Live from the Diamond, July 10-27, 17-day B2B around Japan and Korea

[Travelexpert35]

Just caught up with all of your posts. Love following along with you as we did a Transpacific from Vancouver to Yokohama in 2019. We loved it and want to definitely return. Looking forward to more of your posts. Beautiful sunrise photos. Enjoy!!

[Californian]

19 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We started down the steps together, but we were optionally allowed to roam around the temple area on our own. You just had to make sure we were back at the bus at a certain time. We pretty much keep our tour guide in sight or knew where she would be if we wanted to check something out, like climb the stairs to the upper level. And yes, the hour we were given was plenty of time to explore.

 

The outdoor market was fun to walk through, but we didn’t buy anything as we’re not shoppers, just lookers. As far as finding our way back, it was relatively easy as long as you didn’t stray off the beaten path too far. Our guide mentioned CCs were accepted in stores, but probably not by the local street vendors. There were also a variety of places there where you could exchange money, but that would cut into the limited time you have to explore unless you chose to leave the tour and take the shuttle bus back to the ship. As far as eating anything at the market, that’s not are thing either. I met Mr Montezuma quite a few years back and have no desire to feel his wrath again. 😂

 

Thanks again for providing helpful information.  It's good to know that we could stay at the market a little longer if we wanted to wander around more.  

[cr8tiv1]

15 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here’s an interesting lesson learned. Our granddaughter needed to make a call to the college admissions department where she’s going to start school in the fall. The phone call was complimentary if she went down to Guest Services to make it. You only accrue a ship-to-shore phone charge if you’re calling from your stateroom. Just thought that was interesting. 

 

That was very nice of GS to allow her to make the phone call at their expense.  That has only happened for me once when we needed to contact the bank for onboard expenses.

 

Wifi calling works if you have the right equipment and/or apps.

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived in Osaka, Japan!

  

 

 

 
Every once in a while we arrive in port where we see a vessel that just leaves us stumped as to its overall purpose. 🤔

  

 
Here’s where we are with respect to the local cities in the area.

 

  
And here’s something interesting I saw today when doing a speed test this morning after docking. Notice the server the Ookla Speed Test is pinging off of - SpaceX Starlink!
 

It may be because the Diamond has switched over to a local land-based service provided while in port that’s using it. But once we head back out to sea and in the following days, it will be interesting to see it the ship goes back to getting service from SES located in Miami or did the Diamond quietly switch over to Starlink while we were sleeping? 🤔

 

 

Edited July 16, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

I just confirmed the Diamond switched over to Starlink yesterday, which explains why the internet service seems a little quicker today. 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

For those on future Princess Japan cruises where the ship is coming back from South Korea to Osaka during their itinerary, everyone has to go through immigration before going on an excursion or off on your own. Be prepared for a delay, especially if it’s going to be hot.
 

In our case we were supposed to meet in the theater to queue up for our excursion at 7:45 am with an 8:15 am tour bus departure time. Right now it’s 9:20 am and we’re still here in the theater. 
 

 
The reason being it’s about 93 degrees outside, not counting the 83 degree dew point “humidity” level. So they’re incrementally allowing groups to leave so we’re not having to wait in the heat going through immigration, as there is no AC in the terminal either. Hopefully we’ll be on our tour bus by 11 am. 🤞

 

[Steelers36]

29 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

So they’re incrementally allowing groups to leave so we’re not having to wait in the heat going through immigration, as there is no AC in the terminal either.

I wonder how the non-PCL touring guests are making out.  

Hard to believe in 2023 that a major port has a terminal building with no AC!

[vlin07]

5 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

I wonder how the non-PCL touring guests are making out.  

Hard to believe in 2023 that a major port has a terminal building with no AC!

PCL started to give out arrrival immigration tickets at 7AM. We waited in line to get tickets at 6:50am and got tickets of group 15. Group 15 was called around 9:25am, and we cleared custom around 9:40am. Immediately found two empty buses going to the closest subway station. 3 minutes later we were already at subway station. 10:20am we arrive at Osaka downtown.

[Ken the cruiser]

5 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

I wonder how the non-PCL touring guests are making out.  

Hard to believe in 2023 that a major port has a terminal building with no AC!

Funny you should ask that. We had been patiently awaiting for our turn when we heard over the loudspeaker that (independent) immigration group ticket holders 10-13 were allowed to proceed off the ship. That was cool, rotating groups was fine. It’s when we heard that immigration ticket groups 14-17 were allowed to go next after waiting another 15 minutes passed while we still sat there, kind of got everyone questioning if they remembered there were a bunch of us still waiting “patiently”. Ten minutes later tour groups 15-17 were allowed to proceed.
 

Funny thing was the bottleneck was checking off the ship at the gangway, as there was only one crew member checking the medallions. There were no lines to speak of going through the Customs process. Our tour bus finally left at 10:20 am, almost 2 hours late. But that’s OK, we didn’t lose any time on our excursion, and throwing a positive spin on it, it’s all part of the cruising experience. 😁

[Tranquility Base]

19 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Funny you should ask that. We had been patiently awaiting for our turn when we heard over the loudspeaker that (independent) immigration group ticket holders 10-13 were allowed to proceed off the ship. That was cool, rotating groups was fine. It’s when we heard that immigration ticket groups 14-17 were allowed to go next after waiting another 15 minutes passed while we still sat there, kind of got everyone questioning if they remembered there were a bunch of us still waiting “patiently”. Ten minutes later tour groups 15-17 were allowed to proceed.
 

Thanks for all the reports.

If possible, it would be great if you could relay any feedback you hear from some of the independent Osaka people as to the effect on their day due to the delays.

[Ken the cruiser]

We had a good time on our excursion. First we went to the Osaka Castle, where you had 2 options, stand in the long line outside to take the elevator up to the 8th floor observation deck or walk up the stairs where there was no waiting. Since we are both still healthy, we walked up the stairs and then walked down after taking a bunch of pictures. I forgot to mention is was about a 1/2 mile walk in 91 degrees weather to get to the entrance from the bus parking lot.

 

Here are some of the photos I took.

 

 

 

Here’s a map of the Osaka Castle grounds and the 1/2 mile path we had to walk to get to the entrance.

 

 

 
Yes, I was lucky enough to find a few Osaka pigeons. 😂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And so the climbing of the stairs beginnings, although the elevator line started after climbing the outside 3 sets of stairs required to get to the actual Castle entrance where the official 8 flights of stairs started. 😁

 

 
Regardless of which way you chose to get to the top, the views of Osaka were definitely worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
On the way back to the bus, I couldn’t help but take a picture of these two having a quiet moment together. 😁

 

 
And then there was this bird hanging out under the trees in the shade. Not sure what it was other that it was larger than any of the crows flying around!

 

 
Then we were off and went across town to the Sumiyoshi Shrine.

  

 

 

Even saw a few Japanese turtles swimming around enjoying the festivities today, as there is a big festival going on in Osaka today.
 

 

 

 

 
if you look close you can see a parade of people crossing the bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
800 year old tree.

 

 

A rather young 200 year old tree, when compared to the older one above! 😂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 17, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

18 minutes ago, Tranquility Base said:

Thanks for all the reports.

If possible, it would be great if you could relay any feedback you hear from some of the independent Osaka people as to the effect on their day due to the delays.

Maybe someone else following this thread that went off on their own can share their experiences. Unfortunately, we’re pretty antisocial when we’re on a cruise. I know, who knew! 😂

[Ken the cruiser]

 
And we’re off! Next stop, Toba-Mie, which is a tender port.

 

 

Edited July 17, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

This evening after dinner, we headed to the theater to watch a wonderful encore performance given by Che Orton! 😁

 

 
Then we headed to the Explorers Lounge to watch a very funny game show called Hollywould You?

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 9 - July 18 - Toba-Mie, Japan

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Here’s our PCL excursion, which also includes tendering to and from Toba-Mie. Hopefully the tendering process will go smoother than today’s delays dealing with the heat and immigration. 🤞

 

 

[fisherguy]

Been following this thread as Toba is one of our scheduled stops next March when we are on the Diamond.

 

I was in Osaka in December.  Wow what a difference in weather as we were in our winter jackets and snow was falling.  Did they offer any excursions to Kyoto?  That is my favorite city in Japan to visit.

[cr8tiv1]

@Ken the cruiser  What a beautiful day in Osaka.  I wonder if the pigeons are bilingual?  

[Ombud]

@Ken the cruiser or @vlin07 do they have all the elements to make sushi or upon in the buffet? ALT: is vegetarian sushi available onboard?

 

[vlin07]

7 minutes ago, Ombud said:

@Ken the cruiser or @vlin07 do they have all the elements to make sushi or upon in the buffet? ALT: is vegetarian sushi available onboard?

 

The World Fresh Market on Deck 14 has scattered sushi/chirashizushi. Does not say it’s vegetarian sushi. Hope that helps.😊

[cr8tiv1]

40 minutes ago, Ombud said:

@Ken the cruiser or @vlin07 do they have all the elements to make sushi or upon in the buffet? ALT: is vegetarian sushi available onboard?

 

 

In my experience...Princess kitchens (not specialty restaurants like Kai) don't know how to make sushi.  To begin with, they use the wrong rice.  Rice is not seasoned (at all).

[Ken the cruiser]

49 minutes ago, Ombud said:

@Ken the cruiser or @vlin07 do they have all the elements to make sushi or upon in the buffet? ALT: is vegetarian sushi available onboard?

 

Not sure about the buffet options, but here’s the Kai Sushi restaurant dinner menu. Hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

8 hours ago, fisherguy said:

Been following this thread as Toba is one of our scheduled stops next March when we are on the Diamond.

 

I was in Osaka in December.  Wow what a difference in weather as we were in our winter jackets and snow was falling.  Did they offer any excursions to Kyoto?  That is my favorite city in Japan to visit.

Yes, they offered a few. Our son and his family visited a bunch of temples and shrines in Kyoto yesterday.

[Ombud]

39 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

@Ken the cruiser or @vlin07 do they have all the elements to make sushi or upon in the buffet? ALT: is vegetarian sushi available onboard?

 

 

In my experience...Princess kitchens (not specialty restaurants like Kai) don't know how to make sushi.  To begin with, they use the wrong rice.  Rice is not seasoned (at all).

Unfortunately agree for the most part but the elements were there on the Diamond during Circle Japan in 2017. But don't remember Kai Sushi ....

[Ken the cruiser]

17 minutes ago, Ombud said:

Unfortunately agree for the most part but the elements were there on the Diamond during Circle Japan in 2017. But don't remember Kai Sushi ....

We’re going to eat dinner up in the buffet tonight because we’ll be getting back late from going on our excursion. If we see a station where they allow you to make your own sushi, I’ll let you know. I might even take a picture of it, but don’t tell anybody. 😂