Once again we used the luggage transfer service for our larger cases. They measure and weigh the cases and the cost was 5,700 JPY (approx $57 NZD). This made for an easier trip for us from Shin Osaka to Shin Yokohama.
If you are travelling from Osaka by bullet train you need to know that Osaka Station is not the station where the Shinkansen leave from, you need to go to Shin Osaka which is about four kilometres from Osaka station. This could be an easy mistake to be made.
The nose of the bullet train is modelled on the nose of the kingfisher bird for aerodynamics. Just like the kingfisher’s beak transitions smoothly from air to water, the Shinkansen transitions smoothly through tunnels eliminating a sonic boom that would occur due to the speed as it enters. Like a huge piston pushing a wave of compressed air in front of it.
Our journey went without a hitch, although we did get there an hour early just in case!
Arriving in Yokohama our Taxi dropped us to the Intercontinental Yokohama Grand and what a spectacular location. The view from our room would have to be one of the best we have ever had.
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| A large ship leaving the port and making way for our ship to berth in the morning. |
Not much was happening along the harbour front and many of the shops and restaurants were closed, so after a sweaty stroll we were fed and watered at our hotel overlooking the harbour. They do have New Zealand wine here on the room service menu. It is the first that I have seen, most restaurants have had a house red and a house white. In the bar the New Zealand wine was not on offer but I did enjoy a nice Chilean drop.
Our luggage hadn’t arrived when we got here which made us a little nervous as we were departing on our cruise the following morning. I felt assured though when I checked with the concierge who very calmly told me that of course it would be with us by that evening because the delivery date said today. Japan runs like clockwork! And sure enough in a couple of hours the bags arrived.
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| Look at the size of this tag! This is a normal size case, but it looks Lilliputian with the tag on it! |
26 August
This morning Lance woke me at 5am to look out the window and from our bed the beautiful sun rise streamed in.
And not long after our ship, the Diamond Princess, slipped under the Yokohama Bay Bridge.
Bad news though, this actually wasn’t our ship! Ours arrived whilst we were at breakfast!
We have been on the Diamond Princess once before in Malaysia, so hopefully the layout will spring back into our memory and we will instantly feel at home. Our request for an upgrade was granted before we left New Zealand and we paid an extra $100 for a slightly larger balcony. So we pack up this morning for the last time until it is time to go home.
At breakfast this morning in the hotel I observed a Japanese gentleman dining by himself. My attention was drawn towards him due to the array of small bowls that he had in front of him, at first count there were 12 bowls all filled with different things. Part way through his breakfast he left the table and I spotted more bowls and dishes, 18 in total. On returning to the table he stood and was picking at his shirt until he peeled off two pieces of sticky tape. Sitting back down he got the two sets of chop sticks that he had left the table to get and taped them together to form a cross. He asked the waitress to get him a glass, and then stood the cross in the glass. He then took the red napkin, crumpled it and tore it into a long strip, then formed a frilly sort of frame around a white coaster, folded it in half and hung it over one side of the chopstick cross. It was fascinating. All this happened with intermittent snacks from the variety of food in the many bowls. I would love to know the significance of this! But wait there’s more … he went and got more food, we left when he had twenty small dishes of food!
Back in our room we packed up we taxied to the Osanbashi cruise terminal and joined our fellow travellers who were being herded in the most effective way into the boarding area. Our allotted time for boarding was between 12 and 2pm but as usual we were early and in no way the first there. After slipping through the processes our lot number was called and before we knew it we were on board!
Princess cruises have done away with cards for entry and charges, we were issued with a medallion. This can hang around your neck in a lanyard or you can buy other more convenient apparatus to hold it like watch straps, but I haven’t found where to buy them yet.
The medallion scans you on and off the boat, unlocks your door as you approach it, adds your drinks and purchases to your tab, and if you order a drink or snack it lets the waiter locate you on the ship for delivery. Another improvement since we last cruised is the app which gives you all of the info you need, including your own bookings and itinerary and a messaging function for friends on board.
Included in our passage is the ‘Princess Plus’ package which gives us wifi, that is not the usual laggy wifi, and up to 15 drinks a day! Previously we haven’t bothered with packages but this is really worthwhile.
Our room is compact but adequate and the extra $100 for an upgrade to a larger balcony was well worth it. The smaller balconies have no privacy as people above can look down on you, ours does have people looking down, but only for a portion, the rest is private, so I am sitting out here in the nuddy typing this. JOKING! I’m in my swimsuit.
We booked dinner at the Crown Grill for our first night, which does incur a small cost, and it was delicious.
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| Lance’s steak tartare being unveiled in a swirl of smoke. And the bread was delicious too! |
The ocean so far is calm and we slept to very subtle the sway of the sea as the ship cut through the waters to our first destination.
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