Staatendam Hong Kong- Osaka?

[realproperty]

Has anyone done it or doing it? How was it? Was there enough time in big cities? How were the excursions? Did they get to the right places? How much time did you give yourself in Hong Kong before or Osaka after, etc? We are considering it for April 2007. Thank you for any input.

[jjantonini]

My wife and I, and another couple, are doing this trip on Statendam on 3/22 from Hong Kong. We are celebrating our 30th Birthdays!

 

At first, we were reluctant to book this ship because of its age. We've sailed on new/bigger ships and like things that are updated and luxurious. However, we LOVED this itinierary for Asia. The overnights in both Beijing and Shanghai will be great for day tours (although we noticed the Shanghai stop was shorted on the second day to a 1pm departure) and Hong Kon is supposed to be a fabulous city to cruise from.

 

We are staying two days early in Hong Kong. We are skipping Osaka and taking the train right to Tokyo for the last two days of our trip.

 

Other CruiseCritic members made us overcome our fear of the Statendam being older. They all wrote that the ship was classic and still luxurios due to the recent upgrades onboard. We have booked Oceanview cabins.

 

Hope this helps!

[DD]

We just spent over a week in Osaka in September and absolutely loved it. I'd recommend spending as much time as possible there. It's a great home base to visit Kyoto, Himenji, and Kobe. We did a day trip to Miyajima (the red tori'i gate that sits in the water) and Hiroshima. Nara is also a wonderful day trip from what we heard from many travelers. Osaka itself is quite charming; we actually prefered it over Tokyo. The best thing we did was contact the Osaka Goodwill Guides--they arranged for a guide for us each day. She spoke great english and there is absolutely no charge for this service. You just pay for her transportation and meals. Also, bring her a small gift from your home area because at the end of the day, she will have bought you a gift and you'll feel bad if you don't reciprocate. They don't tell you about the gift ahead of time nor will they admit to it. I was VERY glad we had brought something. These guides will spend an entire day with you. I found them through google. There are several clubs in all major cities. We went with Mrs. Hirouchi's club.

 

We stayed at the Hilton Osaka on the concierge level and would highly recommend it. The breakfast buffet is terrific and will really help when you're just sick of Japanese food.