February 17, 2019 China, Japan & South Korea Almost Live Thread

[ScottishMaid]

Having been on a Maasdam In Depth voyage with many talks on six themes including photography it would be hard for me to go back to longer voyages on other ships.

[ksmaxey]

Friday, March 1, 2019 Kagoshima, Japan

 

We were set to arrive in Kagoshima at 9 AM and tickets for immigration procedures would be available in the Ocean Bar.  I got up at 6:00 and began an hour of walking around the Promenade at 6:30.  I witnessed the sunrise and even a tug drop off the harbor pilot.

 

At 8:15 we headed to the Main dining room for breakfast and swung by to get our tickets for going ashore.  This is the first day that it was warm enough for me to wear shorts ashore. We headed back to our cabin and by the time we got our cameras ready we were called in group 3.  We had been given photocopies of our passports with a customs declaration.  When ashore the HAL staff placed a sticker on the back and the immigration folks looked at the copy, scanned both index finger prints and then stamped the sticker and we were set.  It was a quick trip through customs with random searches for produce. 

 

Once in the terminal my plan was to use a money exchange machine to convert some Chinese currency for Japanese.  There was a day pass good for all buses, trams and ferries that was 1200 Yen.  Unfortunately the person at the front of the line for money exchange couldn’t figure out how to use the machine and we stood for nearly 20 minutes before he finally gave up.  The next four of us were done in less than 6 minutes.  Janice had been waiting in line for the transportation pass and we made the purchase left the terminal and took the ship transfer to the dolphin port.  This was across the street from the heart of the Kagoshima and 2 blocks from the ferry terminal.  During the day the ferries run every 10-15 minutes and so we caught the next one over to the island.  A quick walk from the ferry terminal led us to the Island View bus terminal where we joined a long que for a 65 minute ride around the volcano with 3 brief stops.  After the tour we hopped on the next ferry back to Kagoshima and began walking through the city center.

I had a goal of eating at a local place.  There was of course, KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks and I think Dunkin Donuts.  We found several restaurants that had machines that you ordered your meal from but they didn’t have pictures or any English.  We finally found a ramen restaurant that served 1 thing  Ramen with roast pork.  You had an option of 2 sizes and they offered tea, iced water and beer.  It was fantastic and we were the only foreigners there.  After lunch we returned to the shuttle and returned to the ship.  We shopped briefly in the terminal before boarding and spending time on the back deck. 

 

We headed to dinner at 5:45 in the Main Dining Room.  Saturday we have dinner in the Pinnacle so we planned to express our thanks to our waiter and assistant waiter as well as a gratuity for the great service.  While we always leave the HSC in place, there are often those who make the vacation special and Arnel and Arnold did just that. 

 

We headed back to catch some news before listening to set by BB Kings.  It was the best set so far this cruise.  We then returned for bed and the joy of getting the hour back we lost earlier in the cruise.

[oceansandseas]

Enjoyed "coming along" on your cruise.  May I ask what is the thermal suite and what does it do for you. Must be nice as you spent a lot of time there.

Thanks.

[ksmaxey]

The thermal suite is part of the spa and includes a hydrotherapy pool that is somewhat like a large hot tub but sold as having minerals added.  It also includes ceramic heated loungers, several steam rooms with different scents and dressing room with plush robes.  We would sit in the pool and then relax on the loungers each day after excursions.  Given it was a winter cruise in a cooler climate we enjoyed the warmth, but don't tend to pay for the service say in July or in the Caribbean.

[puppycanducruise]

Very interesting and informative.

Thanks.

[Iamthesea]

Kevin - Is your blog over?  Last post was on March 2.  I have been following along.

[ksmaxey]

March 3, 2019  Disembarkation and Final Review and Comments

 

I woke up before the alarm and walked several miles around the deck while the Westerdam was headed to the pier in Shanghai.  We had ordered room service for between 6:30 and 7:00 and it was delivered at 6:31.  We had written in instructions and all was honored.

We had priority disembarkation with transfer and were to be the first ones off with all our own luggage.  Planning to get off early because of our early flight and hour transfer we planned to wait in a lounge near the Promenade gangway.  When we reached the third floor the entire area was a mass of people including later groups doing precisely what the instructions asked guests not to do.

 

About 7:40 (10 minutes late) the ship was cleared and we were quickly off, went through the health screening, immigration, customs and were met with a HAL representative for our transfer.  10 people were scheduled for immediate departure on a smaller bus.  Within 10 minutes 8 of the ten were present but they held us for 45 minutes waiting for the final 2 passengers while other buses from later groups were already heading to the airport.  We finally started complaining about the delay and missing our flight and they finally let us leave around 8:30. We would have been better off in the non-expedited group.

 

It took an hour to get to the airport and we had to go through a security screening before we could enter the airport.    The restrictions are greater than the US with no lighters, no powders and more stringent liquid restrictions.  Everyone seemed to set off the metal detector all received a pat down and the use of a wand.

We quickly made our way to the Delta counter and checked our luggage.  We then went through Immigration, customs and finally though airport security.  We made it to our gate about 20 minutes before boarding.    After a great non-stop flight to Detroit we were on our way home.

Some Final comments and reviews.

 

We had the Elite Beverage Package and were reminded several times that non-alcoholic beverages were unlimited.  We found several great wines but would have not enjoyed the wines with the SBP.

 

ART -  The art was the best we have ever seen but there was no one selling art.  No auctions, no free sparking wine - NOTHING.  A passenger was using the art area desk for his work on a book he was writing.

 

Shops:  The new vendor was there but they really didn't seem that different.  There was very little for men, particularly even t-shirts.  The deck sales had no HAL logo stuff or t shirts.  There were less "sales."  There was a jewelry auction at some point but we didn't participate.

 

Food:  We never saw any chilled soups.  We loved the Asian options and most often chose them.  We ate lunch twice in the Pinnacle and three times for dinner. (rudi's, cellar master and regular menu)  For the Asian itinerary they had a one page supplement of Tamarind items that was quite nice since the Westerdam doesn't have the tamarind.  The Dive in was great.  We ate very little in the Lido.  We were able to have the same table in the main dining room each evening and the service was great.

Ports:  We picked the cruise because of the itinerary.  It wasn't like the Caribbean with easy immigration procedures.  We had to go through he process at every port and it really delayed things.  China was very polluted and while we are glad we experienced it, we have no desire to return.  We loved South Korea and Japan. 

Laundry:  We used the service and for the first time had 2 items that went missing but were quickly located.  The service was high quality and typically prompt.

Sea Days:  There didn't seem to be as much programing apart from things that cost extra.  America's Test Kitchen was great. 

Entertainment:  We thought the BB Kings group was great but the music was often not of the BB Kings genre and really dated.  (50's and 60's).  We don't really enjoy Billboard so we didn't participate and didn't make any main stage acts.

 

Gym:  On our last cruise they didn't open it until 7 which didn't work with excursions.  It was open at 6 and most days a few minutes early.  Equipment was in fair condition and the staff was good.

[flyncruz]

Thank you for a delightful blog and all your posts. I was on the very same cruise.