Day 1 – Tokyo Embarkation and Departure

Today I boarded my new home for the 17 nights of my Asian Odyssey, the Azamara Quest, at the Tokyo International Cruise Terminal. The terminal must have been very new and not used too often as both the hotel concierge and taxi drivers thought that I had to go to Yokohama.

Boarding was very efficient, hardly any queuing and then straight onto the ship. One of the differences between Azamara and Regent is no Champagne on boarding. Will have to find a bar I guess

My Cabin

A positive is that my cabin was ready for me as soon as I boarded, which was great. This was not usually the case on Regent. Nice one Azamara

Another difference between Azamara and Regent is the size of the cabin. Regent is bigger, especially when it comes to the bathroom and storage space. Though I am sure that this will work for me. The shower though is going to be interesting, it is only slightly larger than one from my previous life of boats. No water restrictions I hope..

Another difference is that my cabin overlooks the bow. On Regent only the high end suites are situated overlooking the bow. I am looking forward to the uninterrupted view.

The First Drink

Whilst waiting for my luggage to arrive, I decided it was time to test out the bar staff and headed up to the pool deck for a Martini or two. Both were very good.

The Sail Away

I was looking forward to this sail away as it included transiting Tokyo Bay and passing Yokosuka where I had docked and stayed the first time I visited Japan in 1989….

Tokyo Bay did not disappoint.

Sunset

Challenges

About 3 weeks prior to my cruise Azamara upgraded their computer systems and they were still having significant challenges with the new system. The Solo Traveller Package that I had purchased prior to cruise was not registered in the system, making it difficult to book meals, use the internet etc. Even getting a drink was a saga.

The onboard Customer Relations team were doing their best to handle the problems with the system, as the queue before and after me was significant. They advised that it would take another two days to sort out. Not a great start to the Cruise for a lot of passengers including me… The crew is aware of the challenges so they were doing their best to help out… As with all Cruise Ships it is the crew who make the voyage enjoyable, Azamara’s crew were definitely doing everything that could to reduce the impact.

Dinner

For dinner on my first night I decided to try the main dinning room, Discoveries Restaurant. The snails were excellent.

The standard wine choices were not my thing so I opted for another martini.

End of Day 1

Even with the challenges associated with my add-ons it was a good start to the cruise. Tomorrow is a sea day as we sail to Osaka.