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Shimizu

Decided in advance that we wouldnt get off the ship today - essentially the last day on board which would require siome serious suitcase management as we needed to pack early to get our suitcases collected overnight. We started the day with the gym and a hearty brekfast post.  We werent due into Shimizu until after lunch so knew there was no real rush to do anything much in the morning. We watched the approach into Shimizu quite intently as we were hoping to catch a glance of Mt Fuji.  As we were on the starboard side of the boat we thought we would miss out, as most of the action seems to always be on the port side.  I had joined a facebook group for this particualr cruise and I could see from their posts that the port side could certainly see the mountain.  Just as I was resigning myself to not seeing it from our cabin, I had one last look out on our balcony and there is was.  OMG it was incredible.  We had her in view from the better part of an hour....
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Kochi

Woke up early again to foggy and wet weather.  Such a change from yesterday. We didnt have much planned for today - I had prepurchased shuttle tickets to go from the port and into town, which in the end was the motivation to get of the ship. We caught the shuttle quite early and were in Kochi centre by late morning.  According to the ships talk there was a cute little wooden bridge to have a look at, aside from that we were just exploring.  We got off the shuttle at the bus station to a fine drizzle.  We wandered across the road and had found the bridge within a few minutes.  We had a quick look around, and then wandered through the shops.  We had planned to get some morning tea, so decided to try Mister Donut.  The donuts there are actually quite delicious - you do have to really read the labels though as the sweet pastries look exactly like the savoury.    We wanted through a couple of shopping streets and then it was time to take the bus b...
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Location: Japan, 〒781-0112 Kochi, Niida, 字新港４７００
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Kagoshima

So excited for today as we are stopping in our first Japanese port.  We were a little apprehensive though as its also the port that we have to do immigration and customs for Japan.  We were told it could take up to 4 hours!! We woke quite early again, and first looks outside were disappointing.  We've suddenly lost our warm and humid weather, and traded it for rain and fog.  We decided to stick with our usual routine and get off later than the rest.  So we hit the gym just after 6 and the buffet right after for breakfast. At about 930 we decided to make our move so went down to get a ticket to get in a queue for immigration.  It took about 20 minutes for our group to get called and  off we went.  Should have known better - Japan is super organised.  The whole process was actually quite simple, and in almost no time at all we had cleared both immigration and customs and had a nice new stamp in our passports.  We had pre paid for a shuttle...
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Location: Chuokoshinmachi, Kagoshima, 890-0076, Japan
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Taipei - what a secret you are ( plus last sea day)

  Up early again today to watch the ship come into Keelung Harbor.  Again, it was lovely to see the tug boats do the water cannon welcome.  We had a tour booked for Taipei as its a new place for us and we wanted to get a good idea of who the Taiwanese people are and what theyre all about.  We had to meet in the theatre at 0815 so we had booked to have room service breakfast delivered between 0700 and 0730.  Sadly they lost our order so we had to make a dash to the buffet for food before we left. Queuing up  in the theatre was interesting.  They sat us in numbered groups, and as there are many people getting tours here, we absolutely filled the whole theatre.  I think we waited about 25 minutes for our group to be called and we dutifully trailed along to find tour bus number 23.  Our tour guide was Jill - she was lovely.  Gave us a little story about Taiwan and its history as we drove the 40 minutes into Taipei. First stop was Chiang Kai ...
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Location: Keelung, Ren’ai District, Keelung City, Taiwan
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Ni Hao Hong Kong plus sea day

Must Admit, did not have the best night sleep.  I think I was awake around 3, wondering how close to port we were.  I just love coming into a new port - probably my favourite thing about cruising.  Anyhow, we got back to sleep and woke again just before 6 to watch us come into Hong Kong Harbour. It was everything I hoped for.  It was still a little dark so there was some lights, and foggy so it was super romantic.  Our cabin this time around is on the starboard side and I fully expected we wouldn't see much.  Instead, we came into the harbour and then swung around 180 degrees so that our side was closest to the harbour, and not alongside the port.  We probably spent a good half hour watching the maneuver. We had already decided to have a pretty unadventurous day as we've been here before.  We had a leisurely breakfast and then decided to disembark and take the free shuttle bus over to a large shopping centre and just have a look around.  I th...
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Location: Kai Tak Cruise Terminal, Kai Tak, Hong Kong
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Sea Days Darwin to Hong Kong

Bit of a longer stretch of sea days now - 5 full days before we get to land again. We've got ourselves into a comfortable routine now.  An hour in the gym every second day followed by buffet breakfast.  On non gym days we either snooze in a little or walk around the deck, and generally have room service breakfast delivered. The first thing we wanted to know after leaving Darwin was what happened with the sea rescue.  We later learned that there was a boat in distress and we rendezvoused with the coast guard to assist them find them.  They did and they were rescued, so all was well.   I dragged poor Tony to an enrichment talk today called "Lets twist again".  I thought it would be a fun trip down memory lane learning some interesting things about the origins and influences on early rock and roll.  Except it wasn't.  They had some ex b grade radio jockey do a power point presentation with absolutely no tunes.  Oh well you live and learn. S...
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Location: GJVV+QQ San Narciso, Quezon, Philippines
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Darwin

  Sadly our first stop was a little discombobulated due to the search and rescue last night.  We were scheduled to be in port at 0830, but in reality it was closer to 1130.  Seemed to take ages to get clearance for the ship also.  The two gangways needed to be craned into place which did take a while. We decided to not rush too much, and we thought lunch before we got off would be the best idea.  We wandered up to the buffet and had ourselves a home made 'shawarma' (yiros in a pita pocket).  It was so good, Im planning on another tomorrow. At about 1230 we decided we should try to get off and were met by huge queues of people.  It felt both orderly and disorganised at the same time.  It wasn't really clear which line we should get in, so we joined everyone else and wandered our way off the ship. Our plan for Darwin was pretty simple.  Uber over and back to the Casuarina shops as there were a few things we needed.  Firstly a blanket - we ...
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Location: 1 Anchorage Court, Darwin City NT 0800, Australia
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