The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps
There are many places in Tokyo where you can admire the incredible panoramic views of the city. People usually head to Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office, Tokyo Skytree or Tokyo Tower. Otherwise, you can go to other sites which include Roppongi Hills, Tokyo World Trade Center, Bunkyo Civic Center and …
Is Tsukiji Fish Market moving? If not, what are the hours? Any good sushi here? Find out more. :) About Tsukiji Fish Market Tsukiji Market (築地市場) is a wholesale market for fish, fruits and vegetables in Tokyo. This market is the largest of its kind …
Seeing a sharp increase in the readership for my posts on Mariner of the Seas, I reckon many are planning their cruise trip now. So to help those foodies going on-board, I will do a quick overview of dining on Mariner of the Seas. Just be assured, you wouldn’t get the chance to be hungry! So much so, I felt like one of the gluttony pigs eating non-stop in the show “Spirited Away”.
This is where you have your buffet breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper! Mediocre offerings – a place where you go for quantity and not quality. Look out for the egg station during breakfast and buffet’s grill during lunch. For the latter, you can see them grilling near the swimming pool.
Hours: 6:30am – 10:30am; 11:30am – 4:30pm; 6:30pm – 9:00pm; 10:30pm – 5:30pm
Although it’s opened for breakfast, lunch and dinner, we only had our dinner there for all nights and a quick breakfast on our last day. Note that Rhapsody has a dress code. Although we did see people wearing the usual Singaporean slacks allowed entry.
Seating: It’s open seating during breakfast and lunch. However for dinner, you’ll be assigned a table and a time slot. Otherwise, you can pay to go in anytime between 6:00pm to 8:30pm with reservations.
Breakfast & Lunch: Other than having menu and dishes served, there’s also a salad bar with ingredients fresher and in a greater variety than Windjammer’s. I later found out that the lunch here is one of the better “free” meals on-board. You may also notice a Brasserie 30 in your cruise compass: It’s a lunch menu designed to let you finish your meal in 30 minutes, good for people who want to rush for their next activity.
Dinner: Go to your assigned table and check out the menu that changes every day. Enjoy bread and water served and then order as many dishes and as many times as you like at no extra charge. The same server and assistant will attend to you for all nights. Your formal night will also be held here. IMO, the dishes are generally more exciting and delicious than at Windjammer Cafe, with choices of Malaysia and Thai dishes when we were near their port of calls. Standard dishes such as pasta and chicken breast are available as well. Each menu includes healthy and vegetarian options.
Hours: 7:15am – 9:15am; 11:15am – 12:45pm; 5:30pm – 8:30pm
Everything inside the fridge will be charge to your room when consumed. So if you want a hot or cold drink, call the room service! Room Service is available 24 hours. It’s free except between midnight to 5:00am, when you’ll be charged US$3.95. The room service menu offers the basic and continental fare and certain restaurant dishes during meal times. Suite guests might get the full dining room menu.
We ordered hot chocolate and water. Order water because it’s hard to come by on the cruise. Read on to find out where are the limited water points. Anyway, the room service and presentation of the drinks were commendable!
Several beverage packages (alcoholic, soda or water) are available for purchase at outrageous prices. For example, Evian water package is at US$47 for twelve 1-litre bottles. Yes, the price might be expected of Evian, but still…
Do note that there’s no complimentary drinking water in your room. The mini fridge is stocked with Evian bottles and soda drinks — all with a price tag.
But if you don’t want to pay, you can get free drinking water by these means:
Most food items at Cafe Promenade are “free”, including basic coffee brew, tea or hot chocolate from a self-service station. But for drinks like espresso, cappuccino and iced coffee drinks sold at the bar, they come with an extra fee. Charges also apply to its Ben & Jerry’s ice cream parlor.
Johnny Rockets is a burger joint highly recommended by online reviewers, but we didn’t want to spend extra. It has a US$6.95 cover charge per person. However, this charge is regardless of how much you order except for certain items like draft beer.
Some things to note:
Doraemon has been around for decades and still remains popular till this date. So the museum appeals to both children and adults who grew up with the series. I am one of those who grew up watching Doraemon cartoon series! And I love it~ What better way to reminisce …
Otaru (小樽) is a port town steeped in rich history and home to many beautiful architecture along the picturesque canal and the busy Sakaimachi street. These rows of stone buildings were mainly former warehouses and office buildings of shipping and trade companies. They were left behind from the …
Other than the desserts and music boxes, you can also find beautiful glassware in Otaru. Kitaichi Glass (“Kitaichi”) with a century-long history is the most famous and oldest place in Otaru to discover this glassy treasure. Kitaichi is the pioneer of Otaru glass when it began in 1901 with the manufacturing of kerosene oil lamps before electricity and then later produced glass buoys for Otaru’s booming herring fishery during the Meiji and Taisho eras.
You can find some of Kitaichi’s shops, workshop and classes around within walking distance along Sakaimachi Street. Use this map to locate them. Zoom in at this high resolution map.
Among all its shops, Kitaichi Glass Sangokan (literally the third house 三号馆)(“Sangokan”) best represents Kitaichi Glass, you can probably consider it to be the headquarters. Sangokan is housed in a stone warehouse with timber frames that was built in 1891 when Otaru was a prospering commercial seaport.
You can find a variety of glassware at Sangokan: dinnerware (plates, bowls, cups, etc), vases, accessories, decorations, stained glass lamps… there are easily thousands of high quality products made by skilled craftsman on display. Needless to say, prices are generally on the high side, even though I heard of Singaporeans flying to Otaru annually to get their glassware.
Sangokan has three floors — YO, WA and COUNTRY. At YO, you’ll find Western inspired products. At WA, there are traditional Japanese styled products. Lastly at COUNTRY, bring home homely products based on Japan’s tradition.
I like the two sets of glassware shown in the following two photos. One is a set of coloured printed glasses and another is a set of sake pot and glasses. They look so much better in real life!
The set of glasses with printed trees is inspired by the four seasons, with only autumn of orange and winter of blue in my photo. I wanted to take a photo of the complete set, but no photos were actually allowed. I loved them so much that I couldn’t help but sneak a photo. If I didn’t remember wrongly, these designs were limited for a period, and they had new designs coming up.
Hungry after shopping? In the same building as Sangokan, Kitaichi Hall (“Hall”) is a café with a warm and romantic ambience for you to sit in and relax. 167 oil lamps softly illuminate the whole Hall as they stand on the tables, hang along the walls and up in the ceiling chandeliers.
If you are there early when the Hall opens at 8:45am, you get to see the staff light up the lamps and lift the chandeliers up into their places. Do note that these lamps emit a peculiar and nostalgic smell from the oil burning. Before lifting the chandeliers up, tourists are allowed to come near the chandeliers and see them close up. The chandeliers will sway side to side as they are lifted slowly up a distance. :)
After the lighting ceremony, enjoy a cup of coffee or have your breakfast. Or if you are crazy enough, or have an appetite sizable enough, or a travel group big enough, try their desserts in plus size!
Their jumbo cream puff is about 15 cm in diameter! If that’s not enough for you, they serve a 6-flavoured soft ice cream layering one above another. And if that’s not enough, there’s a 12-layered soft serve during the winter season! But based on online reviews, you better save your stomach for better cream puff and ice cream around Otaru.
Photo Taken in Sangokan
Kitaichi Venetian Art Museum showcases the lifestyle and culture of Venice with its imported art pieces from Venice. There are approximately 3000 pieces of glass art and traditional furniture for you to admire. This museum was opened in 1988 and now has a costume photo studio on the 2nd floor and a cafe on the top floor (5th floor). Get to enjoy Italian beer and the ocean view of Otaru at its cafe. You can access the cafe without having to pay the museum entrance fee of ¥700.
After seeing so many beautiful glass pieces, are you curious about how they were being made? Want to see highly skilled glass craftsmen at work?
At Kitaichi Glass Sakaimachi Studio, you can observe the glass making processes – glassblowing and lampworking. Glassblowing inflates molten glass into a bubble with a blowpipe while lampworking uses a torch or lamp to melt the glass and then tools and hands to shape the molten glass.
If you can’t afford the branded goods in Sangokan, there’s always an outlet store! The products sold here are discounted for reasons such as to clear stock for out of season products, for products of cancelled productions (because they’re improving on the design and reproducing based on customer feedback) and for products that did not meet the inspection criteria of fine precision and quality.
Other than glassware, there’s also a range of Japanese alcohol you can get, from the affordable to the expensive ones. As in Japanese style, most of the bottles come in pretty packaging! I was contemplating whether to buy a bottle of plum wine, but decided against carrying a glass bottle to Tokyo in our 2nd leg. Regretted it!
Other than making a music box, here’s another hands on experience! Experience glass making with Kitaichi Glass, such as making a blown-glass piece with a blowpipe or a small ornament from rods in a flame.
Sandblast is a technique of engraving glasses by a jet of sand using compressed air. See website for the photos of the sandblast process and products.
“raku‐raku” course
“okonomi” course
See website for the photos of the products made from the following courses.
You can make reservations for the above courses with Kitaichi Hanazono store by phone (0134) -33-1991, by fax (0134) -29-0691 or by email [email protected].
Let them know your desired date and time, the number of people, the course name (“raku-raku”, “okonomi”, ペンダントコース, etc) and your name. They will confirm your reservation on the spot or the next day.
Have fun among the glassware! :) If you are looking for more places to go in Otaru, wait for our upcoming post: “Things to Do in Otaru“.
Other than the desserts and exquisite glassware, you can also find beautiful music boxes in Otaru. Otaru Music Box Museum is a must go place if you ever visit Otaru. Also, under the same umbrella of Orgel Doh Group, there are a few other places related to music box. …
As mentioned in my previous post of what to eat in Otaru, we stayed for a night at Dormy Inn Premium Otaru because we were making our way to Sapporo from Niseko. Hence we were able to start our day early at Sankaku Fish Market before the Sapporo crowd arrived. Yeap, most people come to Otaru …