I recently encountered a situation in a Facebook cruise group where a cruise company was trying to pass off a stop in Wakayama as being in Osaka. In reality, it's about an hour and a half by train to the southern edge of Osaka City from Wakayama.
Last spring, I had to stop someone from booking my all-day tour of Kyoto CITY when I found out their ship was stopping in northern Kyoto Prefecture, which was a two-hour bus ride to the north with no train line.
Why do cruise companies do this? Well, it's because most cruisers don't really know or care about the geography of the places they visit. They might know a few major cities in the area and that's about it. So, cruise companies try to tie the names of their port stops to those well-known cities, even if the actual port is far away.
People often wonder why cruise lines don't just provide Google Maps locations for their ports. It would be simple enough to do. For example, the Wakayama/Osaka City mix-up could easily be avoided with a link like this: https://maps.app.goo.gl/o68io1Bw3rQLAc1S8.
But, cruise lines probably won't ever do this, because they don't want cruisers to explore the lesser-known ports. They want people to book expensive shore excursions that take them to the more famous locations for a more typical tourist experience.
At the end of the day, it's all about money for the cruise lines. If they were more transparent about their stops, fewer people might book certain cruises. And those who did book might choose to explore the local areas around the actual port stops instead of taking their money-making shore excursions.
As a cruiser, it's up to you to decide what you prefer: Spend more money for a typical experience with shore excursions, or do some research, take some chances, and have a unique adventure for less?
Choose wisely... they're your memories to create! (Or forget.)
This ship is at the newly rebuilt (2023) Osaka Cruise Terminal (aka Tempozan) which is actually administered by the City of Osaka. It's the only cruise terminal in Osaka, although it has a second wharf about a kilometer away if they should get very busy.
A less-than-typical location for a tour. Forget about getting a "ship excursion" here.
Challenge you to find this little fishie!
Where is this? No place "well-known" at all. Merely delightful.
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