LAX-Xiamen-Narita

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

Pre-Cruise: Los Angeles - Xiamen, China - Yokohama, Japan

LAX to Xiamen on Xiamen Airlines

Everybody thought I was crazy to be home for four days and then leave again for another long-haul flight to Asia. That was exactly what I did, except this time leaving MOR and ChC home and joined SC, CiC, and ET for an amazing trip to southeast Asia. The last trip was with MOR's family and this one was with my siblings. It's always fun and precious to be traveling with families.

LAX was not that busy that evening, and after our experience at the Ontario airport, I felt that even the Tom Bradley terminal was quite acceptable even though I was not having the TSA pre-check privilege because the Airline (Xiamen Air) do not have a contract with TSA. Some TSA officers were actually quite pleasant and courteous for a change, as we were queuing for security check. Some even wishing us a pleasant trip. A step up in service, I must say.

We found ourselves at the food court after being air-side and looking for some dinner before boarding our plane that was to leave around 10:00. KFC was sufficient for me and other choices for the rest in our party. But then it was another story at the boarding gate which was at the lower level of the terminal with hundreds of people jammed inside this very bare and basic waiting area like a herd of cattle. It was almost like being in a huge warehouse which I thought we were back in time about 20 years ago. This is an area I have never been to of all the traveling that I have done at Tom Bradley. Quite an eye-opener. Crowded and disorganized. We had to take the shuttles to get to another building to board our plane. So glad it was over and settled down in our seats on this Boeing 787.

We had the middle rows seats on this plane with 3-3-3 configuration.

Thank goodness, there was an empty seat between ET and I making this long flight a little more bearable. This plane was quite comfortable with enough leg space and good entertainment system. There were plenty of shows and games available and the service was quite good.

Food was decent, better than China Airlines that we flew on a few days ago, in my opinion.

First meal around two hours into the flight.

I was able to sleep for a few hours and watched a couple of shows during the long flight. 

Breakfast was served before landing at Xiamen airport.

To transit from Xiamen to Tokyo, we had to officially enter China and filling out the entry form. We thought that being just transferring, we just filled out the 'blue' entry form but was told later by the immigration official that since we already have the 10-year visas, filling out the 'yellow' form would make it easier and faster when going through immigration. Another lesson learned. 

Now that we entered Xiamen, China, we thought it would be great to just walk out and see Xiamen even for just a little bit. This was right outside the terminal.

Can't go too far!

Actually, Xiamen was the first city we visited on our very first trip into China in 1988. I am sure it is very different now but I remember I had a very good impression of this coastal city then. Would love to explore this fast-developing city again.

After going through three security checks, we were back air-side in the airport. Having some time to spare, we decided to have a snack before boarding our flight to Narita, Japan. 

We noticed that some passengers who were on the flight from L.A. to Xiamen were also transiting with us. I am sure the low airfare had a lot to do with this flight schedule. We paid only around $550 round trip for this LAX-Xiamen-Narita then Singapore-Xiamen-LAX flight on our return trip.  A really good bargain that many travelers on this cruise took advantage of. Longer flight and transit time but quite worth it.

We found this cafe as we were walking to the boarding gate.

The ladies decided to have this abalone and pork ribs soup which was very good!

And SC had the fruity drink.

The flight to Narita was smooth and uneventful other than they changed our boarding gates while at  Xiamen airport, making us walk a little more than necessary.

We arrived Narita on time and pretty soon we were out looking for the Airport Limousine counter which is right there at arrival exit. Our plan was to take the airport limousine bus from Narita to Yokohama for $36 each with the final stop at the Hotel New Grand. Then we would walk a couple of blocks to our hotel near Chinatown in Yokohama. This would be the most direct and easy way for us without any transfer on trains, buses or taxis. The only thing is there are not that many buses doing this route so we had to wait about an hour for our bus to leave Narita at around 4:20. It was OK though, I would rather sit and relax than hauling our luggage getting on and off trains and stations. All we had to do was hand over our luggage to the workers at the station and they took care of everything until we get off the bus. 

Arrived at Narita and waiting for our limousine bus to depart for Yokohama.

Inside Narita Airport

Visitor Center

It was nice to be able to see some of the sights as we traveled from Narita to Yokohama. The only stops we made on this route was the two terminal stops at Haneda airport. There were not that many people on this bus and most passengers got off at either one of the stops at Haneda. At the end there were only the four of us and two other passengers who were also going on this cruise getting off at Hotel New Grand.

It was drizzling a little when we got off the bus making our walk to the Rose Hotel a little difficult but fortunately it wasn't too far away. 

By the time we checked in and settled down, it was close to 7:00. Knowing real well that the restaurant we planned on going would be closing soon, we decided to take a walk and see what we could find for dinner. There was no lack of food being in Chinatown but Chinese food was not what we wanted when in Japan.

Chinatown Yokohama in the evening.

Then we crossed the bridge over to the Motomachi area where it was festively decorated.

It was a funny feeling that I was just here about two weeks ago.

Having the luck of getting some good toro at the Mega Don Quijote supermarket a couple of weeks ago, we decided to check that out and see what we could find. We ended up with some sushi and sashimi at a bargain since it was getting late in the day. They also had many other cooked items and prepared foods like fried chicken, sandwiches, etc. at the market. We enjoyed a good dinner inside our hotel room that evening.

Inside the Mega Don Quijote.

As I have mentioned on the previous post, this store has everything from toothbrush to second-hand LV bags. You could possible spend a couple of hours in there.

1 Chome-2-8 Shinyamashita

Naka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ken 231-0801, Japan

Ground floor of this giant store. Supermarket is in the basement.

Sushi at a bargain

toro

So happy with my dinner choices!

Some photos of our room at Rose Hotel.

On the 7th floor, with a view of the parking lot in the back.

"How great you are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with your own ears."              II Samuel 7:22

LAX to NRT, Midori, Hilton Tokyo

NCL Jewel 21-Day Transpacific Cruise Tokyo to Seattle

May 2 ~ May 3, 2018 (Wednesday and Thursday)

**Just came back from the amazing transpacific cruise on NCL Jewel. I will report on this most recent trip now before I forget the details and will continue posting about our April Hong Kong and Taiwan trip after this. 

We have been planning on this cruise for close to ten months as a trip for a mini family reunion. 13 members of our family booked six cabins on the NCL Jewel for this re-positioning cruise from Tokyo to Alaska with an amazing itinerary. We went right in when we first found this cruise selling for $949 inside sail-away (guarantee) rate. After watching the price changes and the cabins availability over time, we decided to go for voluntary upgrades to balcony or mini-suite bookings before final payment at around $1299-$1599 each, and all of us have put in our bids for upgrades. We figured that would be how much we were willing to pay for our bids and still an excellent deal in our book. Actually, we were doubtful any bids will be available on this cruise with cabins going as fast as they were. Airfares were under $500 from LAX to NRT one-way, which was quite reasonable. We went at different time and date according to our schedule but had a big dinner planned for May 3, when all of us arrived Tokyo before the cruise. We have planned to spent a couple of days in Tokyo before the cruise starting on May 6 because this was a first-time visits for some in our group. I would have preferred a longer stay there but still happy with what we had.

NCL Jewel Original Itinerary:

5/6 -- Embarkation (Yokohama)

5/7 -- Shimizu, Japan

5/8 -- At Sea

5/9 -- Aomori, Japan

5/10 -- Hakodate, Japan

5/11 -- Otaru, Japan

5/12 -- At Sea

5/13 -- At Sea

5/14 -- Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, Russia

5/15 -- At Sea

5/16 (1) -- Crossing International Dateline (Cruising)

5/16 (2) -- At Sea

5/17 -- At Sea

5/18 -- Seward, Alaska

5/19 -- Hubbard Glacier, Alaska

5/20 -- Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

5/21 -- Skagway, Alaska

5/22 -- Juneau, Alaska

5/23 -- Icy Strait Point, Alaska

5/24 -- Ketchikan, Alaska

5/25 -- At Sea

5/26 -- Seattle, Washington Disembarkation

Just before we embarked the ship on May 6, we received email from NCL regarding a change in the original itinerary which will come later in this report.

LAX to NRT -- NH 175 (ANA)

ET and AT flew down from Seattle to L.A. May 1, to meet with us so the five of us could fly out from LAX to NRT together. I suppose we were all very excited about the trip and woke up way before it was time. Our flight was at noon, so we had to get up early anyway to get to the airport. With most in our travel group already left for Tokyo on previous days, we had to hire an airport shuttle that would take us to LAX. William, a friend and an experienced driver in the business, was able to drop us off at Tom Bradley Terminal before 8:00, taking alternate routes instead of following the GPS which gave the 9:00 arrival time during morning rush hour. With the very jammed condition on the departure level he decided to dropped us off at the arrival level instead which worked out fine. Smart move!

We were definitely early for check in as the counters were not even opened. Staff told us to use the kiosk to print out luggage tags which we did. Then we got in line and waited for the baggage drop off. We were told the plane would be 10 minutes late, which was not a big problem for us even though we wanted to get to our hotel in Tokyo as soon as possible to make it for dinner. Finally, luggage were dropped off and new boarding passes printed (3rd boarding passes printed, 1st,  online check-in, 2nd at kiosk check-in, 3rd at counter check-in, what a waste!). With the TSA pre-check printed at least we went through security without a hitch. 

Having a light brunch at the food court, airside, of fried chicken from KFC.

Waiting at gate 148 for our "Star Wars" flight out.

Boarding was orderly even without calling row or zone number. Quite a pleasant experience on this ANA flight.

Settled in our seats by the emergency exit.

Plenty of leg room but the problem was the width of the seats here, because of the IFE screen and tray table being inside the armrest area, it made the seats much narrower. It was OK for me but quite uncomfortable for ChC. Also, there's no storage space for anything. Everything had to go in the overhead bins. Not sure if this will be our choice next time. We had these seats before but somehow it felt much tighter this time.

Take-off was on time.

Soon we were served a snack and drink. My choice, ANA's signature refreshing lemonade.

About 2 hours into the flight, a delicious first meal was served and all three of us picked the Japanese menu.

Tempura shrimp with rice

cold soba noodle

Appetizer--Egg and beans

Ham salad

I was really tired and went right to sleep for a couple of hours after the meal, then dozing on and off. Had some snacks of chips and hot soup during the long flight. BTW, the hot soup was quite delicious!

About two hours before landing a second meal was served.

 I believe this was a lasagne for western entree

fruit salad and yogurt

Porridge, Japanese entree

Yoda had been sitting in the galley all along and when the plane was about to reach Tokyo, the flight attendant was carrying it up and down the aisles. I thought that was pretty cute and snapped a photo of it. Then the flight attendant asked if I wanted to have a picture with Yoda. Sure...

...this was Yoda and me.

As we thought we were landing, I noticed that something was wrong when the plane pulled upward again. Then the FA announced that the pilot decided not to land due to high wind. We then circled out to the ocean again and had another try which took another 30 minutes. Thank God we finally landed safely making our flight 40 minutes late getting into Tokyo. Now I was getting worried that we may not make it for dinner tonight.

Finally landed with all the equipment waiting.

Last photo on the plane.

Good thing was that immigration check went quickly, albeit the scare that we had when we discovered that AT and ET were missing while in line at immigration. They were in fact diverted to another line and area where we couldn't see as ours was getting longer. Everything was OK, thank goodness!

As soon as we got out with our bags, we went straight to the limo bus counter at the arrival hall to get tickets. After a confusing discussion with the girl there, we finally decided on buying the one-way limo ticket to Shinjuku, including the 24-hour subway ticket for 3,400 Yen. Just getting the limo ticket would cost 3,100 already, so 300 yen more for a 24-hour subway ride should be valuable for us since we won't start using it until the next day anyway. (It's 24-hour from the start of using that ticket.)

Our limo bus was to leave at 4:50. Fortunately, there was absolutely no traffic this afternoon as it was Golden Week in Japan. 

Inside the Airport Limousine bus.

Picking up more passengers at another terminal.

On our way to Tokyo downtown.

Some random shots from the bus as we got near downtown Tokyo.

Shinjuku station

Midori Sushi, Umegaoka

As soon as we reached Hilton Tokyo Shinjuku, which was the last stop on this route, I told the bell person to please take all our luggage inside and we will come back for check-in after dinner. Then we immediately got on the hotel complimentary shuttle for a ride back to Shinjuku station. From there we found the Odakyu train that would take us to Umegaoka where we have reservation at the very popular Midori Sushi Restaurant. We were really looking forward to this dinner at Midori. This place is always packed with customers waiting in line for hours.

Arriving at the Umegaoka station and then from there just a short walk to the restaurant across the street.

The rest of our group were ready and waiting for us in one of the private rooms.

And an amazing sushi dinner waiting for us.

This is the variety of sushi just for the four of us.

With a group reservation, we had to pre-order their banquet style menu for 4000 yen per person.

A whole table spread of food!

plus sashimi and tempura which I did not get a photo of

Specially cooked items for ET.

What a great dinner we had! There was more food than we needed but we totally enjoyed this incredible first dinner in Japan on this trip!

As we left the restaurant with our stuffed stomach, there were still many people waiting to get in.

Taking the Odakyu train back to Shinjuku.

Hilton Tokyo, Shinjuku

When we got back to the Shinjuku station, the 9:00 hotel shuttle just left so we had to wait for the 9:20 one. We were first in line on this very crowded bus for the short ride back to the hotel.

We checked in and retrieved our luggage from the hotel. Unfortunately, we did not get any kind of upgrades because of the fully booked condition. Instead, they gave each of our rooms a box of chocolate for the inconvenience. Our two rooms were on the 31st floor and very close together. We will be here for two nights before moving on to Yokohama.

Our box of chocolate.

"So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God."               Isaiah 41:10