January 2015 – Day 1, Thursday, January 8

We didn’t spend New Year’s traveling or in a foreign port, but this is the next best thing, travelling January when in when it is terrible weather in Illinois!!

When we awoke at home at 4:00am, the temperature was -13 and after we arrived at the airport, we would out that it was also too cold for airplanes.

They were able to get the plane started; however, they said it was too cold for some of the instruments to work properly.  Finally at around 9am or so, they allowed us to board and it felt great – but only for a few minutes because then they took us off the plane and told us the flight was cancelled.

Since we would have missed our flight in Atlanta anyway, I had them previously protected us by booking the 4:30pm and 7:00 pm flight from Atlanta to San Juan.  Now all we had to do to get to Atlanta. 

After just a little bit of time, they announced that because there were so many international passengers, they were flying in a replacement plane from Atlanta.  It was supposed to get to Bloomington by 11:00am and it finally arrived at about 1:30pm.  We all boarded quickly and the flight to Atlanta was uneventful, finally!!

We made the 4:30pm flight to San Juan and we were on our way on time and upgraded to first class.  The coach section of the plane was 3 & 3 seating so we were very fortunate for this 3 ½ hour flight.  They served us a great meal and we watched a movie on the iPad.

We arrived in San Juan right on time, 9:00pm their time (we are two hours ahead of Illinois) and we took a cab to the hotel.  This is a nice Marriott Courtyard and right on the beach.

We walked around a little bit, went through the casino and then it was time to go to bed after a long day traveling to San Juan.

At bedtime the temperature was 76 degrees – WOW we are here.  We have only Friday and then we board the Celebrity ship the Summit on Saturday and most of our time will probably be on the beach.



Barb's Dinner



Ed's Dinner



The Beach our first night

Asia – Day 21, Tuesday, October 28, 2015

Our plane wasn’t scheduled to leave until 5:05pm so we had time in the morning to sleep in a little and then go to the area of town that is the major electronic area so we got on the subway and rode two spots to the shopping area.

 It was about a 5 square block area and just jammed with every kind of electronic and game type store.  We walked around, bought a few souvenirs and then took the subway back to the hotel.

 As a shuttle bus to the airport was $60.00 and a cab was $200.00 we took a short cab ride to the airport shuttle bus location.  The only problem we had was where we were dropped off was across a huge street from the bus stop.  So, we had to roll our suitcases across the street where we met a very nice man who was responsible for loading everyone on the bus and he helped with the suitcases.

The bus ride took 1 ½ hours and then we arrived at the airport at about 3:00pm.

 On flight from Tokyo was on Japan Airlines on a new 787 and what a difference between US carriers and Japan Air.  We had great food, great service and everyone was always smiling.   We have a totally new respect and appreciation for the Japanese culture.

Tokyo is like most big cities except it is cleaner, the people are very friendly and they go out of their way to help you.  Also their transportation system works.  Other nice thing is that there is no tipping.

 

The flight from Tokyo to San Diego was 10 hours and it was on time, followed by a 3 hour flight to Dallas and finally a 2 hour flight to Bloomington and we arrived at a little past 10:00pm, right on time.  We had been up for 29 hours by the time we arrived in Bloomington.

 

 What a trip and we can’t share what we learned and saw on the trip.

 

Our morning snack on the plane - beef and rice

M

The free breakfast at the Marriott

More breakfast

and more breakfast!!

$553.58 for the new toilet seat with all the controls

Lunch before flying home

Barb's lunch before the flight

Dinner on the flight home

 

 

Asia – Day 20, Monday, October 27, 2015

             What a beautiful day it was when we awoke in Tokyo.

Ed, as usual, had breakfast while Barb got ready. 

First we went to a Buddhist Temple that on the outside showed an Indian influence and then on the inside it was all Japanese.  It was very peaceful and a lot of people were worshiping there. 

Then it was off to the gigantic Tsukiji fish market.  If you wanted to see the Tuna auction that goes on every day, you had to be one of the first 60 in line at 5:00am.  That was a little too early for us, so we missed that auction.

But we did experience one of the largest markets we have ever been to.  It also seemed like every other stall was a restaurant as well as a wholesaler of fish products.  There also were a few other vendors there but mostly they were fish vendors.

We ate samples at a lot of the booths and also purchased food as we worked our way through the stalls. 

We ate tuna, calamari, squid, a root vegetable and then what Ed liked the best was a seaweed wrapped item made up of rice and vegetables or some type of seafood.  It was really good and he had a couple of different types.

Then we took the subway to the Tokyo Tower, the largest free standing broadcasting tower in the world.  The highest we could go was to the 450 meter level, which is 1,476 feet tall.  The elevator in the tower went up 115 stories in 50 seconds – that’s fast!  Had we know how long it would take we might not have gone up the tower, but we did.  It probably took us 1 ½ hours just to get to the window to purchase the tickets.  Then you took an elevator to the 350 meter level and then purchased another ticket and another elevator to get to the 450 meter level.  On a clear day, you could see Mt. Fuji; however, it was not clear today.

Next we were back on the subway going across town to see one of the famous Shinto shrines, the Meiji Jingu Shrine.   The souls of an Emperor and Empress are enshrined here.  The gourds are massive and have approximately 100,000 trees along with some beautiful ponds and walkways.  It was a very peaceful place to be.

By then it was 5:30pm so we took the subway back to the hotel for a nap.  After an hour nap, we took the subway to a major shopping, food and entertainment area when we walked around a lot and then had dinner.

All we know for sure was that both dishes were very good.  One was very spicy; however, we finished both of them.

Then it was time to go back to the hotel for the evening.

Tomorrow we have the morning in Tokyo and then we take a shuttle bus to the airport and WE ARE COMING HOME!!

If we get a chance, we will write about tomorrow; however, if we don’t it will be because we ran out of time.

It has been a wonderful trip and can’t wait to be home.

Night from Tokyo.

Toilet seat controls

Rice, other things and seaweed



Going for a walk at the Shrine

Part of the gardens at the Shrine

Snack time

Dinner tonight

Shopping area where we ate dinner

The alter at the Shrine

 

Asia – Day 19, Sunday, October 26, 2015

There have not been many cruises where we didn’t just fly straight home and this is one of them as we are going to spend the next couple of days in Tokyo.

The good thing is that I once again have internet that is fast and is totally free.  We had free internet on the ship but only for as long as our free minutes held out so we couldn’t really “surf” the web if we needed to.  Also, the internet on the ship was terribly slow and it wasn’t Celebrities fault – it was the governments and the locations.

Enough of that – we were supposed to be off the ship by 8:10am and we were finally off at 8:30am.  We found our luggage and had a cab take us to a luggage forwarding place as it is impossible to move the amount of luggage we had by train to Tokyo.  It cost us $30.00 and they took our luggage and delivered to the hotel by 7:00pm – what a great service.

We arrived too early to check in so we checked our luggage and went out onto the street.  The hotel fronts on a major Ginza street and there was a 2 hour massive parade celebrating the major areas of Japan beginning and it passed right in front of the hotel.  So, we sat on a curb and watched the entire parade – what fun.  The first units that went by could have been any college marching band and they even were playing US music.

We ate on the street and had a fried yam for lunch.  It looked like a thick pancake with lots of “stuff” in it and was it good.

After the parade and lunch we checked into our room and it was terribly small, even though they said they had upgraded us.  We went back to the lobby and requested a larger room – and they put us in the biggest one they had, a corner room that is really nice.  Not as large as Shanghai and Beijing, but this is a Courtyard.  They do have drinks, snacks and breakfast for Platinum holders something that the US Courtyards to not have which is wonderful.

After we unpacked we took a nap.  Then we went to a major shopping area and stayed until 8:00pm and even ate at a little Japanese place.  The subway system here is really great; however, we haven’t experienced rush hour yet and that may prove to be a challenge.  We will find out tomorrow.

Tonight is being spent updating the blog and tomorrow we will have a full day of sightseeing.

Night from our first day not on the ship.

A Parade - 42nd Anniversary

More parade

Yams and contents cooking



Ed eating the cooked yams and they were good!!

Loved the heated seat!

Entrance to a large shopping - eating area



Dinner was ?? and it was good

Saw this on the street late at night.  Barb is talking to the driver

 

 

Asia – Day 18, Saturday, October 25, 2015

As we woke up you could see the port of Yokohama, our last cruise port on this trip.  Yokohama is a big industrial city and the gateway for us to get to Tokyo.

We took the free shuttle bus to the train station and boarded the train to Tokyo.  Once we got to the suburbs, we switched to a subway and came out very close to the Marriott where we were staying tomorrow.

 

It is a Courtyard; however, it doesn’t look like any Courtyard we have every stayed in before.  It will

be interesting tomorrow to see what the rooms are like.

We went in and asked the Concierge about tours, and we found out that all of the Sumo’s had finished their bouts and had left town for another town to practice in.

So after checking emails, we walked about 10 blocks to a Hop On- Hop Off bus and bought tickets for one of their rides.  While we were waiting for the bus, we had a small lunch.

The bus ride wasn’t very good although it did take us around the gardens of the Presidential Palace which were very beautiful – so cross that off our list.

By then it was time to go back to the ship so we bought return tickets and found our train.  The funny thing was that we went into a first class car and didn’t’ realize it until a conductor came by with only 3 minutes left in the trip.  She told us to go to the next car but when we opened the door, there was no way we could fit in.  Were we lucky when she took us back a car and let us stand in the middle between trains for the last couple of minutes.

It took us a little bit to find the shuttle bus but soon we were back on the dock and on the ship, after fist buying a couple of scarves at dockside.

We had a snack and then took a nap before dinner. 

As tonight is the last night of the cruise and the casino wasn’t open, we packed after dinner.

Sad but the cruise is over – now a couple of days in Tokyo and we will be home.

The next email will be from the Marriott in Tokyo.

Night from the ship.


People at the port watching the ship dock

First snack

Imperial Palace Gardens

Part of the train station

Yokohama at night from our balcony

Asking directions from a policewoman

First train ride into Tokyo





 

 

Asia – Day 17, Friday, October 24, 2015

We were able to sleep in a little as this was the day to arrive at Mt. Fuji and we would not get there until Noon.

Ed did his usual, ate and then went up on the deck and reserved a couple of lounge chairs.  Barb followed soon afterwards and we stayed on deck in a beautiful sun for the rest of the morning.

At about t 11am as we were approaching the port, the Captain came on the speaker system and announced that we could see Mt. Fuji in the distance on the left side of the ship.  There was a huge rush of people at that time. 

We went up one deck where you could see better and when Mt. Fuji came into our view it was another “Oh My Gosh” moments like when we first saw the Great Wall. 

Mt. Fuji was right there in front of us and it looked exactly like the pictures you have seen forever.   It was huge and a perfect crown of snow at the top.  The Captain said it was one of the few times that the sky was clear enough to see the mountain.

We ate lunch and cleaned up as the ship docked and then waited for a couple of hours to leave the ship. 

Basically, the only reason to be in this port is to see or go to Mt. Fuji and we found nothing interesting in town.

We had been fairly close to Mt. Fuji when we were arriving so we saw no need to take a bus to a viewing area 4 miles closer. 

We came back to the ship just in time for Geisha performance of music, dance and song.  It was pretty neat to see.  These were local Geisha and very authentic. 

We had met a lady of Korean descent at blackjack and she was a very good player.  She is of Korean origin and she and her husband live in Vancouver, Canada.  In the afternoon, she had asked us to have dinner with them so we ate with them in the specialty restaurant, The Olympic and dinner was quite good.

Maitreya and her husband Edward live in Vancouver, B.C.and travel all over buying and selling antiques and so we had a lot of fun at dinner talking to them.  They may join us on the Black Sea cruise next October.

Then we went to the evening show and it was one that we have seen before about Broadway and it was very good.

Since the casino is not open, we went back to the room to finish the blog and plan our day tomorrow when we land at Yokohama.  We don’t know yet whether we will go into Tokyo or stay in the port city.

Night

Trimming trees with small scissors

Maitreya - our blackjack friend

Mt. Fuji

Mt. Fuji - what a sight

 

 

Asia – Day 16, Thursday, October 23, 2015

We awoke to a beautiful day in Kobe.   The shuttle bus starts at 9:00am so up we were and out the door to go downtown at 9:15am.

Originally we were going to take the City Loop bus to get to our destinations but we found out that we could walk faster to our first stop, a place called the Master Garden.  It wasn’t like we anticipated so after a brief visit, we walked to the second stop looked like a couple of block but turned out to be about a mile away which was the Sorakuen Gardens.  The gardens were built on the grounds of the former Mayor of Kobe City and were very beautiful.   The annual Chrysanthemum exhibit was being held and we were amazed at the size of these flowers.   As they advertised this was a secluded oasis in the middle of the city, unchanged for over a century.

Then we took a cab to the Kobe Herb Gardens & Ropeway.  The Ropeway is actually a lift to the top of the mountain.  Along the way you pass over a lot of herb gardens that you can see if you choose to walk down the mountain.  We decided to ride down and see them from above.  At the top, there was a great display of herbs and blowers.  They advertised that there were 75,000 herbs and flowers of about 200 kinds blooming throughout the year.

Then it was time for lunch and we had chosen a restaurant that Trip Advisor ranked as the 3^rd best Kobe Beef restaurant in the city.  We did not know exactly where it was so Ed went into a nearby hotel to get the exact location written in Japanese.  We have not found any cab driver yet in Japan or Korea who spoke any English.

Cabs are cheap and after a 15 minute ride down from the mountain; we arrived at restaurant we wanted which was in the city center for $7.60.  We arrived at 12:30pm and were told there was no room without a reservation as they were full.  We pleaded that we had come all the way from the US for their food and he found a spot for us at 1:30pm.  So, we walked about, almost got lost and got back to the restaurant at 1:30m and were seated.   It was a very small restaurant that had 4 floors and seating for about 10 people on each floor.  Also each floor had a table top flat grill that two chefs stood behind cooking the meal. 

We ordered two steaks that totaled about 10 ounces and the meal came with salad and vegetables and words do not describe the experience.   The chef cooked on the grill like a typical Japanese restaurant; however, they do not do tricks with their knives like in the US – this is serious cooking at its best.

The Kobe Beef was better than advertised.  You, of course, ate with chop sticks and the beef probably could melt in your mouth.  It was an amazing dining experience.  Imagine thinking paying $120.00 for a lunch meal was worth the money – this was!!

By this time it was 2:30 and it was time to get back to the ship as it sailed at 5:00pm.  We walked to the shuttle bus, stopping along the way to visit a small Japanese Shrine.

Since the sun was hot, we went out on the deck until 4:30pm, came in showered and took a nap.

We then went to the 7:00pm show which was very good.  It was a Vietnamese woman who was a concert pianist and she put on a great performance.

For dinner, we were joined by another couple from Canada and they had been on over 100 Celebrity cruises.  They told us that there were a total of 48 couples who had been on more than 100 and that 9 of them are on this cruise. 

After dinner, it was time for the casino and our last night there as it is not permitted to be open in Japanese waters for the rest of the cruise.

For our last night, Ed was down only a couple of dollars and Barb once again was up.  Barb has, always, done an amazing job of managing her money.  There are not many people who can get up from a slot machine after winning as they tend to put it all back in.  Barb is remarkable in how she manages her winnings. 

We are now done in the casino as it will not open again on this cruise.  Out of 41 trips that we have taken where there is gambling, this was the 2^nd highest winnings so we are very, very happy.

Tomorrow we will wake up to Mt Fuji.

Kobe Beef - #3 in Kobe for lunch



The view from the top

 

That's Kobe Beef - WOW was it good!!

Lunch of Kobe Beef

 

A snack on the street

Amazing flowers

Going up the mountain

Of course she loves it!!

Our last formal night