This was our Japan vacation through Yokohama, Mt Fuji from Shimizu, Kobe, Nagasaki, and Kagoshima. We had scenic ports, iconic landmarks, and rich cultural experiences on this memorable cruise journey.
So far in my Japan vacation write-ups I have covered Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka in Japan. We also visited Yokohama, Mt Fuji (Shimzu), Kobe, Nagasaki, and Kogashina. Our time in Tokyo was minimal.
Japan Cruise Stops: Yokohama, Mt Fuji, Kobe, Nagasaki & Kagoshima
I probably should break out Yokohama and Tokyo since those were not ship stops, but I won’t. LOL We disembarked the first ship, took a car over to our hotel in Yokohama where the second ship was leaving the next day.
Our disembarkation in Tokyo was very smooth. We exited, sat in a lounge for an hour, collected our luggage after a short walk off the ship (porters were everywhere handing out carts) and easily went through customs.
We then went to wait in a long line (that moved very quickly) for an elevator to the first floor and the taxis.
The port was absolutely beautiful; very modern, very sleek and easy to navigate.
Getting a taxi was incredible. It was like a ballet how taxis were waved over, loaded, and then in line four waiting taxis would move up to be next in line to await their fares.
I really wish I had taken a video of this operation. It truly was a coordinated performance that made the taxi line move very quickly.
Yokohama
From that port we went to the Hyatt Regency in Yokohama.
Since we were too early for check-in, the hotel took our luggage and told us to come back at 3pm (it was not even 11am when we arrived). We decided to walk down to Chinatown which was under a mile away.
The Yokohama Chinatown is the largest Chinatown in Japan, and wow was it hopping!!
It was a giant (outdoor) food court with people eating everywhere. Clearly the Japanese taboo of eating or drinking in the public streets while walking did not apply in Chinatown!
While all the kiosks looked interesting Hubby knew better than to involve me + no seat + chopsticks + food on a city street.
He found an expensive (for Chinatown at lunchtime) dim-sum restaurant (no carts) that offered a 8, 9, 10, or 12 course lunch. We chose the nine course lunch (minimum two people) and wow was it fabulous. The fried shrimp, yellowfish shrimp (that tasted like bang-bang shrimp) bay berry sauce were my highlights, but the entire meal was excellent. The only course I did not try was the chicken and eggplant (I am not an eggplant fan). And, I was so proud of myself – I fed myself using the spoon and chopsticks! No fork!
That was a real win.
After lunch, we roamed Chinatown taking in the sights and sounds. This included shops, food markets, temples, restaurants, gift shops, and food kiosks.
We ended up so full that all Hubby and I had for dinner was some ramen he bought from a convenience store across the street from our hotel. While I didn’t want to think about how much sodium we ingested, it was pretty darned tasty for a buck!
Our hotel was nice, but our hotel bathroom was phenomenal! Hubby is lucky we had already redone the master bath, or I would have had us purchasing a Japanese toilet. The lid lifted when you walked in, the seat heated, and the lid lowered and flushed automatically when you rose! It was incredible.
All across Japan, even the public restrooms were amazing. The only Japanese I can read is flush: フラッシュ. Heh
The following day we boarded the Celebrity Millennium.
While our hotel was close enough to walk to the port (and people did), we had five pieces of luggage (1 large, 2 medium, 2 carry-on) and we decided a taxi was a better choice than walking.
While at the hotel we did repack one of our bags so it contained all the things we bought on this trip. One thing about going to Southeast Asia where everything is cheap, is everything is … cheap. The negative is you have to get all those cheap things home.
If we had a different flight with a 70# weight limit we could have done with 2 large bags and 2 carry-ons, we knew we’d need that extra bag for souvenirs. As it was, I regretted not taking 4 medium sized bags as domestic weight for our bags was only 50#s, so my large bag had leftover room because the weight limit had been reached but not the volume limit of the suitcase.
Boarding this ship was “fun,” but except for very long check-in lines, it was a short walk to the luggage dump off, through security (my passport beeped!), and then being scanned in on our express pass.
We boarded the ship, walked to our room, dumped off our carry-on luggage and picked up our room keys.
The room was very disappointing.
The bathroom was peanut sized, the closet was adequate for our needs (we did not bring out or hang up any warm weather clothing as the forecast was for cold weather only – if we’d have needed to hand up all our clothing, we’d have been in trouble) and there were a few drawers.
Normally when we book a room on a ship, we book by room size and placement. We make sure there is a sofa and a desk with a straight back chair. On this voyage, all the suites were sold out, and even the balconies were only available to be assigned.
The room we were assigned had a bed, a chair (no sofa or loveseat), a teeny-tiny desk area, and a chair (plus the bed). It was underwhelming, and very, very tired. The balcony had an air leak that we had to stuff napkins into. The finishes in the room appeared to be Ikea rejects.
The icing on the cake was that we learned the ship had been dry docked recently. Wow.
The are more shops on Celebrity than Silver Sea (both are owned by RCCL), and there is more entertainment on Celebrity, which is also nice, especially on sea days. But otherwise? This was it for us on Celebrity for a long while. Possibly forever.
Kobe
All I wanted in Kobe was a Kobe beef meal. I had heard so much about Kobe beef that I wanted to try it… in Kobe! Hubby found us a place for LUNCH and, the prefixed meal (two people) was close to $250 USD.
But wow was it good.
We got off the ship, went through customs, and then on to the shuttle to the CBD of Kobe.
We walked over to their Chinatown and it was very difficult to not eat our way through. It was only knowing that I wanted Kobe beef that made us refrain from purchasing at the food stalls.
Hubby did pick up one bun. It contained a mystery meat which was heavy in the bun and not very good. We spent a lot of time walking through Chinatown and then a LOT of high end shopping. I have no idea who is buying all this stuff in Asia, but the amount of pricey stores (Gucci, Barney’s. Hermes. Etc) is simply astounding.
Our Kobe beef experience was in a 15 seat restaurant. They owned four restaurants in the area. We had actually stopped at a different one they owned, they had no seats, so the chef walked us over to this other restaurant.
For lunch we had soup, salad (outstanding), beef, and vegetables. I chose Kobe beef, Hubby chose a different beef on the menu that was not Kobe. I wanted the full experience, and paid-up for that experience!
The Kobe beef melted in my mouth. It was that good – tender and juicy.
The grilled veggies – eggplant, sweet potato, mushroom, and lotus root – were very good. The lotus root (a tuber in the ground) was fabulous! I could have eaten more of that one.
Hubby and I agreed that our meal was excellent, the beef outstanding, but the cost was yikes!! The beef we had in Osaka was not quite as good, but for 1/3 the cost of this meal? Yeah, I am giving a definite edge to that Osaka meal.
After lunch we went to the Kobe Lamp Museum. Hubby knows I cannot resist glass work. Of course, I loved this place. Small, but interesting. And I purchased a few things, too.
Hubby thought long and hard about going to the joining museum (woodwork). But, we couldn’t appreciate the story and photos, so we passed. If we did visit Kobe again, we would probably go – we probably should have that day.
Nagasaki
We were still under the weather so we warned our tour guide when he came to pick us up at the ship. He was extremely considerate and conscientious of our colds, and so we did little walking on this tour and instead did a lot of cabbing (and one short trolley ride).
Of all the cities and towns we visited in Japan, Nagasaki was, in my opinion, the most charming.
Our first stop was the local street where our guide did his personal shopping! Hubby loved the neighborhood feel. We tried some more mochi – blech – I will never like it! – but this was definitely fluffier and softer than the other mochi I have tried.
We next went to another neighborhood for local pork buns.
We then went to lunch at a private room at a local restaurant. There we had local beef and other delicacies.
We finished up this food tour at his local coffee shop where one of the other patrons (a local) struck up a conversation with us about the foods of Japan.
There were some cheery blossoms out, but since we were cabbing and not walking, they just made for nice scenery.
Nagasaki is a small city of about 450K people that has been completely rebuilt and was very nice. While we only got a small taste (heh) of the city due to our colds, what we did see and visit was most enjoyable.
Kagoshima
The customs operation here was long. We were retuning from South Korea so the whole ship had to disembark and go through customs. More forms, declarations, finger prints, and facial recognition – DO NOT under any circumstance visit Asia if personal privacy is important to you.
In Kagoshima Hubby thought he had reserved a ship’s tour… turns out he didn’t purchase it, and by the time we realized this the tour we had wanted to book was sold out. We looked for a local tour, but there was nothing available. We shortly discovered why.
Kagoshima has a lovely port dock with plenty of green space, but as soon as you moved out of that area it was very industrial. By the time the shuttle dropped us close to shopping – 20 minutes away from the port – we observed industrial and not much else.
Hubby had asked me if I wanted to go for lunch and since we had not yet visited a dedicated tempura restaurant I asked him to find one.
We went to a small (12 seat) Mom & Pop diner that was excellent.
He had an assorted tempura lunch (soup, rice, salad, egg) and I had shrimp tempura with the same accompaniments. We also had a local beer and some tea, and the were out for $22 USD total.
We then wandered through the Tenmokan shopping area, and Hubby was able to shop at a Daiso.
He was in heaven!
He said that if IKEA made a dollar store competitor, that would be it. He felt, “That is what Big Lots should have been!”
He came out of that store happier than I had seen him in days!
We went back to the ship after that. While we were feeling a little bit better there really wasn’t much going on in the CBD.
When we got back to the ship I told Hubby I was going out on our balcony to take a photo Sakurajima, the volcano near the port.
I went out to see this. Nothing like a little bit of volcanic activity to liven up the day.
Shimizu Japan/ Mt Fuji
We did those stop twice, once per ship.
The first time we were not feeling well so did not get off the ship. Apparently, seeing Mt Fuji has a 25% success rate No one saw Mt Fuji that day.
The second time we stopped, our tour was a 7 hour bus ride, and that was unappealing as we were just getting over our colds. To be frank, even perfectly healthy a 7 hour bus ride falls under the heading of “what were we thinking!?”
Hubby slept in and then we took the shuttle bus in for lunch. We did some shopping where I found a beautiful Japanese hair ornament I had searched for in every port. The shopping center was sparely open as it was a Monday. Hubby did get to go into another Daiso though!
After our shopping we walked over to the local fish market. It was a madhouse!! There were at least 100 cars in the parking lot and the street was clogged with more vehicles waiting to pull in.
I am not a sushi fan, so Hubby found us a local dive restaurant pretty close to the fish market (next parking lot over) that was filled with locals.
We ate lunch at the local Mom & Pop place. It was so very good!
After that, we took a slow walk through the fish market where they were selling a lot of mackerel. The place was dimly lit and the floors were quite wet, so I didn’t take any photos.
We then found an elongated walkway that took us right to where the shuttle bus was to take us back to the ship.
On the ship, we decided to sit in the cafeteria and have a cocktail. And what did we see? Mt Fuji! I ran outside to get photos and took even more photos from the cafeteria where there was a better, clearer view (sorry for any reflection).
While clouds did eventually cover it, I cannot believe we were able to see it. One of the waiters told us that was the first time he had ever seen it after dozens of cruises.
These days I do not bring my good camera on trips. It is too heavy for me to lug around. I seldom regret it, but I did for this. These photos are with my phone camera A long-lens + one of my good cameras would have made for better, closer photos.
Outside, there were gobs of people all vying for a clear view and clear shot photo. I barely got a photo. Inside, the photos were better, but there were reflections from the lights inside.
Oh well, at least we have the memory.
Tokyo
Our final stop was Tokyo for disembarkation.
We booked a tour to the airport and that was a colossal mistake. They ran us out to see a temple, drove another hour to a second temple (we had asked to be put off the bus after the first temple so we could take a taxi – and they said no!) that we were allowed to skip. I got a photo of the girls hauling a jinrikisha (rickshaw)!
And then it was off to the airport. Hubby got pulled aside by security due to a pen, so that was “fun.” They just wrote it up, took photos, and let us go. The two trips after this I made sure he had it packed in his checked-in luggage.
Wrapping up this extremely long vacation I must say I thoroughly enjoyed parts of it (New Zealand, Australia, Japan), and there were several places I do not care if I ever return to (South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam).
I went in with no desire to go to Japan, and we already are booked to return in 2028. And, I cannot wait!
The stops on this long vacation:
● Japan Cruise Stops: Yokohama, Mt Fuji, Kobe, Nagasaki & Kagoshima
● Kyoto & Osaka: Our Four Day Itinerary
● Japan Short Break in Fukuoka & Hiroshima
● South Korea 4 Days: Seoul, Incheon, Busan, Jeju Island
● Our One-Day Taiwan Itinerary
● Hong Kong, China | Our Day Trip
● One Week in Vietnam: Our 7-Day Adventure
● Short Stay in Thailand: Elephants, Food & Cultural Gems
● Our Two Days in Singapore: Itinerary & Attractions
● Bali, Indonesia | Two Days on the Island
● Adelaide to Perth: Our Australia Travel Stops
● Two Days in Melbourne, Australia: Our Itinerary
● Two Days in Tasmania: Short Stay Itinerary
● Exploring New Zealand North Island
● Auckland, New Zealand – Sightseeing and Our Itinerary
● For more travel posts on Ann’s Entitled Life, click here.
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