Our Next Chapter | Life after Full Time Cruising | Nagasaki, Japan | Ep 141

Our Next Chapter | Life after Full Time Cruising | Nagasaki, Japan | Ep 141

[Music] Hey friends, I’m Steve and I’m Angela and we are Midlife Cruise Cruising. We are a retired couple from Florida who spent our entire careers in public service. And during that time, we were extremely lucky to go on more than 50 cruises. You heard that right. And during our retirement, we have been incredibly fortunate to travel and travel a lot. And during this past year, we have cruised from Belfast in Northern Ireland all the way to Manila in the Philippines. In March of 2024, we bought a room on a residential cruise ship and set sail for an entire year. A month after we purchased that room, we decided, let’s start a YouTube channel. And who knew where that channel would take us today. So, once we wrapped up our year sale, we first of course went and visited our daughter in Colorado and then we headed home. We call Nicaragua home most of the year. So once we were home and we started to unpack figuratively and literally, we decided we love cruising. So we need to do that. So within probably 48 hours after that visit with our daughter back at home, we said, let’s look into a cruise. So we went back to our old tried andrue favorite and the color should be a hint, Princess Cruise Lines. We are six days out from being elite on Princess because we’ve sailed with them so many times. So, we reached out to our Princess cruise planner and said, “Hey, can you help us plan a group cruise?” And sure enough, we have one scheduled and we’d like to invite you to join us. And we’re going to give you all the details shortly. In today’s episode, we take you along our two days in Nagasaki. And we have such fond memories of Japan. During those two days in Nagasaki, we of course explore the town. We watch the sunset from their pinnacle overlook and then the next day continue to exploring this beautiful island. I can’t say enough about Japan. You guys were absolutely amazing. But your weather in August and early September is well, let’s say challenging. And after our footage from Nagasaki, we’ll be back to tell you more. [Music] The Canman Straits is a narrow waterway in Japan separating the main islands of Honchu and Kyushu connecting the Sea of Japan with the inland sea. Historically vital for trade and naval warfare, the straight is now an important shipping route and is crossed by bridges, tunnels, and fairies. It is known for its challenging currents and its importance as a historical gateway to Japan with cities on either side showcasing retroon architecture and commemorating their past. Today we are trying Yokohama wheat. Let’s give it a shot. Oh, crisp, malty. Boy, you can taste that wheat in there. One more shot. I think this is my favorite so far. Let’s give this one an 8.75. We wanted to take a moment here in the middle of this video to thank all of you, our viewers, for all the kind words that you’ve sent us here in the last week or two. The words of encouragement, the private messages, they all mean the world to us. All right, good afternoon. It is after noon here in Nagasaki, Japan. We are getting off on 4. It looks like the tide is really up because the stairs are really steep. And let’s see what we can get into. Hey, [Music] welcome [Music] [Music] goes up the cow. All right. I will admit I do like to buy license plates from around the world and then uh use them at a future time, maybe in a man cave. But here, I’m noticing that they’re not from Japan. Things that make you go, “Hey, [Music] [Music] The Nagasaki Confucious Shrine and Historical Museum of China is a unique cultural site in Japan built by the Chinese community in 1893 that showcases traditional Chinese architecture and artifacts. The complex includes a shrine to Confucious with statues of his disciples in a museum behind the main hall that houses treasures on loan from Beijing’s national museums. Despite being damaged by the atomic bomb, the shrine was restored and continues to stand as a symbol of the historical and cultural ties between China and Japan. [Music] Well, there’s not much tolerance there if you don’t park perfectly in that assigned spot. Wow. Well, it was bright and sunshine and 100° whenever we got off the ship and he don’t listen. I tell him to bring a raincoat or an umbrella. Now it’s like 92 and pouring rain, but I see blue skies ahead, so it’ll be all right. I’ve been looking for that street. We have instructions. [Music] Yeah. Heat. In Japan, the koiish is deeply symbolic, representing perseverance, strength, and good fortune. A meaning rooted in the legend of the koi swimming upstream to leap over the dragon gate waterfall and transform into a dragon. This story makes a koi a powerful metaphor for overcoming obstacles and achieving success in life, which is why they are common in Japanese gardens and art and are considered a symbol of ambition, love, and loyalty. [Music] the Nagasaki ropeway ascends Mount Inasaya, a 333 m peak west of the city to a lookout with one of Japan’s most famous night views. Once ranked among the world’s top three, the cable car takes about 5 minutes for the thousand meter trip, offering a stunning 360° panoramic view of the city and harbor that are spectacular at night with a $10 million nightscape view. [Music] [Music] [Music] Well, this is day two here in Nagasaki. We left the ship. I don’t know. We’re about 20 minutes into our walk this morning. I’m already lthered in sweat. Uh take a look at the hill where we were last night. Boy, wasn’t that a nice uh a nice uh viewing point. Look at our other friends from the ship. Well, here’s a new one for us. The uh bread is in packs of three. Actually, [Music] the wheat bread is in a pack of two and then white in three. Very interesting. So, several of the cities that we’ve been in, they have these uh covered markets and food stalls. And look who I found here. My friend [Music] Do you want to go to uh [Music] Look how compact the fire trucks are here. Well, I found their big trucks. [Music] Oh, [Music] [Music] no. [Music] The Fukasai Gi Temple originally built in 1628 which was destroyed by the atomic bomb in 1945. The rebuilt temple, completed in 1979, features an unusual design where a concrete turtle supports a giant statue of the goddess Canon, creating a universal mausoleum for the over 16,000 war victims and a symbol of prayer for peace. Underneath the statue, a large pendulum swings over the memorial for the victims, and a bell at the temple tolls daily at 11:02, the exact time of the atomic bomb’s explosion. [Music] How’d you know I was here? Yes, you little Tommy. No, dummy. Hey. Hey. Yeah, I know. You just ran past everybody to me cuz you knew I loved you. Wasn’t the city of Nagasaki amazing? Have you been there? Drop us a line in the comments below if you have been. And is it someplace that you aspire to go one day? I know we’ll be back to Japan one day, probably when it’s cooler. And so now, here’s the exciting news about our first ever group cruise. And what a group cruise is is something where you will book through our travel agent. You will receive some perks. We’ll receive some perks, but more importantly, you get to come hang out with us. Oo. You’ll be part of our private Facebook group just for those signing up for this cruise. We will plan some onboard events with just our group. We will plan some excursions and you can and you can choose to attend or not. Everything’s still totally up to you. But if you’re under our booking and if you’re part of the midlife cruising travel group, there’ll be all kinds of fun things where you can join in. We can hang out and become bffs. Our first group cruise is on the Sun Princess. We are so excited. The Sun Princess was just launched in 2024. So, she’s a super new ship and she even won the Reader Choice Traveler Award for 2025. So, we’re super excited to get this. I’m kind of giggly to go on a new ship. This is going to be amazing. It is a 14-day transatlantic. We are starting in Fort Lauderdale and ending in Barcelona. And so we’re also using this cruise to basically get us over to Europe because we have several more cruises planned starting from that side of the world. So, not only are we using this for an amazing 14-day cruise to check out the most exciting Sun Princess and to get to know some of you, we’re going to have a few amazing ports on this Spanish passage that leaves out of Fort Lauderdale. We have several amazing sea days and we’re going to have a lot of events that you’ll be invited to if you’re in our group. I can’t wait to go to Palma de Mayorca. Yes, that is our first stop. We’ve always loved Spain and after Palma de Mayorca. Oh, and I think we have a video. You’ll have to pop up the number form. Then we head on to Cardahia, Spain. Do we have a video on that one? Cuz I know we’ve been. So, if we have a video, we’ll pop the numbers up for you. And after Cardahia, then where do we head? Then we head to Santa Cruz, Tenneref. And boy, we’ve spent some amazing time there, too. I can’t wait for all of these stops. Yes. And if you’re wondering about any of those ports, we’ll pop up those episodes because we’ve been there. So, it’ll give us a little bit of insider knowledge to be able to share with you of what we think you should do while we are in these ports. We will end up in the beautiful, beautiful Barcelona, also one of our favorite places. We’re going to go back to Lasagrada Familia, one of the coolest churches in the world. Well, it is the coolest church in the world. We’re going to go check that out again and invite you to join us. And then after all of this amazing cruising, we are going to go on a few backtobacks or side to sides if you will of more cruises. After we booked this first cruise with Princess just a few days ago, we were offered a partnership and we can’t wait to tell you more about that. Super excited. Everything’s falling into place. Our joy has completely returned. My aura ring is saying you’re sleeping better than ever. I wonder why. It just feels so good to be back on a positive, upbeat path and trajectory. We’re so thankful. Uh we appreciate all of you who’ve stuck with us and are following along. And we’re going to just continue this journey cruising around the world on cruise ships and maybe on planes, trains, and automobiles. We aren’t stopping. We’re going to keep on cruising around the world here on Midlife Cruising. And if you say, you know what, a 14-day cruise is enough for me, Barcelona is a great place to jump off. You can pretty much get to all of Europe from the airport there. But what I really love about Spain is their high-speed train system. You can explore everywhere. The train system is incredibly easy to book and ride on. We’ve had nothing but a fabulous experience uh on their train system. So, I can’t highly recommend it enough. Yes, twice we’ve traveled all around Spain via train, bullet train. One day we just have the I just have the best memories from there. Yes, we did a 9-day one time and wasn’t the other one like 16 or something really long. We just love Spain. We can’t wait to return. And like I said, we have several more cruises that we’d love for you to join us on. So if say you live in Europe or the UK and you’re thinking about a cruise in the spring, hang tight. We’re going to be announcing some more group cruises or you can do them all with us. Come hang out with Midlife Cruising. Thank you all for your continued support for all who gave to super chats and super thanks and buy me a coffee and all those great things. You guys are amazing. You’re the heart and soul of our channel. You send such encouraging messages to us. It’s really amazing. YouTube is awesome. Remember, hit the thumbs up, share, like, comment, subscribe, always give us a big thumbs up. We really, really appreciate that. And until next time, bye friends. [Music]

Join Angela and Steve as we update you on our next chapter.
To buy us a cup of ☕ (or Steve a🍺beer) : https://buymeacoffee.com/midlifecruising

If you are interested in our next GROUP CRUISE, please contact:

Nicolette Bilezikian
Princess Cruises
Cruise Vacation Planner
1 (800) 901-1172 ext. 41727
Hours: 6:00 am – 2:45 pm Pacific time or
email her at nbilezikian@princesscruises.com

When inquiring with Nicolette, please have the following information ready:
Group Name: Midlife Cruising
Group Number: TQT
Voyage Code: U611
If emailing her, include the information below:
First and Last Name:
Email:
Phone #:

Sun Princess – 14 days Spanish Passage
March 05, 2026

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