We woke up in the calm waters of the Yokohama Harbor berthed at the Osanbashi Cruise Terminal to a knock on our door by a room steward at 7:30am. Today was a turnaround day and we had to change rooms by 9am. We dressed, said goodbyes to our stewards, and ate some breakfast in the Lido while the disembarkation process took place. Before nine I went down to deck 5 to see if our new room was available. As I reached our room I saw our personal belongings on a cart being wheeled to our room which had a do not disturb sign in the card key slot. I waited for a few minutes with the attendant who called to find out when the people were going to vacate. It seems that they were going to stay in the room until their departure color/number was called. I went back to our previous room and cleaned out the safe and then we went to the front desk to get new key cards before returning to the new room where our stuff was still waiting outside the room, Finally near 9:30 Pink 3 was called and the people immediately.came out and departed. In my opinion, since we had to vacate by 9am, they should have received a letter that they had to vacate by 9am and wait in a public area as well.
After depositing our valuables in the safe, we checked our day packs and headed out for our day's plans in Yokohama. On the way out I asked Lance if there were any changes to the schedule, and he indicated there were none so far. Inside the terminal we ran into Gary and Marty who decided to come with us to the Ramen Museum for lunch. We did a bit of WIFI and then caught a shuttle bus to the nearby train station where with the help of a local guide were directed to the overhead train to go to Shin-Yokohama (new Yokohama).
We first caught a local train to the Main Yokohama train station and then transferred to a local train which would stop at the Shin-Yokohama station, From that station it was "relatively" easy to navigate to the Ramen Museum where we enjoyed some excellent Japanese ramen from shop #6. We were able to visit the museum as well. It was very hot in the museum and outside was hot and humid as well. Incidentally, I am using an APP, Rome2Rio which allows for downloading of offline use maps which eliminates the need for WIFI although I have my GlocalMe portable WiFi device with me. I purchased a $50 data plan that theoretically gives me unlimited high speed data for 30 days. I'll add a smaller data package for Russia. I'm going to use that for most of this 14 day segment before purchasing a HAL ship internet plan for the remote places we'll be on the way to Australia.
After lunch we caught the subway back to the Yokohama station and explored the underground shops there before deciding to head towards Chinatown. We happened to walk through a building housing the world headquarters of Nissan and they had a large car display plus a brass quintet entertaining the guests, It was an impressive display.
Continuing our walk we came across the Mitsubishi Industries museum and Gary and Marty continued on while we visited the museum which was essentially a hands on children's museum not unlike the Kawasaki museum we visited in Kobe a few weeks ago. Afterwards we continued our walk towards the port and stopped at the Main Post Office to get some more cash from the ATM (international cash machines can be generally found at Post Offices). We walked to the cruise terminal and walked the entire roof structure before reboarding the ship.
Our new room keys wouldn't work, so we had to wait in line at the front desk for new ones. Then back at the room, I tried to set up access to our Navigator app but it wouldn't let me. When I called the front desk, they said to just use our old room login until the new guests set up access, then perhaps we can set it up for our new room number. We also reported an inability to reduce the room heat below 76ºf.
Also waiting for us was a letter from the Captain indicating that Shimizu and Takamatzu ports were cancelled and Kobe's visit was delayed a day. Later he announced that due to high seas outside the port here and the need for the Diamond Princess to dock, we would leave the pier at 10pm and anchor outside the bridge for the night. The next day he'd make a decision on when we would sail.
The only evening programming of interest was the 9pm introduction to this segment of the cruise and the introduction by Lance of the EXC presenters. They are:
Dr. Ronald Orenstein - ZoologistNigel Atherton - Photographer
Chef Hiroko Shimbo
Terry Greenberg - History & Culture
Yoko Oikawa - Japanese culture & women's issues
As we listened to each presentation of what they would be speaking on, it was encouraging to hear how different each would be from the previous set of presenters. Terry is probably my favorite HAL presenter and knows Asian culture and issues very well and is able to present them in an engaging and intellectually stimulating manner.
We felt rumblings emanating from deep in the ship so we went up to deck 13 outside to see that the Maasdam had left its berth and was headed to sail under the Bay Bridge and find an anchorage. It was very windy up there with a bit of drizzle.
We caught the end of what I affectionately call the 10:30pm feeding and I saw the Captain there and thanked him for anchoring out of the typhoon's side effects.
It was a good day and we'll see tomorrow if we enjoy what will be our first sea day in the bay at anchor in view of our last port of call. Stay tuned.
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