We are more than pleasantly surprised by the accomodation that we have on the ferry. When we chose it….that is a strange way of putting it as we didn’t have a choice….we thought it was more than we wanted to spend and it offered more space than we needed. But now that we understand what the ferry offers…and that is, minimal space for passengers to lounge get food, etc, we now realize that we will need and use the space we have.
This is the cabin we tried to get…two twin beds a window, a sink and a toilet. Completely sold out on two sailings we tried for. The accommodations on board are predominately multi person rooms with bunk beds or tatami mats, the rest are these rooms and 2 premium rooms with a full bathroom, sitting area and 2 beds.
Note on the schedule above the first port, Naze where we arrive at 5 am. Just as we were relaxing and loving that for once, we were not taking a ferry in Japan where we would have to be up before dawn to disembark, there was a knock at our door. The First Mate was there and apologizing profusely for a problem. We had been directed to park our trikes in an area that would create problems for the unloading of cargo at the ports. We were told to be on deck at 4:50 to move our trikes to a better location. Darn, we just jinxed ourselves by feeling lucky that we could sleep in tomorrow. Oh well.
Our beds were pretty comfortable, but we both had a rough night. The wind was strong and the ship was rocking violently in the choppy sea. As well, the constant sound of the fog horn and warnings made sleep pretty hard to achieve. Still glad I’m not on the floor or in a bunk bed. On the plus side, since we aren’t ‘t sleeping, we don’t have to worry about sleeping past the time we have to be on deck to move our trikes.
We have so much space. The sitting area is new and very comfortable, the entrance is spacious with a kettle and a frig, we have 2 windows and the piece de resistance is through the door on the right…
This is a hot commodity on this ferry…only this cabin and other one like it have a bathroom with bathing. We will be taking advantage of this luxury onboard.
This is how you order your meal. Once you select and put money in the machine, you get a ticket to give the fellow. The first time we saw one of these machine (on our previous trip) we couldn’t’t figure it out. It helps that this one has a photo of what you are ordering.
Not knowing the situation on board, we brought most of our own food with us. Shaking it up a little, we had lunch in the cafeteria. Unlike other ships we have sailed on, meal time is very limited here…usually a window of 40 min and thrn they close. The food was good…Japanese curry, miso soup, salad, pickled ? (but good). And by the way, the white oval object on the table is not an egg. It is a grab hold for when seas are rough. I can tell you it works from personal experience.
We can see that the ferry is a lifeline for these small island communities and Okinawa. So many containers full of necessities supplies, online shopping etc.
This was fascinating and most of the passengers were out on deck enjoying this port. We are at the final stop before Naha…Motuba. Lots of activity..first a truck load of goats, all jammed together came roaring off and went to parts unknown. Then we see this blue corral type container full of cattle being transported with a forklift. The poor things were huddled together at one end. I will never forget this sight. If only the cows and goats could talk…the stories they would tell.
Now the farmer has arrived with his big truck. He begins the laborious job of trying to calm the cattle…they look pretty stressed.He climbed in and got them sorted for the next step which will be to transfer them from this container to his truck. Should be interesting.
Progress…now there are two farmers working with the cattle. Most of them are not inclined to make the step of walking from the blue container to the truck. It took forever but they had a captive audience and the ferry worker with the forklift was pretty mellow about it all. He’s seen it all before, I’m sure.
Awaiting the word to go to our trikes. We are somewhat conspicuous as two of the few non Okinawans on the ship. This came in handy as the crew knew who we were and really looked after us. Usually we don’t understand when it is our turn, but on this ferry they come to us and tell us what to do. We like that.
