Random thoughts from the sea
Days 28-29, 2024 Majestic Japan Sunday and Monday, Sept. 29-30, 2024; Toyama and Kawazawa, Japan Japan has its share of large cities, and we visited several of them on this cruise. Now that we are on the north coast of Honshu, the ports are still cities, but small enough that
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Day 27, 2024 Majestic Japan Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024; Sakaiminato, Japan It’s not often dinner is the highlight of my day on a cruise ship, especially with the variety of ports we visit. But tonight was special, as not only did I eat with good friends, but Iron Chef Masaharu
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Day 25, 2024 Majestic Japan Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024; Hiroshima, Japan In early 2023, as I considered booking this Westerdam cruise, I also considered a voyage to Japan on Holland America’s Noordam. Each cruise had its advantages over the other, but the deciding factor was the Westerdam’s itinerary, and more
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Day 24, 2024 Majestic Japan Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024; Kochi, Japan Bragging rights to the largest cities by population in the world can depend on just how you define a city (city proper, urban area, metropolitan area, etc.) Regardless, Tokyo is likely to top the list, with an estimated 37
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Day 23, 2024 Majestic Japan Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024; Osaka, Japan An hour isn’t long enough to sketch and paint a castle – at least not for me. But an hour of free time was all my shore excursion to the Osaka Castle gave me. By skipping the tour of
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Day 20, 2024 Majestic Japan Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024; Yokohama, Japan When I sent my cold weather clothes out for cleaning a few days ago, I requested they be returned folded so they could go straight into my suitcase. The Alaska temperatures in the 40s and 50s are a distant
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Day 17, 2024 Majestic Japan Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024; Hakodate, Japan When I am painting on site, I can almost fall into a trance, barely aware of what is happening around me. Today, a Japanese man broke through, offering to airdrop to me a photo he just took as I
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Day 16, 2024 Majestic Japan Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024; Kushiro, Japan Perhaps every port can’t delight me. Sadly, Kushiro ended up being one of those ports today. I’ve been here twice before and thoroughly enjoyed exploring it on foot with my friend Joyce. The highlight has been the Washo Market
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Day 15, 2024 Majestic Japan Monday, Sept. 16, 2024; At Sea, Northern Pacific Ocean For every cruiser, there’s an opinion about the preferred stateroom. Many people never sail in anything without a balcony. Others stretch the budget and double their cruising days by picking an inside cabin, considering it simply
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Day 10, 2024 Majestic Japan Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024; Dutch Harbor, Alaska We should have known that a 53-day cruise without a single tender port was too good to be true. A U.S. navy ship pulled rank and bumped us from today’s assigned pier in Dutch Harbor, Alaska, so we
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