Vibrant Tokyo Pre-Cruise – Our Experience

[bizinsider]

We had read so many bad reviews of the Vibrant Tokyo pre-cruise that we braced ourselves for the worst... expecting a disorganized mess with bad guides, packed buses and unruly crowds.

 

As it turns out, our experience was just the opposite before the start of our trip to Bangkok, which started two days ago.

 

We can't say enough good things about Theo, who was the point person for the third party operator.. giving the daily overview as we waited for the buses. We also had no complaints about the guides. While they didn't give "guided tours," they were full of information and depending on the site, were a good combo of hand-holding and independence.

 

As for their English, it was better than expected.

 

Make no mistake, this is a group experience. But all in all, it was a surprisingly good experience... not to mention an excellent value. (As in free.)

 

My wife, Mary, who writes The Modern Postcard blog, will post a full review of the cruise (including the pre-cruise) here at the end of the trip.

 

Cheers,

Herb

 

[forgap]

Thanks, Herb!  We are cruising Tokyo to Vancouver in April.  I subscribe to Mary’s blog so I look forward to her narrative of your cruise.  We are doing a ten day land trip prior to the pre cruise in Tokyo so we may or may not go on tours.  I’m more intrigued with taking a class of some kind.  Enjoy your trip!  

[tubeamps]

We just got home from our Tokyo to Tokyo cruise with the 3 day Tokyo pre cruise experience.

Our impressions were exactly the same as yours. Well organized and an overall enjoyable experience.

 

Really nothing more to add, I’m more than a little jet lagged right now.

[jessandarnie]

Good to hear a positive report on this pre cruise inclusion. We are also on the Tokyo to Vancouver cruise in April with 3 nights in Tokyo beforehand 

[mj_holiday]

Thanks for the report on the Vibrant Tokyo, we are headed to the cruise end of March, looking forward to all of it.

[bizinsider]

9 hours ago, tubeamps said:

 

Really nothing more to add, I’m more than a little jet lagged right now.

Haha, just now getting over the jet lag going this direction from California.

[bizinsider]

12 hours ago, forgap said:

Thanks, Herb!  We are cruising Tokyo to Vancouver in April.  I subscribe to Mary’s blog so I look forward to her narrative of your cruise.  We are doing a ten day land trip prior to the pre cruise in Tokyo so we may or may not go on tours.  I’m more intrigued with taking a class of some kind.  Enjoy your trip!  

Sounds like a great trip you have planned First time in Japan for us and we're loving it. 

[chuckw]

Looking forward to the review of your Tokyo to Bangkok cruise, we had to cancel at the las minute because of family illness.

[forgap]

26 minutes ago, bizinsider said:

Sounds like a great trip you have planned First time in Japan for us and we're loving it. 

I lived in Japan as a teen from ‘65 - ‘69 and this is my first time back in 50+ years.  (I don’t count transiting through the airport!)   It was such a formative experience for me and I’ve started to brush up on basic Japanese which I never did as a stupid teenager.  
 

My father was a dedicated collector of Japanese objects, prints, sculptures, and screens which now fill my house.  He studied kanji until his late nineties.  He had such a terrible accent the shopkeepers never could decipher what he was saying so he would write it down which earned him considerable respect!  I am really anticipating this trip!  

[chaunceyb]

On 11/11/2023 at 8:49 PM, bizinsider said:

We had read so many bad reviews of the Vibrant Tokyo pre-cruise that we braced ourselves for the worst... expecting a disorganized mess with bad guides, packed buses and unruly crowds.

 

As it turns out, our experience was just the opposite before the start of our trip to Bangkok, which started two days ago.

 

We can't say enough good things about Theo, who was the point person for the third party operator.. giving the daily overview as we waited for the buses. We also had no complaints about the guides. While they didn't give "guided tours," they were full of information and depending on the site, were a good combo of hand-holding and independence.

 

As for their English, it was better than expected.

 

Make no mistake, this is a group experience. But all in all, it was a surprisingly good experience... not to mention an excellent value. (As in free.)

 

My wife, Mary, who writes The Modern Postcard blog, will post a full review of the cruise (including the pre-cruise) here at the end of the trip.

 

Cheers,

Herb

 

Was your hotel the Tokyo Hilton? Thanks for the positive review!

[bizinsider]

38 minutes ago, chaunceyb said:

Was your hotel the Tokyo Hilton? Thanks for the positive review!

Indeed it was! It was more than fine. No complaints.

[chaunceyb]

3 hours ago, bizinsider said:

Indeed it was! It was more than fine. No complaints.

Thanks!