Have any of you sailed the itinerary Kobe, Japan to Vancouver, B. C. ?

[SLSD]

OK. We are leaning toward signing up for this itinerary. My husband is especially in favor and I am looking forward to it as well. We will probably contact our TA tomorrow. One other question. Which airport did you fly into for this itineary? Osaka?

[RustyRollock]

Correct.

[Mahogany]

This is an itinerary i’ve been interested in for a while, but having been to Alaska three times, I couldn’t find one without the Inner Passage. However, I am going next September on Silversea Muse from Seward to Tokyo. As a solo traveler Silversea offers good pricing. That said, i’m boarding Ovation today in Copenhagen, and paying 200%!

[SLSD]

Mahogany, I have a close friend who is a solo cruiser. While she travels with a friend, the friend insists on having her own suite, so my friend has to pay the supplement.

 

We've never been to Alaska and didn't really want an Alaska only cruise, so this one may work well for us.

 

Have a great time on your upcoming SB cruise.

[D999]

We were on this cruise this year and then stayed on for the first Alaska cruise of the season. We thoroughly enjoyed the first leg - it was a great group of passengers. The ports were few but interesting. Weather was mixed. Freezing in Aomori but beautifully sunny in many ports. The sea days were well managed - plenty to do if you were so inclined. Repairs were annoying but didn’t spoil the cruise. Would recommend this itinerary.

 

The second leg highlighted for us the different atmosphere between a longer less port-intensive and a shorter hectic cruise - still fun but different crowd entirely and less time to get to know people.

D.

[SLSD]

Thank you for the report D999. It is fun to have leisure and time to get to know people.

[airtana]

Your cruise is next May - 9 months away. The deck repairs are scheduled to be completed by this October - 2 months away. Don’t let a non-existent problem (by then) spoil your plans by overthinking it.

 

Hey, Rusty, just curious how you know the repairs will be done by October and when exactly will they be doing them? I am boarding the Pacific Costal on Oct. 7 with a friend who has never been on Seabourn and I can only hope they are not doing the repairs during this 8 day segment. Any insight is apppreciated.

[jozi]

Osaka is fine from what I hear. If you plan to spend pre-cruise time in Japan you might find it easier to fly to Tokyo and take the Shinkansen (bullet train) down to Kobe. (We actually did Tokyo-Kyoto-Kobe). Spending a few days in Kyoto and Nara after a long weekend in Tokyo. We had our bags shipped from our Tokyo hotel to our Kobe hotel, so didn’t have to schlep. Super convenient, very inexpensive, maybe $15/bag. Also be careful of Japanese celebration of “Golden Week”, though obviously locked into the ship’s schedule. I think it ends May 7.

OK. We are leaning toward signing up for this itinerary. My husband is especially in favor and I am looking forward to it as well. We will probably contact our TA tomorrow. One other question. Which airport did you fly into for this itineary? Osaka?

[BasandSyb]

And next year the public holidays for Golden Week coincide with the abdication of Akihito and the enthronement of Naruhito - potentially providing two long weekends and a 10 day break. So the number of people moving around at the end of April beginning of May will be substantial. We ended up booking our air travel for this trip a few months ago in case things got tight. This also played into our decision to base ourselves in Osaka rather than Kyoto as we are going in early to do some day trips.

[Kruzngrl]

We took this exact same repositioning cruise this year from Japan to Vancouver, primarily to see Japan. We flew into Tokyo (from Miami) several days ahead of embarkation. One day of touring in Tokyo was all that was really needed. In retrospect I wish that we would have flown into Osaka. We loved Osaka and Kobe. A couple of our Alaska ports were canceled which was okay with us since we’d done the 14 day Alaska cruise last year. Our only complaint was with the condition and service on the Sojourn. I’m not sure if Seabourn used this cruise as a training cruise or not, however the dining room service and Colonnade was chaos. The pool deck was also closed for repairs so we couldn’t dine outside. Other than that, it was an enjoyable cruise, as with most Seabourn cruises.

[SLSD]

Thanks Kruzgril. We are flying into Osaka and transferring to Kyoto for a few days before embarkation in Kobe. We will hope that service is better this time around.

[wdpmd]

Have a look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up8um5ZNhEw. It's from this trip earlier this year. Probably our best trip ever.

[raphael360]

On 8/27/2018 at 9:48 PM, SLSD said:

We are still looking at SB itineraries and are considering a May 2019 cruise leaving from Kobe Japan, taking in two more Japanese ports, a port in far Eastern Russia, across the Pacific, several Alaska ports, and two ports in British Columbia including disembarkation in Vancouver . It is a 23 day voyage. I think it is basically a repositioning cruise, but a bit different from most. Have any of you taken this voyage or a similar one? Even if you haven't taken it, would you take a look and tell me what you think? https://www.seabourn.com/details?webItineraryIdForAudit=A9S23A&fromSearchVacation=true&guestsCount=2&voyageCode=5926&selectedMeta=Veranda%20Suite&shipId=SJ

 

We almost did this cruise so I did my research including getting from the airport in Kobe to the cruise port.  I was getting taxi quotes from $25 to $35 for the 1 to 2 hour taxi ride through downtown Kobe.  Then I said, wait, what?  This is Japan, nothing is $25 to $35- Nothing..  I rechecked my currency calculator and discovered it was really a $250 to $350 taxi fare.  I did discover there is  ferry service across the harbor from the Kobe airport property to the cruise port for about $15 but reservations required.

 

Dress warm is you go, you'll crossing the Bea]ring Straits (burrrr ;)

[SLSD]

Thank you for the information raphael360.  We plan to spend several days in Kyoto pre cruise.  We're staying that Hotel Mume--I'll report back afterwards.  We are looking forward to this cruise which will be something different for us.  

[frantic36]

Hi SLSD, I saw this Japanese dining information over on the Silversea board. Mysty posted it on her thread about her world cruise. She gave me permission to copy it as I thought you might find it interesting, if you didn't already know the etiquette...I found it interesting.

 

 Originally posted by Mysty on the Silversea board:

Folks may find this useful info for dining in Japan:

The reviewer goes by the user name kaukau:

"Here's how it's done (in any restaurant in Japan): When you arrive, give a greeting like "Konichiwa" followed by a slight bow. Then hold up two fingers and say "Ni, kudosai." (Two, please) or "Yon, kudosai" (Four, please) or whatever. The host will probably bow back, smile, and say a few words which you won't understand, but that doesn't matter, because you will smile back, bow slightly again, say "Hai" (Yes) and then follow him to your table. When you get to your table, turn to the host, bow slightly again and say "Arigoto" (Thank You) and sit down. Now you know Japanese restaurant etiquette!

Unlike western restaurants, no one will come to your table to take an order until you signal them by catching anyone's attention and saying (loudly) "Sumimasen" - "Excuse Me" (I'm ready to order something!), and then they will know you want something and will happily scurry over to take your order. Not knowing simple Japanese restaurant etiquette will leave you feeling helpless, without service, and blaming the restaurant for treating Non- Asians poorly, which is simply not the case, and is completely untrue and a grave injustice to the nice hardworking people at the restaurant who want nothing more than to please their customers and deliver delicious food and good service. If you think you're being ignored it's because they don't think you know what you want yet, and you don't know how to get it. Now even if you don't know any more phrases than the few simple ones I've listed, with that good start you can just carry on by pointing at what you want, using fingers for numbers, using sign language, whatever, and that's how it's done."

 

Cheers,

 

Julie

 

[markham]

Frantic36,

 

Hold on! Are you saying that hollering across the room with a “where’s my cawfee” won’t 

do? I experienced that event in the Colonnade last year. The upside was that our table burst out laughing, and when we caught our waiter’s eye he gave us a wink. 

 

Thanks for your notes on Japanese restaurant etiquette. Lessons about polite behavior and common sense do travel for most of us.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[frantic36]

35 minutes ago, markham said:

Frantic36,

 

Hold on! Are you saying that hollering across the room with a “where’s my cawfee” won’t 

do? I experienced that event in the Colonnade last year. The upside was that our table burst out laughing, and when we caught our waiter’s eye he gave us a wink. 

 

Thanks for your notes on Japanese restaurant etiquette. Lessons about polite behavior and common sense do travel for most of us.

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

 

😂LOL

 

You, my dearest markham, may get away with hollering for "cawfee".....lesser souls like myself would by cut down with an icy glare.

 

Happy sailing to you as well as you will be heading off soon.

 

Julie

[SLSD]

Thank you Julie.  This is most helpful.  

[markham]

Frantic36,

 

OMG! How can you suggest it was me doing the hollering about “cawfee”? 

Firstly, I said I experienced the event. I did not do it. Secondly, I am not from Queens or Brooklyn or wherever. Always exceedingly polite, to a fault.

 

Now about attracting cutting stares, well, I hope you don’t let them bother you terribly much. You know how some people are...

 

Happy and healthy sailing!

[frantic36]

markham, I obviously miscommunicated. I know you would never yell out across the room. I'm sorry if it came across that way. 

 

SLSD I am glad you found it useful, I know I have saved the information as I hope to do the Japan itinerary one day.

 

Julie

Edited November 20, 2018 by frantic36

[MJN1]

On 11/17/2018 at 3:01 PM, raphael360 said:

 

We almost did this cruise so I did my research including getting from the airport in Kobe to the cruise port.  I was getting taxi quotes from $25 to $35 for the 1 to 2 hour taxi ride through downtown Kobe.  Then I said, wait, what?  This is Japan, nothing is $25 to $35- Nothing..  I rechecked my currency calculator and discovered it was really a $250 to $350 taxi fare.  I did discover there is  ferry service across the harbor from the Kobe airport property to the cruise port for about $15 but reservations required

Just to clear up a potential misconception: there is no way to spend 1hour (and even less 2) in a taxi in Kobe. Also Kobe airport is a very small airport with few, primarily internal Japan flights. So if you really landing at Kobe (and not at KIX - the international airport south of Osaka) the trip to either terminal where cruiseships usually dock in Kobe should be 15 to 30 min and max. 30 $.

[raphael360]

3 hours ago, MJN1 said:

Just to clear up a potential misconception: there is no way to spend 1hour (and even less 2) in a taxi in Kobe. Also Kobe airport is a very small airport with few, primarily internal Japan flights. So if you really landing at Kobe (and not at KIX - the international airport south of Osaka) the trip to either terminal where cruiseships usually dock in Kobe should be 15 to 30 min and max. 30 $.

Dear MJMI,

Thank you for the update.  Sadly we have to fly into KIX from the USA which is approx. 70km airport to terminal.  For anyone making the trip from KIX, here is a thread from Tripadviser which also includes the information from KIX to the cruise terminal via the ferry.; https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g298562-i1604-k7157824-Kobe_Cruise_Terminal_to_Kansai_Airport_KIX-Kobe_Hyogo_Prefecture_Kinki.html

 

See you in Alaska

[MJN1]

Raphael360,

there are also regular buses from KIX to Kobe (e.g. the main downtown Sanomiya station):

www.kate.co.jp/en/timetable/detail/KB

The ferry is subject to weather conditions. The bus is subject to traffic conditions, but runs frequently and is very reliable.

[jenidallas]

12 hours ago, frantic36 said:

markham, I obviously miscommunicated. I know you would never yell out across the room. I'm sorry if it came across that way. 

 

Oh my Julie!... riling him up right before several of us will be captive on a ship together for 10 days.  This could get fun.  🤣  My thanks in advance.  

 

- jenidallas (who promises to be on her absolute best behavior which never involves shouting across The Colonnade but may result in some massive eyerolls when others do!)

[frantic36]

46 minutes ago, jenidallas said:

 

Oh my Julie!... riling him up right before several of us will be captive on a ship together for 10 days.  This could get fun.  🤣  My thanks in advance.  

 

- jenidallas (who promises to be on her absolute best behavior which never involves shouting across The Colonnade but may result in some massive eyerolls when others do!)

 

It's okay, we are all good again. 

 

Julie