Live from Explorer March 28-April 11, 2023–Yokohama to Tokyo

[RachelG]

March 26-27, 2023–on our way to Japan

 

We are off again, this time headed to Japan to board Regent Explorer.  This cruise has been put off for quite awhile as Japan just recently reopened for tourism and is my birthday present to myself.

 

As usual we had the normal pre-departure drama.  You are no longer required to have a negative Covid test to visit Japan from the US if you are fully vaccinated, but a negative test is required to board the ship and can be done no more than 72 hours prior to embarking.  Oddly enough, they will accept either a PCR test from a lab or a rapid antigen self test (I see the possibility of all sorts of fraud with that).  So I got a couple of the self tests, which we did last night and were thankfully negative.  You take a picture of the test with its packaging and your passport.  

 

We get to TUL to check in on AA, and they were still thinking we needed a negative test to board the flight.  I pulled out my phone with the pictures.  Mine popped right up, but no picture of George’s test.  George is starting to freak out as is did the gate agent.  Fortunately I thought to check on my iPad as it is connected in the cloud To my phone, and there was the test. I have no idea what is going on with my phone.

 

Flight to DFW was on time, but as we were getting off the plane in terminal C, I noticed George had 2 huge holes in the back of his shirt.  It looked like it had snagged on something then ripped. So we had to make a detour to Johnson and Murphy in terminal A to get a new shirt.  And one of the sky trains was down..   We got lots of steps.  Then terminal D for our flight which used up all the time of what I thought was a generous connection.

 

Flight to Haneda was uneventful with an on time arrival, but getting through customs was a zoo with very long lines and a lot of confusion as you are supposed to have downloaded their entry forms and filled them out online, but a lot of people hadn’t.  It took us an hour to get through.  The advantage was that we didn’t have to wait at all for luggage, but the taxi line was long.  

 

After about 20 minutes, we got the fanciest taxi ever, with big club seats and a chatty driver who told us he likes to talk to passengers to improve his English.  Traffic was backed up, so we had plenty of time.  

 

After a very efficient checkin, we were in our room at the Hilton Odaiba.  Since we are only here one night, I just reserved the cheapest room. It is clean and comfortable but no view.  Food in the executive lounge was meh, but we were too tired to go elsewhere.  

[Gilly]

@RachelG it sounds as though you need a holiday!   (I wish we were with you 😢 - we cancelled and rebooked for July/Aug)  Needless to say, I'll be following your travels avidly and hope that everything goes smoothly from now on.

[RetiredandTravel]

Enjoy your journey and thanks for keeping us updated. 

[jpalbny]

Glad you made it without too much trouble though the hour-long wait at immigration/customs is just what you don't need after such a long flight! Sleep well and looking forward to following along on your adventure!

[DeepFreeze63]

We're doing your Explorer cruise a year from now. I'll follow your postings as best I can - I board the Splendor tomorrow. Leave for Miami in 2 hours.

Best wishes for a great cruise.

[forgap]

Love your impressions of your travel!  I hope everything meets your expectations.  We are booked for next year after three cancellations.  

[asnaleah]

So happy to see another review from @RachelG! Happy sailing and thank you!

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Looking forward to following this!

 

Joanie

[briar14]

Looking forward to reading this! We will be on Explorer next April, 30 days Tokyo-Vancouver, our 3rd try also. Kampai and Itadakimasu 🇯🇵!

Edited March 27, 2023 by briar14

[RachelG]

March 28, 2023–embarkation in Yokohama, Japan

 

Of course, we awoke early due to the time difference.  By 4 am, I gave up on more sleep, so got up and did some work, which was good as the office was still open.  

 

A word about the bathroom—narrowest bathroom ever.  It reminded me of one on the river boats in Europe.  Definitely a one person affair with a dangerous step up tub/shower combo at one end with water that is scalding hot, sink and vanity in the middle, and super high tech electronic toilet with so many buttons I couldn’t figure out at the other end.  Seat was nice and heated.  You could not open the door to the bathroom if someone else was standing at the sink.

 

We went down to the expansive breakfast buffet.  It wasn’t as elaborate as some we have encountered inAsia, but had enough that anyone should be happy.  Noodle and egg stations along with a salad bar and a lot of western offerings as well.  I stuck with noodles and salad.

 

I had planned that we would go walking this morning, but it was pouring rain and cold (high to be 50F), so we went back to the room. George watched Japanese tv then realized he had brought no dress pants.  Fortunately there was a mall right next to our hotel.  We braved the cold rain and ran over.  There was a Gap store that had a total of 2 pairs of dress pants in his size (the largest size they carried- which isn’t actually that large), so we bought both.

 

Taxi to Yokohama port was slow as there was terrible traffic plus a couple of accidents, which our driver related to the weather, but we finally made it.  We were ushered into a large holding room where we filled out health declarations and showed our negative covid tests, through security then onboard to Compass Rose where we received our keycards.  From drop off to finish, it took about 30 minutes, and most of that was waiting for the health declarations.  Right behind us in line were DaveFR and his lovely wife, so we had plenty of time to catch up.

 

We went up to the heated portion of the pool deck for lunch and hadn’t even finished eating when they announced suites were ready—the shortest we have ever wAited for that.  We are in a superior suite.  There is a ton of storage, more than we could ever use.  The bed faces the windows and big balcony.  Balcony is one of the angled ones toward the front of the ship, so extra room.  

 

It took a long time for the luggage to arrive which I guess is the trade off for getting into the room quickly.  The safety briefing was easiest ever.  They broadcast it into the suite.

 

By the time for sailaway at 5:00, the rain had finally stopped and the clouds had parted.  From our balcony, we had a beautiful view of downtown Yokohama, with a park along the shore then upscale looking high-rises behind.  Hundreds of ships, big and small in the harbor. But it was still too chilly for me to stay outside long.

 

Dinner at Prime 7 was something of a disappointment. I had the shrimp cocktail and Caesar salad (both good) then the crab cakes as my main.  They were way more breading than crab.  George had ahi tuna (just barely ok), harvest salad (good), and the filet ( again just ok).  Nothing great.  At the prices regent charges, there should be something great.  

 

it should be noted that the old menu was what was served in Prime 7.  No changes I could see.  You can still get crab legs as part of the seafood sampler or the seafood tower.

 

An early night as the entertainment didn’t sound that great either.

 

[sabrefan]

Thank you Rachel G, doing this cruise from Yokohama next year. Looking forward to you report. This will be our first Regent cruise. I haven’t been back to Japan since 2002. Did many business trips to Japan and can’t wait to visit again. One of my favorite countries to visit.

[PaulMCO]

Someone posted the pre-cruise itinerary on another site.  Thought it would interest those doing a future Japan cruise.

 

 

[LouChamp]

Aloha.  Looking forward with interest to your reports. Have a wonderful time.

[RachelG]

March 29, 2023–Nagoya, Japan

 

We had a good nights sleep with very smooth sailing to Nagoya and were able to sleep until 5:30 am.  We both got some work done then went up to La Veranda for breakfast at 7:30.  George got his special custom made juice drink out on the pool grill first.  Strawberries and some of the best plain yogurt I have ever had for breakfast along with smoked salmon.  You can custom order eggs any way you like, and they will bring them to the table.  Missing were any berries other than strawberries, but there were lots of other fruits.

 

It was bright and sunny, so we decided to walk up on the walking track above the pool deck.  That was very short lived as the sun was deceiving.  It was cold and windy.  I could handle one or the other, but not both.  We were sailing in a channel with very industrial looking buildings and oil refineries on both sides.  Lots of boat traffic, but we were the only cruise ship in sight.  After a couple of laps, I decided to go back inside and warm up.

 

The cruise port in Nagoya is right downtown.  Upon getting off the ship, there were a couple of tents set up.  We had to show our passports in the first one.  Then we walked 20 feet (with no possibility of going anywhere else) and show our passports and ship key card.  But soon enough, we were on our bus with about 20 others and off to “Inuyama Castle and Noritake Gardens.

 

Nagoya is a large city of 2.4 million with huge high rises downtown.  It is the home of Toyota and Noritake as well as several other brands I was familiar with.  Our guide said “First, we are going to lunch”.  That was news to us as the description said nothing about lunch, and Portolan had done the same excursion 2 weeks ago with no lunch.  So pretty much everyone had eaten a good breakfast planning to skip lunch.

 

Anyway, we drove out to the suburbs where there were single family houses and apartments to a place that specializes in Haneda chicken.  This chicken is supposed to be really special, but it just tasted like regular chicken to me.  It came with coleslaw, potato salad, miso soup, pickled veg, rice, French fries, and mango pudding.  You could have one beer or wine or a soft drink.  Anyway, a lot of food.  I skipped the rice and most of the potatoes.  Highlight was the mango pudding.

 

Next stop was the castle up high on a hill.  Very nice place for photos.  The parking lot was at the base of the hill, and going up was really steep.  A lot of people decided just to stay below.  Inside the castle was the absolute steepest set of stairs I have ever encountered.   I don’t know how those soldiers did it because they would have been shorter than me.  It was really like climbing a ladder.  There were 4 levels but we only made it to the 3rd because there was a huge long line to get in, and we only had an hour total.  It was interesting, and I wished we could have skipped lunch and just spent more time there.  I felt like there was a lot more to see that we missed.

 

Then to the Noritake gardens which really isn’t a garden but rather just landscaping around the buildings.  The flowers were pretty, but nothing spectacular.  We were able to go inside the workshop and museum though, and that was interesting, showing how they produce bone china.  The museum had a lot of their designs including samples of my sister’s wedding china pattern.  There is also a big outlet, and I could have spent some serious money.  The problem is I would either have to lug it home myself or ship it which would defeat the cost saving.  But the prices were really good.

 

By this time, it was 4:30 and all aboard was at 5:00.  Back on the bus, the guide told us we would get back to port at around 5:10.  She asked if that was ok.  Everyone looked at each other-like what does it matter whether it is ok or not?  We are on the bus, and it’s not like it will go faster.  Anyway, the ship was still there, and there were actually buses that arrived after ours.

 

We had invitations to dinner with the captain.  He is a lovely gentleman from Sorrento, and that is one of our favorite places.  We had lots to discuss, and dinner was great as well.  George persisted in trying out steak which was still not as good as ours at home, but I had a wonderful Dover sole plus some asparagus soup that was so delicious.

 

Afterward I went to the show Divas and Divos which was excellent.  I have seen this show several times, but it always changes and tonights was great.  George went to give contributions to the casino.

[RachelG]

[forgap]

I bet George’s cowboy hat is quite the conversation starter in Japan!  

[1982CruzStart]

Thanks Rachel for bringing us along. Always a great read. Loving the pictures as well. 

Have a wonderful time. 

[1rochelle]

Thanks for all this great information, paying close attention since we will be there next month.  Enjoy your time away.  Thanks again.

[RachelG]

7 hours ago, forgap said:

I bet George’s cowboy hat is quite the conversation starter in Japan!  

He gets lots of attention, plus he is tall.  At least I can find him.

 

 

[RachelG]

Some friends told us today that there was a big welcoming party, complete with brass band and costumed dancers at the Nagoya port to greet us yesterday.  We missed it because our suite is on the other side of the ship.  

Edited March 30, 2023 by RachelG
Spelling

[luv2tripalot]

On 3/27/2023 at 5:51 AM, RachelG said:

March 26-27, 2023–on our way to Japan

 

We are off again, this time headed to Japan to board Regent Explorer.  This cruise has been put off for quite awhile as Japan just recently reopened for tourism and is my birthday present to myself.

 

As usual we had the normal pre-departure drama.  You are no longer required to have a negative Covid test to visit Japan from the US if you are fully vaccinated, but a negative test is required to board the ship and can be done no more than 72 hours prior to embarking.  Oddly enough, they will accept either a PCR test from a lab or a rapid antigen self test (I see the possibility of all sorts of fraud with that).  So I got a couple of the self tests, which we did last night and were thankfully negative.  You take a picture of the test with its packaging and your passport.  

 

We get to TUL to check in on AA, and they were still thinking we needed a negative test to board the flight.  I pulled out my phone with the pictures.  Mine popped right up, but no picture of George’s test.  George is starting to freak out as is did the gate agent.  Fortunately I thought to check on my iPad as it is connected in the cloud To my phone, and there was the test. I have no idea what is going on with my phone.

 

Flight to DFW was on time, but as we were getting off the plane in terminal C, I noticed George had 2 huge holes in the back of his shirt.  It looked like it had snagged on something then ripped. So we had to make a detour to Johnson and Murphy in terminal A to get a new shirt.  And one of the sky trains was down..   We got lots of steps.  Then terminal D for our flight which used up all the time of what I thought was a generous connection.

 

Flight to Haneda was uneventful with an on time arrival, but getting through customs was a zoo with very long lines and a lot of confusion as you are supposed to have downloaded their entry forms and filled them out online, but a lot of people hadn’t.  It took us an hour to get through.  The advantage was that we didn’t have to wait at all for luggage, but the taxi line was long.  

 

After about 20 minutes, we got the fanciest taxi ever, with big club seats and a chatty driver who told us he likes to talk to passengers to improve his English.  Traffic was backed up, so we had plenty of time.  

 

After a very efficient checkin, we were in our room at the Hilton Odaiba.  Since we are only here one night, I just reserved the cheapest room. It is clean and comfortable but no view.  Food in the executive lounge was meh, but we were too tired to go elsewhere.  

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by luv2tripalot
Thanks for the info, we were curious about the self-test. We’ll be on this cruise starting April 11.

[RachelG]

March 30,2023–Kobe Japan

 

After a smooth night sailing, we awoke to another bright sunny day.  The sun comes up early here, at about 5:30 am.  We were out of the busy commercial shipping channel.  Looking out the window, I could only see a few small fishing boats with some rolling hills and hazy mountains behind.  

 

We weren’t to arrive in Kobe until noon, so we both worked a bit then had breakfast in La Veranda.  There were a couple of lectures as well as other activities scheduled for the morning.  I went to Pilates.  It was a mat class as they obviously don’t have room for reformers,  but it was possibly the best Pilates class on a ship that I have attended.  The instructor was an Indian fellow and clearly knew his stuff.  I talked to him after, and he said he has actually never done reformer Pilates and was curious about it.

 

We had lunch out on the pool deck.  I think the pizza there this trip has been excellent, and I splurged and ate 2 pieces.   We were sailing into Kobe port and could see the city, very long and narrow backed by mountains.

 

Our tour for the afternoon was to Osaka Castle.  Unlike the castle yesterday which was the original, this is a reconstruction with a modern interior.  Osaka and Kobe kind of run together, so I could really tell when we left one and entered the other.  The castle is in the middle of the city and surrounded by a large park full of cherry trees which were in full bloom.  It was bustling with people out enjoying the beautiful sunny weather.  The walk from the parking lot to the castle was long taking about 15 minutes going at a steady pace.  The ticket line was huge, but our guide was able to bypass it, so we walked right in.

 

It is 8 stories high, and has an elevator that only goes to the 5th floor. So if you want to go to the observation deck at the top, you have to climb.  But the stairs are just normal stairs, so it wasn’t bad.  The castle is also a small museum with exhibits about its history on each floor.  From what I could piece together, not knowing how to read Japanese, there was a whole lot of fighting and killing.

 

The views from the top were good, but it was very crowded.  Our guide for the day was very young.  This was his first ever guide job, and he really didn’t talk about anything at all.  I actually prefer this over our yesterday guide’s style, as she was apparently compelled to talk constantly about nothing.  But I would have liked a little information about the place. 

 

We took a different highway back to Kobe which involved a lot of huge bridges with great views, and that and the beautiful cherry trees were the highlights of the trip.

 

We had dinner reservations off the ship in Kobe at Hanasato, a very traditional Japanese restaurant which specializes in Hida beef.  We had to take a taxi, and it was rush hour, so it took a while.  But the guy got us there despite the language barrier.  George’s google translator actually worked ok. The owner of the restaurant took good care of us.  We had a multi course dinner with fish and crab appetizers, sashimi, salad, tempura, beef and veggies, miso soup, rice, and ice cream.  A whole lot of food. Oh, and sake of course.  The owner got us in a cab back to the ship personally.

 

There was a local drumming show onboard, but we arrived too late for that. 

[PaulMCO]

36 minutes ago, RachelG said:

We had dinner reservations off the ship in Kobe at Hanasato, a very traditional Japanese restaurant which specializes in Hida beef.  We had to take a taxi, and it was rush hour, so it took a while.  But the guy got us there despite the language barrier.  George’s google translator actually worked ok. The owner of the restaurant took good care of us.  We had a multi course dinner with fish and crab appetizers, sashimi, salad, tempura, beef and veggies, miso soup, rice, and ice cream.  A whole lot of food. Oh, and sake of course.  The owner got us in a cab back to the ship personally.

 

Always looking for things off ship to do for dinner and Kobe is a good place.

Was the owner/chef -- Hisashi-san??

 

[RJ2002]

6 hours ago, RachelG said:

Some friends told us today that there was a big welcoming party, complete with brass band and costumed dancers at the Nagoya port to greet us yesterday.  We missed it because our suite is on the other side of the ship.  

 

This was a common occurrence on our Japan circumnavigation cruise several years ago, both for arrivals and departures in Japanese ports.  Not to be missed.  Sometimes it was a small group, other times a full high school band.  Very much appreciated, and entertaining.

 

Enjoying your posts @RachelG .  Thanks again for sharing your cruise experience with everyone. 

[RachelG]

6 hours ago, PaulMCO said:

 

Always looking for things off ship to do for dinner and Kobe is a good place.

Was the owner/chef -- Hisashi-san??

 

Not sure of his name, but he was the owner and chef.  He was quite a character.