Welcome to a new chapter in our series about our cruise experience through Korea and Japan. After our stop in Nagasaki, today we visit a new destination in Japan that’s very different from the previous one: Kagoshima!
As the ship approaches, you can observe from the cabin the famous Sakurajima volcano which is always active, emitting smoke and ash every day with varying intensity. A taxi driver told us that 4,000 people live on the slopes of the volcano. The views upon waking up at dawn with the volcano among the clouds was an excellent preview of what this stop would be like.
In Kagoshima, the port is quite far from the city, and there’s no UBER here, so people essentially had two options: book an excursion through the cruise line or wait in line for a taxi. There was also a transfer service that would drop you off in the city, but if you wanted to visit any tourist attractions from there, you had to find your own transportation.
As soon as we disembarked, we saw that the taxi queue was quite long, and that’s where we positioned ourselves. Taxis were coming, but not enough to quickly serve all the people waiting, so we had to wait for quite some time. It’s worth noting that Japan gets quite hot, and since the sun rises very early, by 9 in the morning the heat is already significant enough that you can’t stand still under the sun for too long.
The taxi drivers don’t know English very well and recommend giving directions in Japanese; in fact, the cruise line provides small papers with the cruise port address in Japanese to make it easier for the taxi. It’s important to have a Japanese translator on your mobile phone.
We decided to go to the Sengan-en Gardens as it seemed very interesting and had excellent reviews, and we thought the fastest way to get there was by taxi. After quite a long time in the waiting line, our turn came. Since it had been difficult to get a taxi, we asked where we could find taxis for the return journey, and he told us at the same place where he would drop us off, as it was a tourist spot so we wouldn’t have any problems.
The garden was very spacious, with spectacular vegetation, very beautiful and unique, with small ponds, streams, bamboo forests, and everything was very well-maintained. Everything was very peaceful and it was a pleasure to stroll around. There were also small traditional structures, cafes, and shops. You could also see the Sakurajima volcano, and there were many spots where you could take great photos.
You could climb a bit up the mountain through a completely green landscape, in the shade thanks to the abundant vegetation, with incredible views. A highly recommended visit to spend the morning.
At the end of our visit, when we arrived at the taxi stand, we saw that there was quite a queue, and what surprised us most was that hardly any taxis were arriving. On top of that, that day the all-aboard time was at 1:30 pm, and when we had been waiting for quite a while (it was almost noon), we thought we needed to look for an alternative.
Apparently, this happens regularly on cruise days, and there’s a sign right next to the stop with alternative transportation instructions, recommending getting to Tenmonkan via the City View Bus that departs every 30 minutes. In fact, we had planned to go to that downtown area of Kagoshima, which is more commercial, after visiting the garden, but we didn’t have much time left.
We boarded the bus, which was quite full, and halfway through the journey at one stop, we saw taxis parked nearby, so we got off and took one to the port. Then at the port itself, before boarding the cruise ship, there was a souvenir shop where we bought some items, now with the peace of mind of being right next to the cruise ship.
That day the ship was set to depart at two o’clock, and out of curiosity, we were on the balcony at that time and quite a few people arrived just in time to board the ship. I think many had problems finding taxis like we did and perhaps cut it too close. It’s always advisable to have a time buffer in case this happens and also to have a Plan B ready in case something goes wrong.
The official cruise excursion most similar to our plan would be “Senganen Garden & Leisure,” with a duration of 4 hours and a price of €166.56 and €122.50 per adult and child respectively. When organizing it on your own, the entrance to the gardens costs €9.29 per person. The taxi for the journey between the port and the gardens cost an average of €26. Being a group of 3 adults, the savings compared to the excursion is considerable. However, booking it would have avoided a lot of stress for more than one passenger. Fortunately, it seems that everyone managed to arrive in time to sail together to the next destination: Hiroshima. We’ll publish the next chapter very soon!
