S. Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Hong Kong, cruising Nov. 15 - Dec. 10, 2024 (traveling Nov. 13 - Dec. 11)
On Nov. 23, 2023 Lynn saw a good sale on Norwegian Cruise Lines, so we put a hold on an Asia cruise, with most stops in Japan. The sale ended black Friday Nov. 24th, so that day I checked the cruises before and after to see if a longer cruise on the same ship might be good, to see more areas, since we will travel so far. It was, so we reserved room #9611 (an inside room, it had a strange spot on the floor that popped up and down by the closet. Also the bathroom drawer needed fixed. We were a little too close to the atruim and we heard music if you went to sleep before 10pm but all and all it was ok) on both cruises. This is another splurge for us to enjoy life. You never know how long you will have your health and feel comfortable to explore the world.
This was our 26th and 27th cruise (8/64 days on Princess, 9/99 days on Norwegian (after this cruise), 6/44 days on Carnival, 3/26 days on Royal Caribbean and 1/9 days on Celebrity) = 242 days of fun and relaxing cruising.
The sale included two for one airfare and our price was $8,225.28 (cruise $5,816, airfare $1,208 and transfers $250, Gov tax/Port Exp/Fees $951.28). Tips and excursions will be in addition later. The person we were working with said we both have multiple accounts and they needed to merge them before we could put down a deposit. Our last Norwegian cruise, they said the same thing, so this was a little frustrating. Lynn got a call Nov. 25th, following up on our original hold and Kathy, who was more knowledgable, was able to put our cruise credits (we purchased on our last cruise) as deposits for each cruise. It was nice to use our two $250 prepaid cruise deposits that we purchased on our last cruise. Now we are set until final payments (7725.28), which are due in July 2024.
A few months before the cruise they allow you to bid on upgrading to balcony rooms (depending on if there are some available). We put bids in for both cruises at about $40 per day, but it said low chance at that bid. To book a balcony room instead of a inside cabin was almost double when we originally booked. We did not get an upgrade, and only have four sea days (it was originally only two sea days, until they changed the itinerary).
With less than three months to go we started booking some excursions. They probably average about $200 per, so our bill will increase but this is probably the only time we will be to these destinations.
Airlines going were all on Delta (Korean Air):
Miami 11/13/24 7:05 pm to New York at 10:08 pm (3 hours)
New York 11/14/24 12:50 pm to Seoul Incheon 11/15/24 6:30 am (Incheon is 13 hours ahead, this is about a 15.5 hour flight)
We paid $75 each for transfers to the ship going.
Airlines returning were all on United:
Hong Kong 12/10/24 9:05 pm to LA 12/10/24 5:45 pm (13.25 hours)
LA 12/10/24 9:21 pm to Washington 12/11/24 5:09 am (5 hours)
Washington, DC 12/11/24 9:00 am to Miami 12/11/24 11:52 am (2.75 hours)
We paid $50 each for transfers to the airport coming back.
We reserved parking at Pullman MIA Hotel - Shuttles, 5800 Blue Lagoon Drive, Miami for just under $230 from Nov. 13th until Dec. 11th. It is self park, uncovered parking but a better cost and more convenient than ubering back and forth from Key Largo.
This was interesting for me as my parents lived at: 390 Futoo-machi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Japan in 1957 (may have changed names to: 390 Okurayama, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Japan) while my father was in the service. I remember a story of my sister wandering off and ending near railroad tracks, with someone giving her an octopus leg to eat. We were able to go see the area when we got to Tokyo for the day and the first cruise passengers were departing and the second cruise passengers were arriving.
Map of area
Photo links
Ship
NCL Spirit is an old ship, built in 1998. It was refurbished in 2022. The Spirit on the smaller end as it is 880 feet long and holds up to 2,032 passengers, 912 crew. We have mostly cruised on ships from 4,004 to 1,380 passengers, crews from 550 to 1,735. Our last cruise was on this ship and it was fairly nice, but you could see its age. We also investigated transfering our reservation to Costco travel as they also give onboard credits or cash cards when they are your travel agent, but Lynn read it is not possible when airfare is booked by Norwegian.
NCL revised the itineraries three times before we left. The itineraries are below.
November 15-26, 2024
November 26 - December 11, 2024, Second map is out of order, we went from Taiwan to Philippines (skipping Manila) and ended in Hong Kong.
Travel days from Miami to Seoul, S. Korea
We started November 13th at night, had two flights and a layover taking around 21.5 hours (15.5 hours for New York to Seoul). Since we crossed the international date line we arrived November 15th at 6:30 am. When we got to the airport it took us a little exploring to find where the ships transfer location was. I am not sure if we missed where they were waiting or if we passed the location before they were set up, but at least we came back and found them and found we had a hour or two wait for the bus. Since we had some time we decided to try a couple local food dishes, they were both good. From the Seoul airport the bus took us to Incheon to get on the cruise ship.
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Ship excursion, insurance thoughts
We did more ship excursions on this trip than we normally do. The excursions are generally good as you have a guide who shares local knowledge and they don't require a lot of planning effort. The downsides can be cost, as they usually range between $100 to $250 per person, per excursion and sometimes you feel like cattle being herded along. We enjoyed all the excursions we did on this trip. We usually try to explore cruise critic information and other resources before the trip, to decide what to do at the stops, balancing cost, effort and safety.
We purchased travel insurance for this and our Australia cruises. Lynn purchased it through Costco and we are glad we did as she had covid that needed treated on the Australian cruise and I got an ear infection on this cruise which needed drops. I believe it was about $600 each time. My medical bill was about $400 on this cruise, hers over $1,000. We usually only buy it on longer, more expensive cruises with airfare.
Jeju, South Korea
We booked a Norwegian tour starting with a one hour bus ride to Hallim Park, with lava tube caves with stalactites and stalagmites, and bonsai garden. Then to O'Sulloc tea complex with fields and some snacks. Some history: they had 30,000 women divers, down to around 3,000 now. There are around 363 volcanoes. The temperature was about 70 degrees.
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Sasebo, Japan
We decided to expore on foot on our own at Sasebo. The temperature was about 70 degrees and mostly sunny. We walked around exploring, went in a mall and Lynn bought a pair of shoes. We found a 7 eleven store and verified our cash card would give us yen by taking out 10,000 yen (about $64). As we walked around we found the train station, which if you went through came out closer to the ship then we realized. We went back for lunch and then came out and hung out listened to live music at a park just outside the cruise port.
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Kagoshima, Japan
Lovely day, 66 degrees and sunny. Norwegian excursion to Ibusuki sand bath on the beach, covered in black volcanic sand. They only let you stay in the sand for about 10-15 minutes but it was not vey hot, felt good and I could have stayed longer. Then we had a traditional Japanese lunch at a Ibusui restaurant, a tour of Nagasakibana Cape and then went to Ikedako Lake where they have large eels. Lastly back to the ship where we saw smoke coming from the volcanoe near the ship.
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Miyazaki, Japan
Temperatures were 58 degrees to start and mostly sunny. We did a long walk into town along the coast and stopped at a couple shrines. The first shrine was interesting as it was in a cave. As we were looking for the first shrine, we asked a man along the walk and he took the time to walk us about 5 minutes to the shrine. This was an example of how the people of Japan would go out of their way to try and help you. There was a bamboo forest and graveyard along our walk into town.
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Osaka (Kyoto), Japan
November 20th and 50-63 degrees. We did a ship excursion, the highlights of Osaka. First we went to Osaka Castle, which has a mote around it and a tour boat cruising in it. We walked up to the top floor which had nice views of the surrounding area. After we drove to Shitennoji Temple and explored for an hour, then back to the port and watched the lights on the ferris wheel next to the ship at night.
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Sea Day
Since we were platinum, now saphire we got a few extra perks with Norwegian. We got two specialty meals each cruise, one with a bottle of wine. We also were invited to wines around the world tasting and free behind the scenes tour of the kitchen, laundry and theatre areas. We were also able to have dinner with a couple officers but passed on that invite.
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Hiroshima, Japan
A cool morning (46-61 degrees today) and we were off at 7:45 on our self guided tour. We walked to Hiroshima port, ferried to Miyajima island and looked around for 2.5 hours. The Tori gate was out of the water when we started and surrounded by water by afternoon. It was interesting to see the raised buildings which also must get surrounded by water, but not while we were there. Their were deer roaming around and a lot of people. Lynn was able to get another goshen stamp for her collection here. After exploring we ferried to the A bomb dome, peace memorial park a sombering place. Lastly we caught a tram back to Hiroshima Port and then a short shuttle to the ship.
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Kochi, Japan
November 23rd exploring on foot in Kochi, Japan, 54-60 degrees today. It was cool this morning when we got off; took the shuttle bus from the port into Kochi, went through 3 tunnels through the mountains on our way. We walked through an arcade of shops, visited a shrine, then on to the Kochi Castle and then another shrine, before walking back for the shuttle to the ship.
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Nagoya, Japan
November 24th, 1st on to the Atsuta Jingu Shrine in the morning, where in addition to the beauty of nature surrounding the Shrine buildings we were fortunate to see a wedding party and some darned cute kids! Our afternoon in Nagoya was spent exploring the beautiful Nagoya Castle grounds (and who would believe a guy and his monkey doing a performance on the grounds!). Then navigating ourselves back to the ship shuttle via subway and trains. The Nagoya Station was crazy busy!! Then back by the shuttle bus pick up area to go back to our ship was an arena with mobs of people waiting in line outside for apparently a concert with a famous Japanese performer.
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Shimizu (Mt. Fuji), Japan
We did a Norwegian tour, a bus to Nihon Daira Outlook, then a visit to Kunozan Toshogu Shrine with a cable car ride, then to Miho no Matsubara and an afternoon stop in Shimizu at Hagorama Pine Grove by the sea/beaching afternoon before heading back to the ship. Lastly, a wee bit of shopping near port and some gelato... sweet potato rum raisin for Jeff and a vegan Fig Gelato for me.
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Tokyo (Yokohama), Japan
Tokyo, Japan. We took the monorail, bullet train (Shinkansen), and two trains to Yokohama to check out the neighborhood my family lived at when I was a baby. It was confusing but their were helpful people along the way helping us navagate. Pretty sure the train stop was real close to my parents house they lived in when my father was in the military but 67 years later a lot has changed. As we were looking around we asked an older man if he knew the address, he looked up the old address on some link and said the address was now a KFC. Everyone in Japan has been very helpful trying to assist us when we need help.
We walked around hilly paths that looked similiar to old photos and up to the park, on the hill. It was nice to get a sense of where they lived. We returned to the Tokyo area after our adventure to Yokahama and walked around a bit before boarding the cruise ship. I got another solar souvenier which was starting to becoming a collection.
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Shimizu (Mt. Fuji), Japan
Back to Shimizu, Japan. Walking along a nice walkway to the train station, and then deciding if we just want to hop on and see where it goes to more markets. 61 degrees to start, 70 degrees later.
Walked to JR Shimizu train station. Took train to Shizuoka Station (480 yen), then to Shizuoka Sengen-Jinja Shrine by bus (440 yen). Lynn got another Goshin stamp (500 yen), a Kimona (2,000 yen), a hair band (1,500 yen). 1,000 yen equals about $6.50, so only about 5000 yen in total or around $33.
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Kyoto (Osaka), Japan
At the Osaka port we headed to Kyoto with another couple Bunnie and Koz. We hired a private driver from a company called japan holidays and his name was Morida. First stop was the Fushimi Inari Shrine; what an amazing place. Unfortunately, we stayed for 2 hours, but didn't make it to the very top of the mountain.
After our Fushimi Inari Shrine stop in Kyoto we went to an area with the old style of housing, which now has many restaurants. Fascinating area! And of course, you turn the corner and another Shrine! Then on to lunch and another area of old style houses turned to restaurants. I believe in Gion area.
To end our Kyoto adventure we went to another beautiful, golden Temple, the Kinkakuji Temple, a Bamboo Forest as it was getting dark and then driving back to our Osaka port, some holiday lights! Wonderful day, spectacular, on fire, Fall colors!!
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Naze, Japan
Naze, Japan. Exploring on our own, walking up to the Takachiho Shrine, then in shops at the Tida Mall shopping street and back to the port. Three towns make up Amami, Naze is one of them. 61-70 degrees today. It is getting warmer as we head southwest.
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Naha, Japan
Off to explore Naha, Japan, on foot again today. Today lots of walking on this beautiful day of gardens and Naminoue Shrine. In Okinawa we came upon another beautiful garden, Fukushuen Garden and a Temple.
We did some shopping and more sightseeing on the last leg of our Okinawa experience. This is our last port in Japan; we have loved this beautiful, safe country and the people we have encountered (who have been exceptionally friendly, polite and helpful). 68-76 degrees today.
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Taipei (Keelung) Taiwan
72 degrees to start. We did a Norwegian excursion to Yangmingshan Nat'l Park. It was foggy and cold on the top of the mountain. You saw bubbling water and saw steam releasing sulfur mist. We then had a traditional Taiwanese cuisine meal at Yangmingshan Tien Lai resort & spa with soaking in a hot spring. Turned out at the hot spring spa, there was a coed, and nude sides. We both went to our own sides, and I tried the two hot springs, one got up to 44.5 celsius and the other one a maximum of 42 celsius, with a cold water pool in between. I rotated each of them three times between 5-10 minutes with rest on a chair in between, overlooking the mountainside in between. The spa had a river running not far from it and the clouds were drifting across the mountain tops, so between soaks, sitting on the balcony was very relaxing.
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Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Went on another Norwegian tour for the first half of the day, excursion to the Confucius Temple, then the Lotus Pond. From there we went to Cijin Island where we walked through the fish market street and into the Temple. My 5G Mint network roaming works well in Taiwan, not very good in Japan. 72-79 degrees.
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Boracay, Philippines
81 degrees to start. We had to take the ships tender boat to shore as there was no docking at this port. Rode the Hop On, Hop Off bus (like a minivan size) around the island and went back to the port. Half the island is very poor and undeveloped and the other end had modern resorts. The big draw is the white sand beaches.
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Coron, Philippines
Half day Norwegian tour. We were on a mini van size tour. It went to a cashew shop and we purchased some bags. We then went through a few tented markets with fruit, vegetables, fish, pork, fresh and packaged. There were dogs, cats and not the most sanatary conditions but a lot of good choices. Lastly we went to the only hot water spa in the phillipines. It was 42 degrees celsius, very warm but not hot.
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Sea Day, South China Sea
I guess the South China Sea is know for being rough seas. Most onboard activities were cancelled, including shows for the day.
Sea sick bags were mounted by the stairs. I luckily was not effected. Lynn was already fighting something so when she went down to the medical center to get checked out, the rocking tipped her over the edge. They did give her an IV for hydration and nausia which fixed her up after a few hours.
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Hong Kong, China
Our first day in Hong Kong Lynn was done with her 24 hour quarentine by noon. She had a virus and I believe the medical department thought she might have food poisoning as they did not charge for her treatment. She was not feeling well and we thought the rough China Seas added to her upset stomach. WE got off on our own and found a free shuttle to a shopping mall. We looked around the mall and are and then came back to the ship. At night there was a nice light show on Hong Kong island and our side Victoria Harbour.
The next day we had to be off the ship by 9:00. We booked a excursion to keep us busy until 3:00 and then it dropped us off at the airport. 66 degrees to start, 73 degrees by afternoon. Started our tour in Hong Kong going up to the peak (well, almost) on Victoria in the Harbour. Then to the floating village of Aberdeen for a boat ride.
Then waiting at the airport for 5.5 hours for our first flight.
Then 27.5 hours of flights and layovers (12 2/3, 3, 4 4/5, 4, 3) to get to Miami. Lastly, a day or two to recover. It was a very long travel day, I slept 3-4 hours on the planes. We both feel this was a great trip and glad for the experiences.
Next cruises already booked in 2025 & 2026.
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