Okinawa Cruise Port Guide – Amazing DIY Excursion Discoveries!

Okinawa Cruise Port Guide – Amazing DIY Excursion Discoveries!

Can you have an epic road trip with just eight hours of port time in Okinawa, Japan? I’m Troy and my wife, son, and family rented a car and put that challenge to the test. Let’s see if we beat the clock. But first, some port basics. When it comes to getting oriented about Okinawa, I have to remind myself that there’s Okinawa Prefecture, a 1,000mi stretch of 160 islands south of mainland Japan along the East China Sea. And then there’s Okinawa Island with the prefixures capital city, Naha, with sites such as the Chinese Fukushuan Garden and various museums. On the south end of the island are also World War II sites, peace memorial and the Japanese underground headquarters and beaches such as Nishahara Kiraakira. It’s also great for road tripping. It’s a compact island which you can technically drive end to end in about 2 hours, although some routes will definitely take longer. and great sites up north, too, such as Cape Monzamo, Naki Jin Castle Ruins, and most famously, Okinawa Cheromi Aquarium and its massive showcase tank. Let’s get port oriented. There are two potential docks that could be used. The modern Wakasa Terminal right at the foot of town and the Shinko Warf, Nah Shenko, just north and across the harbor. But the Wakasa Terminal is pretty much the go-to dock for most ships. That was certainly our case. While I kept envisioning Naha like a small Ishigaki town, it’s a true city with some rather funky roads leading out into the main street. It’s a compact dock and an equally compact terminal building. What’s interesting is that the ship directly faces the taxi and local bus area on the same side of the terminal. Before leaving the ship, I always make note of the port agents number. That goes for any port, not just car rental, but anytime I leave the ship. We needed to enter from the second floor for security. And while they clearly have a bridge, we took the circumspect route going up, through then down again. On the second floor, just past security where I couldn’t take pictures, is this really cool waiting area. Very elegant, and I always appreciate an art gallery at a terminal. We need more of these. And more seating downstairs. This small area has all the basics. vending, tourist info, clean, slick, and modern bathrooms, naturally with decor, ATM, and money exchange. More than most terminals, precautionary posters, how to tell a fake taxi, disease prevention, medical expenses, and customs. The place was pretty beautiful, but how do I put it? A bit clinical. Less warm welcome, more I’m concerned about your welfare. Taxi, walking exit, and shuttle bus to the left, tour bus to the right with ramps of plenty. Check out this one going to the tour buses. Exiting to the left, you can step out and actually get to town on foot. [Music] It’s flat and roughly about 25 to 30 minutes to the center of town. Taxi stands are pretty self-explanatory. Find your way out to the end of the building and should be lined up in a neat row right outside. Cash is recommended for cababies here, but some might take credit cards, but have yen just in case. Calling a taxi from town is fairly simple. You can use the Go app, the Uber app, or the good old-fashioned raising your arm and hailing from the street. At any rate, there are plenty of taxis available in town. When choosing our rental car company, there were smaller local companies very close to the port. But we went with an international brand this time, Enterprise, which if we walked would probably take 25 to 30 minutes, but we had an easy way to get there. The shuttle bus right from the port, which runs on a specific schedule, leaving the port every half hour and usually taking about 7 minutes to get to the center of town with two extended breaks for the driver. So, just pay attention to the schedule. We made a point of getting to the first bus stop morning at 8 a.m. What’s way cool about this bus is you can pay with credit card. One of the few I’ve seen in Japan so far. Uh two of us. [Music] And at 240 yen per ride, it’s a pretty good bargain, but somewhat limited seating, so get there early if you need to have a seat. Otherwise, pretty comfortable ride. The bus drops you off at Kokuai Street, pretty much in the center of town. Specifically right here across the street from the prefectual office Montreal station and around the corner from the rental office which shared office space with Alamo, Enterprise, and National. That’s pretty convenient if you want to go with established companies. A brief shuttle ride, a less than 5-minute walk, and you got four companies to reserve from. Sweet. Despite four companies in one office, the service was smooth, easy, and professional, and a cute video to watch while you’re waiting. We paid the equivalent of $130 US all in, including additional insurance, which we always get overseas. A few basics to keep in mind. You do need an international driver’s permit, which you need to get before you leave on your vacation, and you’re required to top off the gas with a receipt at the end of your trip. We go into a little more detail about this in our Japan car rental video. Here’s a link. This was in a big office building, so the cars were parked in the parking garage downstairs. [Music] The attendant was really cool and showed us everything by hand. Okay. Okay, perfect. Brand new car has Android Auto, so you just plug in and it should agreed right there. Ah, okay. And he even shows you how to do it. By now, it was 8:40 in the morning. It took about 12 minutes through traffic to get to the entrance to the port. There’s a long line of taxis getting into the uh port area. So, and there’s only one lane, so make time to pick up your loved ones. So, we got lucky. The long line is for cabs. The right side is for private pickup. That’s so we don’t get too. Oh, no. No, we don’t. Yep, we’re good. That guy go all the way there. And there’s a parking lot. Okay. The private pickup, by the way, was just beyond the taxi stands at the far end of the lot. Gathering up our family and heading back out, we were on the road and out of town by 9:00. So, a 1-hour turnaround isn’t bad. Considering you go from the shuttle to the rental process to coming back in the pickup, Naha is a pretty compact city. Everyone decided that the Okinawa Churomi Aquarium was the best bet for us, but it was going to be about an hour and a half, 2-hour ride. Driving here is smooth sailing. Okinawa Island being the main island on the prefecture. Highways are big and wide, super clean, and well-maintained. How’s it handle on the speed? It’s good. I mean, you know, the speed limit is very low. 80 kilometers per hour is like barely 60. Right. Right. You know, not even 60 miles per hour. So, and everyone seems to be driving pretty mellow around here anyways. Right. All these nice highways need to be paid for and that’s what the tolls are for. We encountered a fair number of them on our route. And frankly, we’re stressing out a bit about having enough small bills and coins for the tolls. One thing we didn’t expect, traffic delays. Just make extra time. So, here’s how it all went down. Please go and go to that. Please take a ticket. Okay. Okay. Give me a second. You get a ticket on entry and on exit you pay. On the toll rate signs, we notice these different numbers. Top number is for regular vehicles and the bottom is for what’s called a light vehicle. The light vehicles are sometimes called K cars and they’re the smallest highway legal passenger cars in Japan. Kind of like a smart car. Most sedans, SUVs, and minivans you’ll find at rental agencies in Okinawa will fall under the regular category. But if you have minimal luggage, only a few passengers, and want to save money, you could ask at the rental car agency if they have a light car. It’ll save you some money at the tolls. If you want an ETC, an electronic toll collection card reader, they do not come standard on rental cars in Okinawa. You have to request it as an add-on. We didn’t carry the ETC, so we carried cash. And for that, you stay in the general or the green lane, which was a scramble on those first few entries. How much? 1,260. Do you have the,000? I have a,000. Just 1,000. No, honey. Just just just give me the the paper. The paper. Yes. So, they give you they give you change, would you say? They give you change and then they put that, you know, big in in uh Latin number so you know. Exactly. But the only thing is like just make sure you got cash. It it does require cash only. So make sure you got your wallet. You know, generally speaking, you should have some yen. You should carry yen in in Japan, especially if you want to drive. But then wait, this one take credit card. What? What? We should just take credit card. You can pay with credit card across all staffed toll booths on the Okinawa Expressway. Just be sure to stay in the green general lane and not the purple etc lane. And there was another pleasant surprise just beyond the exit gate. The tall also has a toilet. So just outside the just right just after after you pay. There’s a toilet right there. And they were more than happy to accommodate you which is very nice. Traffic congestion at the tolls and the bathroom break cost us some time but we eventually got there at about 11:10 2 hours 10 minutes. The aquarium is part of the Ocean Expo Park Complex, which includes a dolphin show and Native Village, among other things. It’s therefore very popular with locals and international travelers. Their main parking complex was already full when we got there, and the one we chose across the street was beginning to get full, so try to be here early. There were some pretty kick-ass elements to this complex, starting when we were walking towards the entrance past the parking garage. It’s motorized. Yeah, it’s a rental. Yeah, it’s got like a m motor. Yeah. Oh, okay. On that power this is [Music] like and then you can change the power too. Okay. Yes, it’s free. It’s free. The the the wheelchair is free. First come, first B is first serve. So make sure that you come early. Over here. Over here. Over here. Oh, over here. No. Okay. From here, it’s a decent 5 to 10 minute walk to the entrance. And in those wheelchairs, it certainly made life easier in this really intense summer heat. From here, signs will guide you to the elevators. The name Cheromi means beautiful sea, which you certainly get an eye for from the outside. The layout could be a little confusing. From that top floor, you go down one floor to the aquarium entrance. I’ll list these admission prices as of 2025. Children under six are free, which when looking at the resulting crowds made sense. The place was invaded by toddlers and strollers. The aquarium is considered to be one of the best in Japan. Laid out over three floors, taking you progressively deeper into the ocean. Coral reef touch pool, the coral sea, and the star of the show, the Curroio Sea. Its tank is one of the largest in the world, almost 2 million gallons. This is one of the few places in the world that keeps and breeds manta rays and whale sharks. One of the biggest fish in the sea and the one everybody needs to take a picture of. This is the crowded epicenter of the aquarium. Let’s face it, this IMAX sized aquarium wall is the reason you come here. Tip: Don’t forget the side rooms which give you an even more intimate view. And sometimes you get really lucky. And it looks like there’s a restaurant here, too, which I’m sure there’s fierce competition for those window seats. We spent roughly about 2 hours here, but you definitely could spend more, double that if you’re going to explore the rest of the complex. For lunch, we just had to try Kai Homaru. This restaurant is well respected as authentic Okinawan cuisine. This is actually the second store. The first one was so popular it had to expand, but the first one was also a little tricky to find. I dug deeper afterwards and I think I got it on Google Map. I’ll leave you a link anyway. But this second store location worked out just fine. It was along the main highway and it was actually closer to where we came from. This wound up being a massive feast, Okinawa style. So to order, you use your phone and use the QR code here. And by the way, the menu has a lot of pictures, so don’t worry. Seaweed, the local seaweed marinated with vinegar, as you could see, the lemon. M, you know, that that green seaweed that you guys are that we’re used to. It’s kind of like that have that taste, but this one is more crunchier. So, this one is the same seaweed, but they make it into tempura. And you have the sea salt to dip it if you want. Is it a plum? Let me try. No, it’s sea salt. I’m not sure what this is cuz according to the menu, it says a soft tofu with peanuts. It’s It’s actually tastes like a very creamy peanut. it. And you cannot really taste the tofu at all. Doesn’t even have the the the texture of a tofu. It it it’s so creamy. I mean, I cannot believe it’s tofu. The next one is the famous Okinawan sea grapes. Put the dipping sauce. I don’t know what the dipping sauce tastes like. Soy sauce. Oh, it’s like soy sauce. Okay. No, it’s like the same thing. It’s peanut butter and soy sauce. Let me try the sea grapes again. Just the sea grapes without the sauce. It’s it’s magical, you know. It It really does taste like you bubble up the sea waters in a crunchiness and then, you know, you eat it. So, let’s try to combine these two, the seaweed and the sea grapes, right? Best friend in the sea. M. More and more appetizers like the agadashi tofu and the pork belly was just a preliminary for what I would call the shock and awe effect of the main course. I have never seen presentation like this. So this is the lak sashimi. Um as you could see there are many raw fish. This especially raw fish and it comes with the miso soup and all these different uh fresh fish of the day. So, if you order this, you might not get the same fish every single time. This is the interesting chicken because they put the fresh fresh egg yolk with your um egg salad. If you guys don’t want to, I’ll eat it. So, and our son who loves egg yolk and nothing tastes like Japanese egg yolk. They’re very, very good. So, this is Goya Champuru. Goya is the very famous uh vegetable local to Okinawan and they believe this is what give them the long life and health. In other part of the Asian this is bitter melon. So they cook this bit bitter melon with it looks like a mix of possibly carrot um tofu and pork and egg. It’s good but it is bitter. Just be ready for that a little bit different sensation. Okay. Definitely an experience to savor. This took us about an hour and a half to 2 hours. We were back on the road by about 3:00 p.m. Our allboard time was 6:30, so we figured we’d have a good 2-hour window to drive back with the additional hour and a half to return the car and get back to the ship. With that in mind, we gave ourselves a little extra time to stop somewhere else. Roadside Station. Wo, it’s happening. The first of its kind in Okinawa. It’s a government designated roadside station for travelers to rest and also promoting local tourism and trade. And there’s plenty of trade to check out. Some of the sale items are exclusive. ATM, but I’m not sure if they take international cards. Doesn’t look like they do. Lottery tickets and discount tickets to attractions. Not to mention that this place is just really fun. The food and all the interesting and wonderful funky I love. My wife got obsessed with Okinawan donuts. So, I’ll skip the plane coffee. Yeah. Well, see, they’re out of banana and sugar cake. We left just a little bit past 4:00 and it took us a little over an hour to get back to Nah. A little bit past 5:00 p.m. And we did hit rush hour traffic, which meant by the time we dropped off our family and headed back to the rental office, we had about 45 minutes left. By the time we found an available gas station where we could fill up, return the car, and jump into a cab to get back to the port all through rush hour, we had about five minutes to spare, which technically really isn’t a problem, but for some reason, the crew was bringing up the Gangplank already. Apparently, we were the last one on board again. So, yeah, we beat the clock, and yeah, we did have an epic road trip, but what did we learn? Perhaps we should have restricted our destination time to 1 hour max, which meant the southern part of the island, the World War II sites, and maybe some of the beaches. Two-hour travel time one way is cutting it tight. With that, you can take your time completely in that one destination or cut that time a little bit like we did and had some lunch. But the roadside stand had to go because when you’re returning, especially to a city like this which involves traffic, you need to give yourself extra time, at least an hour. So, I would conclude, yeah, you can do an epic road trip, but keep your destinations close and give yourself plenty of time to return. Now, if this video has been helpful to you, be sure to give us a like and share with your shipmates. We aim to help independent-minded cruisers like you plan your next travel adventures. You can also check us out on our website, portlowdown.com. And as always, we love your comments and questions. Keep them coming. We try to answer them as soon as we can. Keep planning and having your travel adventures and see you on the next cruise.

Is it possible to have an epic road trip in Okinawa, Japan with only 8 hours of cruise port time? We put it to the test! In this video, we show you our step-by-step DIY shore excursion from the Naha cruise port. We docked in Naha on our Diamond Princess cruise and instead of taking a pricey tour, we rented a car to explore the best of Okinawa on our own schedule. We’ll show you the entire process, from picking up the rental car near the port to navigating Okinawa’s toll roads and getting to the world-famous Churaumi Aquarium. Plus, we find some of the best traditional Okinawan food you can’t miss! If you’re cruising to Okinawa on your Japan cruise, you’ll need to check out our report!

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
1:01 Port Details
5:01 Car Rental Details
6:18 Starting the road trip: traffic and tolls
10:01 Churaumi Aquarium
12:56 Kaihoumaru Restaurant
16:44 Kyoda Roadside Station
17:50 Returning the car and lessons learned

***************** ⚓Helpful links 

Enterprise Rent a Car – Okinawa
Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ew2DWB9LyEXHajHfA
Website: https://www.enterprise.com/en/car-rental-locations/jp/kencho-mae-okinawa-j1eo.html

Shuttle Bus Drop off location
Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/tt13VSsB1Zi1SbZa7

Churaumi Aquarium
Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/TkR3yVBKntsoFK2e8
Website: https://churaumi.okinawa/

Kaihoumaru – Original Store
Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/rc4YpgL7JAxAd2ka9

Kaihoumaru – SECOND Store
Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/BJHNg1WPx2J6fZQG6

Kyoda Roadside Station
Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/S4BXeEXmMD2mHVUf6

#diamondprincess #princesscruiseline #theportlowdown #japancruise #japantravel #okinawa #okinawatravel

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