April 10, 2023 Yokohama Day 4

Another sunny day in Yokohama. At 8 a.m. the temperature was +16° C. We chose photos to add to yesterday’s blog downsizing the 65 pictures taken to 35, then labelling them and adding to the blog. Our breakfast was purchased at the grocery store yesterday. A cinnamon bun each quarter of a pint of fresh strawberries and a Tropicana mixed fruit drink.

Since we are loyalty reward members we do not need to checkout until 2 p.m. today.

We took a walk to the west today over to Rinko Park. We had a good view of the Yokohama Bay bridge. There was a colourful sculpture of fruit and vegetables and a small statue of a Japanese girl in a kimono. The statue commemorates 100 years of something from 1899 to 1999. The plaque was in Japanese. Next we wandered over to Shinto Island which we had visited yesterday with Hiroshi. We walked two kilometres to Osanbashi Pier, where the Westerdam in docked, having arrived at daybreak. Then headed north toward the overhead railway along a wide boulevard lined with large flower boxes containing colourful flowers including tulips, pansies and snapdragons. We found Yokohama Park near Yokohama Stadium, home of their baseball team. We turned to walk west and saw Ginza Cozy Corner bakery with a tempting selection of desserts. We resisted. A few blocks later we recognized Bankokubashi-Dōri Street (Horse drawn wagon street), which we walked along on yesterday’s tour. Then we went south toward Shinto and Cosmo World passing the giant Ferris wheel and back to the hotel. The route was over seven km long.

For lunch, in our room, we each ate half of the remaining cinnamon bun, a quarter of a pint of fresh strawberries and instant coffee. Then we reorganized our suitcases to prepare to transfer to the ship. We checked out at 2 and finished the blog for today while we still had internet. There was a gathering of Japanese women for an event and they allowed me to photograph them while posing on a staircase.

Our ship’s check-in is 3:20. We plan to take a short five minute taxi ride to Osanbashi Pier and the cruise ship terminal. Holland America Westerdam has a maximum capacity of 2362 passengers and 817 crew.

For the first 14 day cruise, there are 8 Japanese ports & one South Korean port to visit then one Japanese port on the second cruise and three ports in Alaska. We will visit all four of the largest Japanese islands.

Face masks are required, except when eating or drinking. Japan is monitoring the health situation on all cruise ships. It is possible that local Japanese port authorities can deny port privileges to a ship if the rate of infection is deemed by them to be too high.

We took a taxi to the cruise terminal at Osanbashi Pier cruise terminal. There were female porters to take the luggage and show us the check-in line. Having completed the online check-in and been approved with the addition of our negative COVID tests, we were shown directly to the final steps which were:

copying your passport page, since each port wants passport information and you need to have your passport with you when you go ashore at each port.
having your picture taken again – even though when completing the boarding information you had to take a photo at home and upload it.

From arriving at about 3:15 to walking into our cabin took less than 15 minutes. Our room key cards were in a sealed envelope in the holder by our door. Amongst the papers on the desk was an invitation to a reception from 2:45 to 3:30 for 3, 4 and 5 star mariners (loyalty rewards). We hurried up to Deck 2 to the Rolling Stone Lounge where we were seated with two dozen others scattered around the 150 person capacity venue and presented with a glass of sparkling wine and a dish of peanuts. Next we found the muster station on Deck 3 to be checked in for the safety drill, then returned to the stateroom to listen to the safety video and unpack. With the safety video complete, our TV was unlocked to viewing. Captain Wouter van Hoogdalem made an announcement of welcome followed by the cruise director, Rachel, giving a brief list of evening activities.

We chose open seating for dinner so that we can either reserve a table or just turn up at the dining room between 5 and 9 to eat. We sat with Kathy and Dennis from Vancouver and a woman from California who has been cruising since December and will continue her travels after this cruise to a few weeks in Australia and more cruising until August.

We went to see a video presentation about the history of Holland America that is celebrating its 150^th anniversary this year.

The Westerdam left port at 8 p.m. sailing into Tokyo Bay, she proceeded along the Uraga channel then passed the Isu Peninusula across the mouth of Suruga Bay on the way to Omaezaki.

Once back to our stateroom, there was a letter requesting passengers to complete a form with their vaccination information – which we had already typed into the app over a month ago. You needed to know the dates of your first two does and the date of your most recent vaccination. Also attached to the letter was a Japanese Customs form, but no instructions on how to complete (Larry had already completed one for arriving in Japan four days ago) or why it was needed. A trip to Guest Services was required to find out more direction would be given in a few days after the South Korea port was visited.

At this point we discovered that above our stateroom is Rolling Stone Lounge which has a band playing from 8:45 p.m. to after midnight nightly. We may need our earplugs to sleep, although the thumping did become quieter after 10:30 p.m.

Total steps today15,920 two thirds were achieved during our morning stroll in Yokohama.