Tokyo to Vancouver

It is overcast today with some early light drizzle, but promises of it fining up later in the day. Viking Orion remains in port today with departure to Hokkaido planned for 7 pm this evening. This morning we booked a bus tour of Tokyo which was one of the free shore excursions. It seems many other people had the same idea. Our bus left the pier at 8.45 am, for a roughly 4 hour through the highlights of Tokyo and a little of Yokohama. Yokohama is one of Japan's major ports and the shoreline is dotted with heavy industry, wharfs and cargo awaiting shipment.  Travelling back over the Yokohama Bay Bridge towards Tokyo Tokyo is not far from Yokohama and we soon find ourselves getting a guided tour through the major wards of Tokyo City. It is raining lightly, so photography from the bus is not really an option as we pass through well known areas like The Ginza, Nihonbashi and Otemachi Commercial districts and eventually stop at the Imperial Palace where we can get out of the bus and go f...

Mostly rested now, we look forward to boarding the Viking Orion today, to start our cruising Journey to Vancouver. Boarding commences at 11 am, which coincides with the checkout time at the Hyatt. It was only a short cab ride to the Shinko Pier where the Orion is berthed. Obviously this pier is still pretty new to the locals as a departure point for cruise ships as we had to explain to the taxi driver where it was, and he was totally confused where to go for cruise ship departures once we arrived there. Check in was seamless. Everything seems to be done on the internet pre arrival these days, so the process is very streamlined. We were on board within 20 minutes of arriving at the terminal and told our stateroom would be ready for occupation by 2 pm. In the meantime all other ships facilities were available. Whilst only 5 years old, the Orion has just come out of dry dock for a face lift and she is in great condition.   Aft Deck endless pool and spa looking back to the city Pacific...

  Last night our ANA flight to Tokyo  left on time at 0855 hrs. To our great surprise, we were greeted at the airport by wonderful service. There was no queue at the ANA check in, we breezed through immigration with all of the automated check in gates working and there was next to no wait at security. I was held up briefly for a visual inspection of my carry on baggage due to all of the charging wires for phones, watches ipads etc raising suspicion by the scanner operator, but we were soon on the other side in record time. We had a light meal before boarding our flight and the surprises continued. The flight was less than half full and we both had a full row of 3 seats that we could lie down on to try to get some rest. The plane was less than half full The plane was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner which had great legroom in economy and it was a good flight all of the way, arriving on time at Haneda Airport at 5.45 am. Clearance through immigration was not quite as smooth at the Japane...