Eight Sea Days in a Row! Japan to Alaska -what a ride
Royal Princess Cruise Review to Transpacific
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Staff Captain
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 25
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22-Night Japan & Voyage Of The Glaciers Grand Adventure (Yokohama To Vancouver)
Sail date: April 27, 2024
Ship: Royal Princess
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: L201
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 6 months ago
Review summary
This was an amazing adventure. The Japan ports were so fun. I can't believe how welcoming the people were. Even when walking down a back street, far from the port we saw signs that said "Welcome Royal Princess". The people, food, sights, etc. leave a lasting impression on you. I was fine during the eight (in a row) sea days it wouldn't be my first choice though.Embarkation
For this Japan cruise we embarked at Daikoku Pier rather that the usual Yokohama cruise terminal at Osanbashi. Daikoku is on an industrial island in the bay without public transportation except city buses which are not practical with luggage. There is a free cruise shuttle leaving near Osanbashi if you are already near there but we were coming from Haneda. We just took a taxi which was about $55 and much cheaper/faster than the cruise line bus from the airport. We arrived about 11:15 and a lot of traffic. The line was long getting in the building and waited a while to board but finally on about 1:30. If you waited till about 2 pm there were no lines at all.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
This was our third Princess Royal class ship in three months so we were pretty familiar with the menu. However, different ships have different chefs and the food had a lot of differences. For example, the Regal and the Royal had pretty good curry dishes but the Discovery's was terrible. Beef on the Regal (out of Texas) was great, the Discovery (California) was decent but the Royal (Japan) was not good. I think that was because Japan has great but crazy expensive beef (Wagyu, Kobe) but other than that, the beef is just old dairy cows. The buffet was really good, even for 15 days. We even ate a couple dinners in the buffet because of the great themes. Yes it can feel repetitive but if you look closely, there is a lot of variety. For example, every lunch and dinner they had these little quiches in the same spot of the buffet. If you just glanced at them you would think it is the same every meal but they were always some different type of quiche. Deserts were great with some chocolate tart things even seeming too rich for me and that never happens.
Onboard Activities
The outdoor weather was not great crossing the Bearing Sea in Spring (who knew?) so there wasn't a lot of deck activity but good for jacuzzi. Princess had a lot of indoor activities going on. The lecturers were great and the Naturalist was very helpful and approachable.
Entertainment
Pretty good comedians, singers, magicians, etc. The production shows were good quality. They had local group dancers onboard in some of the Japanese ports. Often the theater was packed so you needed to arrive early.
Service and Staff
The staff was top notch and seemed happy. A couple times we got some snow flurries getting close to Alaska and it was fun to see some staff out on deck and so excited to see snow (Probably for the first time). My account was over-charged three times by the spa. They would fix it after explaining to them but that got annoying.
Ship Quality
The Royal class ship has a lot of good qualities. Each of them have unique things about them so it is not boring going from one to another. Everything kept clean and tidy. They did have a lot of broken things around the ship with a "Working On It" sign but staff didn't seem to be in any hurry to fix them. About halfway through, one of the two doors to the buffet broke. After a day, I thought we may all have to walk around for the rest of the cruise because I assumed they didn't have some part onboard, but after about three days it was fixed. Apparently, that just wasn't on their priority list.
Cabin / Stateroom
Cabin was a deluxe balcony which means it has a loveseat instead of a chair. I love cabins on the Lido deck and close to the jacuzzi and buffet. Size was adequate and bathroom livable.
Ship tip
Really study the deck plan. Even after being on this class of ship a lot, I would get turned around. When you exit the main elevator banks, you are facing the front of the ship.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
We flew into Haneda a few days early and stayed nearby. We went to Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea. Wow, Disney Sea is amazing! I'm not a Disney or theme park fanatic but that was a life experience. We traveled by subway and trains using Google Maps to navigate and confirming with locals. It was crazy in Tokyo Station being amongst the masses at rush hour and being packed body to body on the trains. What an experience. Most things were very cheap too. Disney tickets were $50.
Miyako, Japan
The locals had a huge welcome party with signs, singers, and dancers. They set up a little street fair for us and the locals on the dock. Leaving they put on an amazing 15 minute Taiko performance. Unforgettable! We walked to a dock across the river and took a scenic boat tour to Jodogohama beach and coastline. For $10 it was amazing!
Beautiful area where we happen to catch the Cherry Blossoms in full bloom (all other ports had peaked a week or more before). We took the train to Hirosaki (about 45 minute ride) and hoped on local bus to the Castle park. This was a beautiful giant park with beautiful grounds. It happened to be during their Cherry Blossom festival so there were lots of food booths set up. We saw the Castle and then visited Nebuta Mura museum accross the street. We got to see some of the giant paper Nebuta floats they carry through the streets during that festival. Saw demonstrations on playing the shamisen (guitar) and taiko drum. I got to play the drum!
This is a large city and has a lot of tourist things to see. It was not convenient to just walk from the ship to get to public transportation but we did it anyway. Walked a long ways to wait a long time for a bus to take us to Goryokaku Fort. We went up the tower for fantastic views then walked around the historic park/fort. There were tons of tourists around. We bought a day pass on the trolly but only used it once. The day flew buy and we spent the rest of it in the Motomachi historic area eating and shopping. I went in a chopstick shop where you could choose from hundreds of different styles. I picked one (actually I think it picked me) and they embossed my name on it in Japanese.
We left early to walk to a local bus to take us to the main station to catch a Coach bus to Sapporo. It took over two hours to get there. We mainly stayed near the Odorri park to Susukino area and the covered shopping street between them. We had an amazing experience cooking/eating Ghengas Kahn meat. We also hung out in Pole Town (underground shopping district). We rode a similar bus back to Muroran and took a taxi back to the ship with 15 minutes to spare before all-aboard time of 6:30. It was an adventure but I wouldn't recommend it. The bus back was packed full and I kept wondering, "What if we didn't get a seat?" There were other options but we would have missed all aboard time. (I knew the ship wasn't leaving till 8pm due to customs though) The trip costs us about $40 each compared to paying the ship $250 for a similar "Sapporo on your Own" excursion. The locals had a band playing on the dock in the evening and lots of locals came just to see the ship. Their Mayor even gave a speech thanking us for visiting their town.
Kushiro, Japan Did not visit port
High winds (5 to 15 mph) shut the port down to cruise ships (maybe that it was a holiday had something to do with the decision.) This meant we had 8 days at sea till Alaska instead of 7. However, when we got to Alaska they took us on a scenic ship tour through the College Fjords. That was a huge treat! Saw some beautiful glaciers.
We lived May 6th twice! That was a neat experience. What did we do with our extra day of life? We did the same; eat, jacuzzi, sauna, watch entertainment, etc. Same as the first May 6th.
Weather was terrible with wind and sleet. It looked pretty small but on a good weather day, I'm sure it is beautiful.
Disembarkation
Got off about 7:45 and took the 8:45 ACT Big bus to Anchorage airport. The bus had a tour guide who was educational and fun. We rented a car at ANC and drove to Denali park. We only got to the southern edge/lookout but we can say we have been to Denali park and have seen Mt. McKinley!
Traveler Photos
