Live-Carnival Luminosa 9/14/23 30 Day TP Seattle to Brisbane

[kwokpot]

Day 8 (Friday 9/22) - Dinner and show

Tonight's menu was an Elegant Night menu without it being an actual Elegant Night. (There are three Elegant Night Dinners on this sailing and we already had one, with the last two for some strange reason posted as the 2nd to last and LAST night of the cruise. Who has dress up night dinner on the last day of a cruise?)

 

The food as it has been the whole cruise was very good. I had a pork belly appetizer and lobster thermador ( old fashioned haute cuisine!) And my husband had chicken wings and ravioli. We both finished the meal with lemon meringue pie which was excellent!

 

The ship was in very rough waters last night and I thought the production shows would be cancelled. But ever the troupers the show must go on and they presented the Playlist production of Vintage Pop, one of my favorite of the Playlist shows. As to be expected there were a few missteps due to the rocking of the ship but it was an enjoyable show nonetheless. You have to give the performers credit! 

Edited September 23, 2023 by kwokpot

[kwokpot]

Inside tip:

The Cloud 9 Spa on the Luminosa is huge with lots of room and different hot areas to relax in. One area that most people miss and isn't on any other Carnival ship is a separate relaxation area that isn't on deck 9 where the main thermal suite is but instead on deck 10. There's a staircase or elevator you take from the Cloud 9 thermal suite area on deck 9 and you'll come to this huge room. None of the seating areas are heated but there's loungers facing the large windows and other types of seating. There's water to drink and rest room facilities so it's a undiscovered place to relax in if you have thermal suite access. I've been here every day since the cruise started and there's never more than a handful of people here, and many a times we're the only ones here. 

Edited September 23, 2023 by kwokpot

[kwokpot]

Some more photos of last night's Playlist show, Vintage Pop

 

[jimbo5544]

Great review so far and thanks for doing it.  Fascinating Journey so far.  Seems weather has influenced sailing even in the Pacific, is that true?

 

[kwokpot]

On 9/23/2023 at 8:32 PM, jimbo5544 said:

Great review so far and thanks for doing it.  Fascinating Journey so far.  Seems weather has influenced sailing even in the Pacific, is that true?

 

We have been having varied weather here in the Pacific. The weather didn't calm down until Sunday when we arrived by the Japanese Islands. Yesterday was great, today is raining. I'll do a quick recap. 

[kwokpot]

Quick Recaps:Day 10 sailing the Japanese waters

 

Just some quick thoughts. On Sunday, Sept. 24th we saw land for the 1st time since leaving Seattle. Japan is in our sights! The most interesting part of the day was sailing the Japanese Strait which is the body of water in-between the Japanese archipelago that forms the 'head' of the Japanese Dragon(if you look at Japan on a map you'll see the country is in the form of a dragon!)and the main island that forms the 'body'. The waters were calm and protected from the winds and everyone was out sunning at the Serenity area. It was a day that was sorely needed after all the rocking and rolling and cloudy and rainy weather. Everyone was outdoors. 

[kwokpot]

Day 11 Otaru, Japan Port stop

 

Our first Port stop in Japan necessitated a complex Immigration and Passport control procedure. Forms were handed out a couple of days earlier one which had to be handed in the other day. Japanese immigration officials came on board complete with retinal and fingerprint scanners, after which a tourist sticker was placed inside your passport. The procedure took place in the theater and it was done deck by deck. It took a bit longer than anyone had anticipated but we were lucky to be on deck 8 and it took just under an hour for us and we were off just about 10am. The good thing is it's a one time procedure for our 6 stops in Japan. 

 

Some people opted to go to Sapporo but we decided to stay in the town of Otaru itself. The main sights were in walking distance but it was a long day and our feet were hurting by the time we got back onboard. 

 

The town is known throughout Japan for their seafood especially shellfish and Salmon roe. Every restaurant was some kind of seafood restaurant. We opted instead for cheesecake and coffee from a well known Otaru bakery called LeTao. The main store has sales on the ground floor and a cafe in the 2nd floor. We queued up using a ticket machine and a phone app that alerted you when your reservation was ready. The desserts were worth the wait. The cheesecake was light and airy and the strawberry shortcake was wonderful!

 

The main street in town had all these wonderful little buildings with restaurants and gift items. The town is known for their glassware and there were many shops selling beautiful handmade glassware.

 

One of the supposed attractions was a bit of a letdown, quite honestly. There's a canal running through the main town and supposedly warehouses with shops and restaurants. Unfortunately the setup was disappointing; a pedestrian walkway without shops or restaurants ran along one side of the canal and on the opposite side were the warehouses that occasionally had exposed windows along the canal. In other words there was no shopping and dining esplanade walkway which one would have thought was the setup after reading about this attraction.  The city's main street was far more interesting!

 

Oh I forgot to mention our first few stops. We checked out the fresh market which sold produce and seafood. Then we went to a Sake Brewery. It was a local working Sake brewery and you were able to tour the facility and see how Sake was made and then buy direct from the brewery. We bought three bottles which we had gift wrapped as presents ( These were taken from use when we went back on board and will be returned at the end of the cruise).

 

Finally it was the middle of the afternoon and we had wanted to have some ramen 🍜 at a local shop but as I said earlier all the restaurants served seafood. The one tiny ramen shop we saw was full so we opted to have some food back on the ship.

 

Lunch in the buffet was being served until 3:30 so we lucked out with that!

 

We were so tired that we took a nap and actually skipped dinner! 

 

Photos of our day in Otaru. 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by kwokpot

[jimbo5544]

Great info, def on our bucket lists.

[vanislandcruisers]

Thanks for taking us along!!!

[ninjacat123]

Did Carnival hold the sake for you because your cruise started in Seattle (United States)?  Since we are cruising out of Rome, we get to bring wine on board and to our room, correct?  Love the pics of Japan!!

[Down-Unders]

16 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Day 11 Otaru, Japan Port stop

 

Our first Port stop in Japan necessitated a complex Immigration and Passport control procedure. Forms were handed out a couple of days earlier one which had to be handed in the other day. Japanese immigration officials came on board complete with retinal and fingerprint scanners, after which a tourist sticker was placed inside your passport. The procedure took place in the theater and it was done deck by deck. It took a bit longer than anyone had anticipated but we were lucky to be on deck 8 and it took just under an hour for us and we were off just about 10am. The good thing is it's a one time procedure for our 6 stops in Japan. 

 

Some people opted to go to Sapporo but we decided to stay in the town of Otaru itself. The main sights were in walking distance but it was a long day and our feet were hurting by the time we got back onboard. 

 

The town is known throughout Japan for their seafood especially shellfish and Salmon roe. Every restaurant was some kind of seafood restaurant. We opted instead for cheesecake and coffee from a well known Otaru bakery called LeTao. The main store has sales on the ground floor and a cafe in the 2nd floor. We queued up using a ticket machine and a phone app that alerted you when your reservation was ready. The desserts were worth the wait. The cheesecake was light and airy and the strawberry shortcake was wonderful!

 

The main street in town had all these wonderful little buildings with restaurants and gift items. The town is known for their glassware and there were many shops selling beautiful handmade glassware.

 

One of the supposed attractions was a bit of a letdown, quite honestly. There's a canal running through the main town and supposedly warehouses with shops and restaurants. Unfortunately the setup was disappointing; a pedestrian walkway without shops or restaurants ran along one side of the canal and on the opposite side were the warehouses that occasionally had exposed windows along the canal. In other words there was no shopping and dining esplanade walkway which one would have thought was the setup after reading about this attraction.  The city's main street was far more interesting!

 

Oh I forgot to mention our first few stops. We checked out the fresh market which sold produce and seafood. Then we went to a Sake Brewery. It was a local working Sake brewery and you were able to tour the facility and see how Sake was made and then buy direct from the brewery. We bought three bottles which we had gift wrapped as presents ( These were taken from use when we went back on board and will be returned at the end of the cruise).

 

Finally it was the middle of the afternoon and we had wanted to have some ramen 🍜 at a local shop but as I said earlier all the restaurants served seafood. The one tiny ramen shop we saw was full so we opted to have some food back on the ship.

 

Lunch in the buffet was being served until 3:30 so we lucked out with that!

 

We were so tired that we took a nap and actually skipped dinner! 

 

Photos of our day in Otaru. 

 

 

Thank you it brought back a  wonderful sunny Saturday we had  in OTARU.  Queen Elizabeth May 23 especially Le Tao and those beautiful cakes.

[kwokpot]

3 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

Did Carnival hold the sake for you because your cruise started in Seattle (United States)?  Since we are cruising out of Rome, we get to bring wine on board and to our room, correct?  Love the pics of Japan!!

Carnival seems to have totally different alcohol rules for the Europe sailings, although the official ship policies are technically in place. It does cause confusion. We specifically asked the security team as we disembarked since we knew we were going to buy Sake as gifts and what was told to us as we disembarked was what was actually done when we got back on board. 

[princess76021]

4 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

Carnival seems to have totally different alcohol rules for the Europe sailings, although the official ship policies are technically in place. It does cause confusion. We specifically asked the security team as we disembarked since we knew we were going to buy Sake as gifts and what was told to us as we disembarked was what was actually done when we got back on board. 

Oh where, on where is that "oh crap" button

Hugs from Texas

[kwokpot]

Some background information on us. 

Before I post some more trip information I wanted just to give a quick background on us so you can read my reports with some context.

 

I'm Anthony and I'm traveling with my husband Robert. We're both 62 (actually my birthday is next week on the ship!) And originally from NYC but we now live in Philadelphia. We're retired so traveling, especially on cruise holidays, is how we spend the bulk of our free time. 

 

This current cruise is our 106th cruise overall, 27th with Carnival. We've sailed on many interesting itineraries and this is our third Transpacific to Australia. Our traveling style can coined as less is more. We don't feel we have to get off the ship the moment the ship is cleared and come back at the very last moment. We enjoy casual walks on our own to see the local sights and experience the local stores and food. That's not to say we won't do private tours if the situation warrants it. Our most ambitious was planning three separate private group tours for a Vietnam cruise. The biggest group had 25 participants and I felt I owned a tour company! On this trip though we're only going to do walks and touring all on our own.

 

This philosophy also extends to shipboard activities. Robert is a gambler so he enjoys the casino, but we generally don't go to the comedy shows or karaoke but we do enjoy the ship production shows. We also don't go to any of the organized ship activities such as trivia. So unfortunately you'll won't see any reviews about too much of the shipboard activities and entertainment. And no, even on a 30 day sailing such as this one, we aren't bored in the least with all the sea days but not attending any ship activities. So with that, on to more trip reporting! 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by kwokpot

[kwokpot]

Day 12 Hakodate, Japan Port stop

 

Our second Port stop in Japan will be much easier without having to do immigration and passport control. The weather was quite overcast and it did start to drizzle and rain in the morning, but it was warm with temps in the high 60s so the magrodome over the Lido pool was open. We were planning on disembarking around 10am but it started to rain a bit more steady so we decided to wait it out a little, and by 11am it stopped and we ventured out.  

 

We walked over to the waterfront warehouse area where historic red brick warehouses were renovated into shops and restaurants. It's very nice if not a bit touristy but there were nice things and hey, aren't we tourists? After a bit of browsing we had decided to venture out to a more local area for lunch. I had found a funky ramen shop that looked like a cool retro bar and we headed about 15 minutes away from the waterfront and tourist areas. The city streets seemed deserted! 

 

We got to the ramen shop and it was exactly as pictured on Google. The owner spoke a little English and although the menus weren't in English we used Google translate and it was perfect. It has a feature where you can either take a photo or live image and it will translate on the fly whatever text it sees. We decided to order A soy pork ramen and a clear salt pork ramen. Both were EXCELLENT with different types of noodles and different broths, but both having sliced pork. We enjoyed the local ramen immensely.

 

After we left the sky cleared up and it was brilliant sunshine. We went to checkout some local historic buildings and walked around some more before heading back to the ship.

 

There are others on the ship who took the cable car ride to the top of the mountain and others who went to another area where a historic fort was turned into a huge, beautiful park with a tall observation tower and everyone said that with the rain gone the views were great! 

 

Below are photos from our day in Hakodate. 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by kwokpot

[princess76021]

These photos are awesome!

Thanks for sharing

Hugs from Texas

[balcony bound]

I fell in love with ramen when I lived in Okinawa.  I know most people think it's a cheap pack of noodles.... maybe so, but it is so much more.  Yours looks amazing.

[kwokpot]

Day 13 Aomori, Japan Port Stop

 

We had a nice sail in and it was going to be a nice warm day. The cruise pier is walking distance to the City Center and the city's iconic Tourism Information Building is a huge triangle that will forever be associated with Aomori (We actually didn't go in the building,lol).

 

Our main destination today is the Nebuta Museum. A museum devoted to the annual Japanese Nebuta Festival, the most famous being the one celebrated in Aomori, Japan. 

 

ABOUT

Nebuta Festival

The epitome of Aomori's summer, the Nebuta Festival is one of the most famous festivals in Japan, attracting thousands of visitors.

 

The main attraction is large, colorful and dramatic human-shaped floats called Nebuta, 9 meters wide, 7 meters deep and 5 meters high, most of them resembling ancient warlords, historical characters and kabuki characters in early days.

 

These floats parade through the streets of Aomori, with Haneto dancers bouncing down the streets to the exciting music of Nebuta bayashi bands.

 

This museum is fascinating and my most favorite attraction we have seen of the three Japanese cities we've visited so far. You'll see later on in the attached photos why I felt this way. 

 

Afterwards we walked into the Main city center and browsed the various shops. We found a perfect place for lunch and apparently many from the ship thought as well since we saw many other tables of Luminosa guests and crew. The restaurant was a chain and could be likened to a mid priced American chain restaurant with many choices. An English menu with photos helped with choosing many of the set complete menus of Japanese and Chinese food choices. The food was tasty and reasonably priced.

 

After lunch we went to a small local shrine and enjoyed the peaceful ponds with koi fish, ducks, and turtles. We capped off the afternoon with coffee and some pastries from a simple and plain shop.

Check out the amazing photos! 

 

[lazydayz]

Japan looks amazing.  Glad you are getting some nice, sunny weather. 

[kwokpot]

Day 15 Tokyo Port stop

 

The sail in was without issues and it was going to be a warm day, high 70s. Having been to Tokyo before we wanted to visit a couple of places we didn't get to see 8 years ago. All aboard isn't until 9:30pm but we have no intention of staying out that late. We are docked at the Tokyo International Cruise Terminal which has train connections to the rest of the city. Today's main attraction is the Tokyo Skytree, a TV antenna and observation tower, currently the third tallest freestanding structure in the world. We had purchased advanced tickets which gave a slight discount to see the observation decks at two levels: 350 meters and 450 meters.

 

I have to say Google maps is an indispensable tool for traveling. With this one resource you can *find things to see in the city you're going to,*find out how to get to you destination,*find out information about what you're going to see,*find places to shop, eat, drink with reviews, photos, menus. 

 

Google maps gave us the exact way to get to the observation tower and it's estimated ETA was right on point! We had about an hour to kill before our reservation time so we browsed the huge mall that was attached to the observation tower. We found a ramen and dumplings restaurant we knew we wanted to have lunch at after the Skytree visit.

 

The observation tower was worth the $16 admission. Although busy with tourists the queues were properly managed and being Japan everyone was polite and we were always able to get right in front of the windows to admire the views. It is pretty amazing and you understand how big Tokyo is once you see the whole city laid out in front of you. The views were 360 degrees and at 1,148 ft high and 1,476 ft high you appreciate the design and engineering that went into the making of this tower. I'm glad we went to the Skytree!

 

Afterwards we went back to the ramen and dumplings restaurant for lunch. We ordered the extra large dumplings and they were excellent, so tasty and perfectly pan fried. 

 

Afterwards we went to the next two stops for the day; Ushijima Shrine and  Senso-Ji Buddhist Temple. They were both walking distance from the Skytree so no need for the subway. Despite the good  Google reviews the Ushijima Shrine was a disappointment. The whole shrine was in quite disrepair and there was loud construction noise right outside from a new park being created. The Shrine was anything but serine but it was on the way to the temple so we didn't go out of our way for the Shrine. 

 

The Senso-Ji Buddhist Temple is one of the most visited tourist sights in Tokyo and indeed there were thousands of people all over the place. The temple and surrounding gates and structures were impressive but the crowds make it hard to enjoy. There's a road lined with shops and food stalls that lead to the main gate of the temple and that too was packed with people. With the warm weather and crowds it became a bit too much so I quickly Googled for a coffee shop for an iced coffee and dessert. I found a highly rated coffee shop right around the corner from the main shopping street so we quickly made a dash for it. Wow, it was located on this small side street and it was exactly what we needed. An boutique coffee and dessert place with AC!

We both had an iced latte and Affogato Japanese style, which included espresso jelly. It was yummy!

 

Afterwards we wandered the streets some more before using Google maps to get us back to the ship via subway and train. Although early that day we had a brief thought about staying out for dinner we had already been out touring almost 6 hours and we were too tired to stay out another 3 hours before being hungry for dinner off the ship. So it was back onboard at 4:00 for a nap before dinner.

 

Pictures of our day in Tokyo. 

[jimbo5544]

Great pics!

[princess76021]

They should have a "WOW" button for these pictures!!

Thanks for sharing

Hugs from Texas

[ninjacat123]

Great pics!!!  I have Sky Tree on my list for our trip to Tokyo and reading how you enjoyed it so much makes me more confident in getting tickets.  Did you go to Sky Tree's website to get tickets direct? TIA!

[kwokpot]

11 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

Great pics!!!  I have Sky Tree on my list for our trip to Tokyo and reading how you enjoyed it so much makes me more confident in getting tickets.  Did you go to Sky Tree's website to get tickets direct? TIA!

I had originally tried to use this 3rd party booking app called klook which implied they had a discount code but the code didn't work and the price was the same as booking through Skytree's own website so I just ended up booking directly. 

[ninjacat123]

1 minute ago, kwokpot said:

I had originally tried to use this 3rd party booking app called klook which implied they had a discount code but the code didn't work and the price was the same as booking through Skytree's own website so I just ended up booking directly. 

And the name of the restaurant that you had ramen after Skytree is called Soratoraya?  Looks yummy!!