Silverseas Tokyo cruise excursions

[Ziggy60]

We are first time cruisers and going to Tokyo next April has anyone been and which excursions would you recommend.

[CruiserBruce]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

My first thought is, we don't know what interests you, so hard to advise you on what excursions to take.

 

Come over to the portion of Cruise Critic devoted to Silverseas, located here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/108-silversea-cruises/

 

You might want to look on your Roll Call, which is a group of people on your cruise, for further info. If one exists, it will be here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/680-silversea-cruise-line-roll-calls/

 

Lastly, perhaps some research on the Ports board for Tokyo might be helpful:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/43-asia/

[spookwife]

Do Tokyo on your own.  The trains are bi lingual.  Ueno Park has the zoo, several fantastic museums and a butt ton of people watching.

 

Tokyo Disney/Disney Sea are worth it if you have the time.

 

shopping at the Ginza or Achihabara.  
 

the outer gardens at the Palace. 
 

 

[Host Kat]

On 4/26/2020 at 5:24 AM, Ziggy60 said:

We are first time cruisers and going to Tokyo next April has anyone been and which excursions would you recommend.

 

@Ziggy60

 

Howdy and welcome to Cruise Critic!  

 

Thank you for your new thread on the First Time Cruisers forum. 👍 

 

Cruise Critic is a great resource for new as well as experienced cruisers and we are so glad you found us!   Please feel free to browse the Cruise Critic Community Categories list. Read a few threads in the forums to get a feel for what each forum is about. Make sure you read any pinned threads on the top of the first page of threads in a forum. You will find very important instructions or information there.

 

To help you out I have moved your thread to the Silversea Cruises forum. It is a more correct forum for your inquiry about sailing on Silversea. The majority of your fellow Cruise Critic members that have sailed Silversea frequent the forum and provide feedback there. Also as suggested above, please feel free to browse & research the Ports of Call - Asia forum for information about Tokyo. You can browse through the thread titles on the forums looking for threads of interest. You will probably find your fellow Cruise Critic members have already posted questions and received answers that will be of interest to you.

 

Since you are from the UK be sure to check out our UK Cruisers forum. That's a forum for cruising questions related to the UK or UK based ships. Also, don't forget to check out The Pub forum for chitter-chatter with other UK cruisers.

 

I sincerely hope this information will be helpful and glad to have you aboard the Cruise Critic message board!  

 

Happy sails,

 

Host Kat 

[silkismom]

Which Tokyo cruise are you on, we are on the Apr 19 one. 

[Ziggy60]

We are on the earlier cruise 5th of April . We are wondering what excursions to do with Silverseas from the ship we haven’t been on a cruise and I know they are expensive not that we have had an itinerary yet . I think we would prefer to go on the organised trips as I hate to miss the ship on a private tour which I understand are cheaper. 

[christraveller]

Hello Ziggy60,

 

Here are some thoughts on Tokyo.  We have been there several times, most recently for a week, before boarding the Muse transpacific cruise home to Vancouver. 
 

This is a vast metropolitan area of over 35 million. The dimensions and density were unfathomable before seeing the city. The kindness of the Japanese, cleanliness, and efficiency of the public transport are well known. 
 

Enjoying the cruise will be more likely if you are not impaired by jet lag. I honestly recommend a week in Tokyo before boarding. 
 

We read the Tokyo guidebook by Lonely Planet. YouTube videos were very helpful, too. We used Google Earth to look at hotel options. We used the Rome2rio website for planning travel within metro Tokyo.  As we flew on points, we had to land in Narita. Haneda would be my first choice, as it is closer to the city. We dropped luggage off just outside Customs, several firms will transport heavy bags overnight to your hotel.  Hand luggage, one small, one larger, were  fine even during afternoon rush hour.  We had arranged a pickup in the central area of the airport of a pocket WIFI device, which we dropped into the mail on leaving Japan.  More on that in a bit.  

 

It was  easy to obtain a ticket for a midrange train from the Narita airport to a Tokyo station. We changed to the Metro at Ueno, where a British student of Japanese was in the employ of the Metro to help travellers buy tickets from the cash only vending machine. Get a stored value card at that point for the week. 
 

Your choice of hotels should hinge on the proximity to a Metro station. Long treks back and forth get tedious. Hotel prices may be a consideration, as that is one of the dearer markets worldwide.  If money is not a consideration, the Tokyo Station Hotel has a good reputation. The Four Seasons is also quite close.   Given the cost, we stayed on the Yamanote Line, at a four star Accor property, the PullmanTokyo Tamachi. It was in an office Mitsubishi HQ), shopping and restaurant complex. It was a 10 minute walk from hotel to turnstile at the station. It was 5 minutes to a good supermarket and several 24 hour convenience stores.  There was a fabulous restaurant street on the other side of the tracks, about a 15 min walk away.   High praise for staff, cleanliness, and location. The room was great, a little small, but very functional. The shower was the best ever in any accommodation anywhere!

 

Tokyo on the cheap, staying in business hotels with three stars is fully doable. Expect very small rooms. 

Touristing Tokyo means choosing an area each day, and exploring it upon alighting from the Metro.   We used a guide’s services on one day.  She was very helpful arranging a tour of the Imperial Palace grounds. Not surprisingly, a remarkable park, not available daily, so this takes planning ahead. 
 

You have enough time in the week to take a day trip one day to the Greater Tokyo region, or further, by bullet train. 
 

Language  barrier issues do exist. We used our  25 word vocabulary, translation by Google Translate of menus, Street signs, etc. All Metro signs are bilingual, as are street signs, (most restaurants had picture menus), gestures, and many smiles.  Google maps made getting lost quite impossible. This is where the pocket WIFI was indispensable. 
 

Your  cruise starts in Yokohama, a half hour by train from Tokyo. On your day of departure, a taxi to the appropriate station, and from the Yokohama station to the pier, will be needed. These, too, are expensive. The taxi drivers wear white gloves, and close the doors for you. Your hotel concierge Or front desk will provide you with addresses written in Japanese.

 

I hope covid 19 does not impact your plans by then.  The joy of international hotel breakfast buffets, alas, may remain but a memory!   I recommend cancellable arrangements where possible. 
 

Boarding the ship was as easy as one could imagine. That first glass of Champagne, the hospitality of the staff, and the time meeting other passengers before going to your suite are all wonderful. As is pizza at lunch!
 

Enjoy Japan!  Enjoy your cruise!  

 

Chris