Our Diamond Princess cruise had been almost perfect. We had departed two weeks earlier from Yokohama, visited Kagoshima in southern Japan, stopped in Hong Kong for the Chinese Lunar New Year and celebrated again in Taipei. The festivities had been limited because a mysterious novel coronavirus had been discovered in China just two weeks before the trip. Hong Kong had canceled its famed fireworks display and dragon parades. We had our temperatures taken in both Hong Kong and Taipei, but we weren’t particularly concerned.
Even though it was Feb. 1, we enjoyed warmer temperatures as we approached our last port: Okinawa. Japan’s southernmost prefecture has a subtropical climate, pristine beaches, and coral reefs that welcome snorkelers and scuba divers. It also boasts the earliest blush of Japan’s cherry blossom festivals. The blooms arrive the first week in February in Okinawa and continue up the island nation chain, reaching Tokyo in mid-March and extending to late May in the far north.
The ship was due to dock around 1 p.m., and my husband, Phil, and I had scheduled a private tour with two other couples at 2:30, but there was a glitch. Since Naha, Okinawa’s capital, would be our port of entry into Japan, we had to clear immigration. Usually customs officials board the ship and stamp passports after a cursory check. Shortly before arrival, however, an announcement declared that everyone—even the crew—had to disembark to have their temperatures taken and fill out a medical questionnaire.
“This is going to be a fiasco!” Phil said when it became clear there was only one thermometer for the whole shipload. “There are almost four thousand on board. It'll take hours.”
After we told the front desk about our situation, we were issued priority passes, which saved the day. We were an hour late meeting our guide, Masumi, who told us that the delay caused all ship’s tours to be canceled. As we drove off I kept my eyes peeled for pink blossoms, but all I saw was a skyline that looked more like Miami than Japan.
