Hoshigaura Gawa

We didn’t have to rush today because I was a bad tourist…NCL has made it impossible for anyone who isn’t on a tour or paying $20 a head for the shuttle bus. We docked in a completely different port than was expected…in the middle of nowhere. The closest bus/train stop is almost 3 miles away. Even there there is nothing but warehouses empty space and shipping companies. The least expensive tour was over $200 per person. Oh but there was a shuttle bus, only $20 per person to a fisherman’s wharf not near anything either.

The port listed wasn’t where we were docked. I’d attempted to plan the day but because we were in a different place nothing I’d planned the day before was possible. I spoke with a lady at guest services…she tried to insist we WERE in the downtown port. I showed her the Google map that pinpointed our position. She caved and said she didn’t know why they changed port, but was probably so they could sell more shuttle bus tickets. Fed up we decided to pivot plans. We went to HobbyOff and Daiso in Tottori-dori.

Off we go, and the photographer who’s been joking with us, Italo, might have sensed we were miffed but took pics anyway. Bet those will be interesting shots. In the taxi line, we watched people wander away, vanishing into the cold mist. They had no idea how far from anything we were.

We got to the store just before they opened and it was massive. There was so much there I finally just had to stop and pay for the stuff I’d found. Aaand we might have purchased a small suitcase too. The 100 yen store next door was nice as well. When we were done it dawned on us we had no way back…I hopped back into HobbyOff and was able to ask for them to call a taxi. They were so kind and did just that. The taxi arrived and the driver was awesome, I should have asked him to stop at a conbini…one more onigiri for the road. He spoke wonderful English and gave the same excuse I use about my Japanese. Ha! The funniest thing though that as soon as our driver let us out he completely ignored the other cruisers in line for taxi, turned around, waved and left!

There was a small tent at the small excuse of a port selling local things they were very nice and I ended up choosing one of the items the lady made herself. She was quite proud…granted it was a bit odd as it was advertising orange milk.

I wish we’d had an option to do something more cultural but since the ship was so far away there was no way we could do it on our own. Back on board we were herded into the face to face immigration check. No problem there, no line either. We will see how many people ignore the mandatory procedure.

Mom and I found a slightly better disembarkation excursion since our flight out of Anchorage isn’t until 9pm. We are about to ask about the details…aaaaaand we got the lady who is hard to understand and didn’t understand us the first time we talked with her. So the train trip listed doesn’t exist…they use a generic sheet and leave nonexistent tours on the page.

Mom went to get a printout of her account and the lady at the front desk said, “Go book an excursion and come back and see me.” She took care of canceling our previous transfer.

Saw the show tonight. It was a saxophonist. He was funny and turned the no photo/video of performances on its head. He encouraged filming.

Not very hungry…kinda sad we are leaving Japan. We will have five sea days after this, and two Tuesdays because of the international date line. Tonight we have to set our clocks ahead two hours.Read more