5th Time Boarding Diamond Princess

12-Day Southeast Asia Cruise on Diamond Princess December 7~19, 2018

Day 1 - Yokohama, Japan

Elderly people don't sleep in, I suppose. We all got up pretty early this morning ready to go out and explore. Our rooms did not come with breakfast, so we were thinking of finding something in Chinatown instead of eating at the hotel.  Chinatown was very quiet at that hour. None of the stores or restaurants was opened, to our surprise. Only a couple of cafes in the area were getting ready for business.

Yokohama Chinatown

Rose Hotel early in the morning.

We walked around the deserted Chinatown.

Even the temple was closed.

All the restaurants and stores showing 10:00 AM opening hour. We then decided to walk towards Yamashita Park and the promenade. Other than bumping into the couple who were on the bus with us the night before we also met a Filipino Couple from the L.A. area who were also enjoying their morning walk and also going on the cruise. It seemed everywhere we went we met people who were fellow cruisers. 

NYK Hikawa Maru

Statue of the Little Girl with the Red Shoes On.

I have to visit her every time I am in Yokohama.

Description of the statue and song.

Diamond Princess docked safely in port waiting for us.

Water Guardian Statue with Hotel New Grand in the background.

Yamashitacho

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Cafe Doutor for a quick breakfast. 

There were not that many choices but the simple breakfast set was good. Yep, we saw some other cruisers here also.

Choice of sandwich and a good cup of coffee.

A busy little cafe.

Back to Chinatown.

At around 10:45, we were ready to check-out of the hotel and head over to the pier.

One of the staff went outside and hailed two taxis for us. So nice of her. The taxi ride only cost $7.50 USD and we were at the terminal at around 11:00. Everything seemed so familiar here. We handed over our bags and this time I made sure that we got the priority boarding tickets as platinum member. 

Boarding Diamond Princess

They were not ready for us to board until close to 11:45 so we had to sit and wait for them to call. 

While waiting, SC and CiC went up to the top deck of the terminal for some pictures of the ship. 

Waiting patiently for boarding.

We were the second group being called and after the quick security screening and efficient checking in, we were on board the Diamond Princess. Our cabin C710 on deck 10 was ready so we went and put our carry-on down before going up for some lunch. The boarding procedures definitely improved each time we came here since 2015. 

Huge balcony

Good space for two people.

This cabin is in the aft of the ship, port side.

Red Brick Warehouses right in front of us.

First buffet lunch at the Horizon Court.

We were there early so there were not that many people yet. While having lunch there, I ran into one of our friends from L.A. who was traveling with his wife to Hong Kong on this ship. What a surprise!

After lunch we went to the Saki Barrel Breaking Ceremony at the atrium.

The Atrium was getting a face lift for Christmas.

Still working on the decorations.

Lynn, one of the three cruise directors on this ship. I did not see Mikiko, the Japanese cruise director on this cruise at all. Tina, the Chinese cruise director was there for the first few days and then disappeared. They were probably not needed on this sailing.

Everybody got a taste of sake.

Then it was time for the muster drill. Our muster station was at Club Fusion. Tina was the station manager there on that day.

We were there early so the place was rather empty.

Muster drill was easy. We did not have to bring our life-jackets and it was done in reasonable time. The only problem was waiting for everyone to get there. Some people just took their sweet time getting into the station.

We decided not to go up to the upper deck for sail-away. Instead, just stayed in our balcony for the sight of Yokohama as our ship slowly move away from port.

Yokohama is such a beautiful city!

The ferris wheel at Cosmo World. Two weeks ago we watched the workers putting up that Christmas tree and now it's shining brightly for everyone to see.

Inter-Continental Hotel where we stayed in May.

Good-bye one more time, Yokohama! I shall be back!

We had early seating at Savoy for this cruise at 5:30. The only problem with the time was that we often missed the performance at dock when the ship leaves port. We also noticed that there were a lot of Chinese passengers on this sailing. Overseas Chinese from Canada, U.S. and Australia. There were Chinese passengers all around us in the dining room. I suppose the ports of call had a lot to do with it. There were a lot less Japanese passengers so they took away most of the Japanese items on their menus both in the main dining room and at the buffet. That was a disappointment!

No more Japanese choices on the menu.

Shrimp Cocktail

Prime Rib

After dinner we returned to our cabin for some quiet time. As I have mentioned before, we usually do not go to shows or other activities on board. Relaxing in the cabin fits us just fine. 

"Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us. "      Isaiah 8:10