Kagoshima

By the time we were up and about, we had docked in Kagoshima with a local man on the dockside waving to anyone on board who would respond.

After breakfast we set off on our narrated tour of Kagoshima.  Well, a tour of Worksop would have rated much higher on the scale.  The place had almost nothing to see.  We heard a lot about Japanese history – which reminded us that we knew almost nothing about that and made just two stops in 3 hours – at a viewpoint in a rain forest overlooking the town, the bay and one of the world’s most active volcanoes – but it was shrouded in mist and showers were threatening at any time.  The other stop was at a Saki distillery where we saw a static exhibition of how it’s made and endured a commentary from a woman with an impossible English accent who was using a small megaphone which clearly needed to be several sizes larger!   At $99 each, we decided that this was by far the worst value excursion we have ever undertaken as part of a cruise!  We have only one other booked and otherwise we are doing our own thing at ports of call.  We did ask if we could do the end of cruise excursion where they show you Singapore and then drop you off at the hotel.  As we will be staying in a hotel in Singapore which we didn’t book through Princess, the answer was “No”.

Our guide round Kagoshima - a lovely lady who had made an origami item for everyone on the tour!

Samurai Warrior?

Joyce - saving up for her future

We got back to the ship and decided to update the blog.  The experience was similar to what had happened in Osaka – well meaning locals had set up what was probably a domestic broadband provision which was then being hammered by hordes of people all trying to get on the web.  After almost half an hour of constant attempts to get connected, I had to admit defeat as our departure time was approaching and we had to go through a bureaucratic procedure as we prepared to leave Japan.

As we got back on board we realised that we had now done with Japan.  Our early impressions of a people of utmost courtesy and respect were more than confirmed.  They were also much more timid and much less pushy than I had imagined, considering how successful their economy has been.  Was the country beautiful?  Well, not the bits we saw.  Most of the places we went to were flat and the urban areas unappealing.  We may think that some Spanish ports can be unattractive, but Japan can outbid them on that front.  And the abiding feeling was of a lot of hand-to-mouth provision for passengers at the cruise ports, from where we got on at Yokohama to calling in at Osaka and Kagoshima.

The other thing that struck us by now was the worldwide warmth towards our royal family – Americans, Australians and even our Japanese guide – once they realised we were British - all wanted to congratulate us on the birth of a new royal heir!

Yesterday evening had been given the theme “The British Invasion”, but we missed the main show then.  Only this evening did some of the crew appear dressed in Union Flag costumes to pose for official photos – what was all that about.  I said to the girls who was posing that she was a date too late!