Japan, Russia and Alaska - 21 days



I had been considering going to Japan for quite some time. Also, when I first considered going to Alaska in 2008, Inside Passage cruise from Vancouver to Juneau was my initial thought. I was NOT in to cruises back then (too slow, too little time for shore activity, too much free time and therefore, too much food. All those are still true, but my perspective has changed as I am running out of places that I still want to visit, where cruises end up being the best solution.) I also remembered being sea sick the only time I was on an overnight voyage when I was 12. Today's mega ships have stabilizers, and for the most part, you don't even know that you are moving unless you think about it.

 When I first saw this cruise with several days in Japan and full Seward and Inside Passage at throw away prices, I got interested. This cruise was "repositioning" from Southeast Asia to its Alaska route for the summer, where it will go back and forth between Seattle/ Vancouver up to Alaska for months. Of course, instead of repositioning the ship empty, they have them filled with passengers at deep discounted prices. For the 21 day cruise, I paid $1800 and had the room all by myself. The price for two people would have been about the same. Still quite a bargain.

I left SFO on May 2 at Noon, reaching PVG (Shanghai) on May 3 around 4 PM for overnight layover at Peach Blossom Castle (courtesy: China Eastern Airlines), and on to Tokyo NRT (Narita) airport on June 4 - reaching around 2 PM.  With long days (sunrise 4:45 am, sunset 6:30 PM), I had plenty of time to see Tokyo and surroundings.

 I had hotel reservation - one of the capsule hotels near Imperial Palace - for two nights May 4-5.  I also had most of Sunday May 6 before cruise departure at 8 PM that day.  A few days earlier, I got a notification of change of plans - the ship would remain docked at Tokyo (Yokohama) for another day to complete some repair work.  They had found oil leaks and would have trouble in Alaska if not fixed.  May 7 in Shimizu, closest point to see Mount Fuji, was scrapped as a result, and I was not able to see it at all during my stay in Tokyo.  For the inconvenience, the ship gave us $100 onboard credit.

 Another change in itinerary was to dock on May 11 at Otaru in Hokkaido island instead of Muroran.  Which was just as well.  There wasn't much to do near Muroran, and shore excursions took people to Sapporo/Otaru anyways.  Also, as a result of this change, the ship saved port fees and all of us got a $92 refund as onboard credit.

 This was our itinerary.  As we moved further north, the weather got colder.  Also, to adjust for 8 hour time difference between Japan and Pacific time, the clock was moved forward every At Sea day - we just kept getting up earlier and earlier.  Exception, of course, was when we crossed the International Date Line when the clocks were moved back 1 whole day (24 hours.)  Here is a link to Photos.

DatePortArriveDepart
Sunday, May 6Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan8:00pm
Monday, May 7Shimizu, Japan8:00am6:00pm
Tuesday, May 8At Sea
Wednesday, May 9Aomori, Japan8:00am6:00pm
Thursday, May 10Hakodate, Japan8:00am6:00pm
Friday, May 11Sapporo (Muroran), Japan8:00am6:00pm
Saturday, May 12At Sea
Sunday, May 13At Sea
Monday, May 14Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, Russia7:00am7:00pm
Tuesday, May 15At Sea
Wednesday, May 16Cross International Dateline (Cruising)
Thursday, May 17At Sea
Friday, May 18Anchorage (Seward), AK8:00am5:00pm
Saturday, May 19Hubbard Glacier, AK
Sunday, May 20Glacier Bay National Park, AK
Monday, May 21Skagway, AK7:00am8:00pm
Tuesday, May 22Juneau, AK7:00am11:00pm
Wednesday, May 23Icy Strait Point, AK7:00am3:00pm
Thursday, May 24Ketchikan, AK8:00am4:00pm
Friday, May 25At Sea
Saturday, May 26Seattle, WA7:00am


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