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| pajamas laid out, on a HUGE bed |
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| my own personal Japanese toilet |
Steps – 10,817
Debarking a cruise is like Groundhog Day…always
the same – they want you off ASAP. This is understandable. They have to "turn
the ship (meaning 350ish rooms) around" in about 4-5 hours. Disembarkation/embarkation
day is super busy for the crew. All the crew has extra jobs…the entertainment
team, boutique staff, and casino workers are tasked with checking people in and
showing them to their muster stations.
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| toilet controls! |
Speaking of casino workers. I’m not sure if I mentioned at the beginning that we reconnected with Elbert, a super friendly casino worker we met on the Covid/retirement cruise. I rarely if ever gamble on a cruise, but Chris meets people that I end up getting to know outside of the casino. Elbert always knew the hiking trails and the beautiful spots.
Anyway…disembarkation day means everyone is out of their rooms by 8 and off the ship by 9. Thankfully, we don’t have a flight out today, so all we had to do was get to Hotel New Otani – our hotel for the next 3 days.
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| morning snack |
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| rambutan and passion fruit |
We had no worries for how long it would take to get off the boat, through customs etc, etc. We’ve had flights on debarkation days which can be really stressful. Depending on the port (Miami!), things can be significantly delayed. We arrived in Tokyo last night, so a flight today would have been no problem. It’s rare that the ship is in the day before disembarkation.
We didn’t think we’d get into our hotel room
before noon, so we were in no rush to get off the boat. We spent about an hour
at the ship’s pool, eating a small breakfast and relaxing.
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| Otani hotel founder |
The process of getting a taxi was effortless. The port had many, many porters anxious to get people on their way. These porters spoke English (as identified on their vests) and communicated with the taxi driver for us. It
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| Japanese gardens |
seemed like our driver spoke English, but we didn’t need to communicate much. Our hotel had a message on its web site to show a taxi driver to communicate getting to where we needed to go. We showed this message to the porter and used it to double check with the driver.
We arrived at the New Otani after a $50, half hour, taxi ride. Refreshingly, taxis in Japan aren’t known for their screwing of tourists. I’m not sure how they can even
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| gardens |
call themselves taxi drivers when they don’t screw tourists, but I was thankful.
The Hotel New Otani is something else! As usual,
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| more gardens |
we do our research, so we knew the expanse of the hotel would be large. What we weren’t prepared for was the level of service and attention to detail. As we arrived, our bags were taken from us we were ushered to the 11th floor where we were checked in. Another thing we weren’t prepared for was the quiet. We knew Japan had areas of quiet…subway, or restaurants for example where you aren’t there to socialize, but to get from point A to B or even take a nap, and to eat your meal. The area of the hotel we’re staying in should be called the quiet floor! Everyone speaks very quietly this encourages visitors to also speak softly…it is lovely.
So, back to check in…we were greeted with cold ginger tea (YUM) and all kinds of hotel info – did I mention this place is HUGE. Our room wasn’t supposed to be
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| tons of these guys |
ready until noon, but we got in at around 10:30! WOW!! That is something!
Our room is also something else. I couldn’t
concentrate on what Tatsuki (the guy who checked us in, brought us to the room,
and showed us around) was saying because I couldn’t stop thinking about
changing into the hotel provided PAJAMAS!!!!! PAJAMAS…why on earth do hotels
NOT provide pajamas? Chris claims it’s because no one wears pajamas, but I disagree.
Firstly, I wear pajamas and secondly, they probably haven’t been faced with
super soft Japanese PAJAMAS!!!!! I’m in love with the pajamas. These are a typical
2-piece set. We also have a yukata, which is like a simple, unlined kimono –
Chris looks great in his!
After I got over the pajamas and the rest of the room (including the Japanese
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| temple visit |
toilet) we went back to the check in area to have a bite and a drink. The ‘Executive Zen’ area of the hotel (where we are staying) includes all-day
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| other side of the temple |
snacks and drinks. Depending on the time of day, the snacks vary, but basically it’s a non-stop buffet and open bar staffed by people whose attention to detail is mind-blowing. These folks also do their jobs with as little sound as possible.
Once we were a bit refreshed, we visited the
expansive Japanese gardens on the hotel grounds and then hit the streets.
We wandered in the area close to our hotel. We visited a temple and checked out what is different on the Japanese Wendy’s menu…spaghetti, and found a
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| night timeTokyo |
place for another drink and a bite.
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| more sake learning |
By this time, we were both pretty beat, so after a nap and ‘dinner’ at the Executive Zen’s lounge we were in bed early.
1 comment:
That hotel! Wowza!
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