / Japan a couple of times and never bothered to buy a suica card or to install it on my phone. Paying for the tickets as we went was OK, easy and worked well.

Another vote for Silhouette. Much nicer ship!

Last experiences on Solstice and Millennium. Food was good… but tbh Blu is not only about the food for us. Blu’s more relaxed ambiance and way more personal service still tops the loud and rushed MDR by far. Plus, we love breakfast at Blu.

Given the distance it is doable... taking for granted that the ship gets to the port on time. Flying back from Japan we always grant ourselves another day which we use for some more sightseeing - Kamakura, Tokyo or Yokohama etc. The day also provides a comfortable buffer. Flying back from Hong Kong the last times we had a 11 pm flight. That was also fine with me. Otherwise I wouldn´t do it for such long haul flights. Within Europe, no problem. Long story short... 11am is doable. If you are up to possible stress due to delays in arrival or disembarkation is something you need to decide.

We did the trip in October on our third cruise to Japan. Bought the ticket at a machine (unreserved seats) and did the same on the way back. No problem. No need to reserve in advance.

Celebrity always use Osanbashi Cruise Terminal in Yokohama. Pretty easy to rech by public transport from Tokyo. JR train to Yokohama Station and then subway or taxi to the pier.

Being one and looking like one are two different things 😉 To me wearing a lanyard and looking like a marked sheep as part of a flock definitely belongs to the looking like one category 😉

Never did and never will! First I am on vacation and not on a convention, second - How could I look more touristy? 😁😉

We have done one cruise to Japan on HAL and two on Celebrity Millennium. Cruisestitch link our latest review above. Besides the occasional dish on the buffet - like Ramen - and maybe a cultural show activities and food on board are like anywhere else and not really tailored to Japan. Diamond Princess is a little different because she also has Japanese passengers on board. We considered Diamond Princess for a next cruise but ended up booking Millennium for a fourth cruise to Japan. Mainly because of the more attractive itinerary.

@Carlea1961 Yes, some companies do that. Regardless, we just did the tour and we planned all our Vietnam tours with Rose, a young lady from Hanoi. Best tours ever - and we have done 30+ cruises worldwide, We enjoyed Vietnam so much that we booked a Mekong River cruise for September this year including Anchor Wat at the end. Here’s our report including contact info

look at #31 for links with lots of info

So do we. We never cared much about the thermal suite. And we couldn´t care less about a tote bag or things like that. We always asked for the canapes NOT to be delivered. Enough food as it is... However, we love Aqua for Blu!!! We just don´t like the loud and hectic MDR and very much enjoy the more personal service of Blu. So whenever we are not sailing on E class - very we also enjoy the smaller MDRs - we book AQ just for BLU. Given the price is not too crazy.

I used an international pocket wifi until a few years ago when the e-Sims came up. Used Ubigi e-Sim in Japan on two cruises and Airalo regional e-Sim in SE Asia. Works great! Ubigi is supposed to be better than Airalo in Japan. Calling via whatsapp etc is no problem.

Metropolitan Marunouchi near Tokyo Station or the Park Hyatt known from the movie "Lost in translation". We like to stay at the Gracery in Shinjuku.

Maybe this helps: https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2970853-celebrity-millennium-japan-10242023-liveish-report/page/2/ This was our third Japan cruise. This time we did Kyoto on day one by Shinkansen and Osaka on day 2. Cruise # 4 is already booked 🙂

We like to stay at The Kowloon Hotel. Good hotel at a great location for reasonable rates. Cheapest way from the airport is the Airport Express train. However, taxis are not too expensive either. You can use the uber app for a small extra fee. For example a taxi from the port to the airport is just HK$ 280 - roughly US$ 35. And the distance from the city to airport is shorter than that.