There's 2 ports in Shanghai, since the Volendam is smaller, we were able to use the Shanghai Port International Cruise Terminal (NOT the further away Wusongkou one).

Free shuttle available to take you from ship to North of The Bund (Huangpu Park area). I did not use this shuttle.

I walked over to the nearest railway station about 4 blocks away and made my way towards the main local bus station on Yan An East Road. Bus ride to

Zhu jia jio Water Town is about 50 minutes. Main entrance is about 10 minutes walk from the bus drop off point. Great place to spend 3-4 hours: lots of little shops in side alleys to peruse, lots of treats to snack on. I would rate this attraction 7/10

Got back to ship about 4pm, rested a bit, had dinner. Came back out to town around 7pm, took train to explore Nanxiang Road, walked back to the ship taking The Bund pathway. IT'S BEAUTIFUUULLLLL!!!

***If you need help or advice with specific train/bus stations and routes, feel free to message me. I’ll look into the details and will try to help you as much as possible. I just don’t feel like being too specific in these reviews

2nd day in Shanghai: Museum opens at 9am so we were there 1st thing before it got too crowded, spent a few hours here. Very clean and well taken care of! Went to Yuyuan Garden area next. Beautiful traditional garden area. Took taxi back to the ship.

Evening: Miaokou Night market. WOW!! 3 huge blocks of stalls of food, drinks and trinkets

Day 1: Walked from ship over to Zhongzheng (Jhongjheng) Park on Dashawan Mountain to check out the white statue of Goddess of Mercy (25-meter high). The park overlooks Keelung City and the harbor. Took taxi to Heping Island (~$7 USD). With years of erosion by the wind and sea, the eroded rocks and coasts have formed special shapes, really unique! Taxi from there to Ershawan Fort (~5USD). I would skip the Fort next time but my dad's really into war history so it's worth to take a stroll if you have an hour to spare, it's in a park so it's a nice walk.

Day 2: Took hour long train into Taipei to see the National Chaing Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. (WOW!! BEAUTIFUL!) and the National Palace Museum. If you've already been to the Museum in Shanghai, I would skip this one. Almost exactly alike, just larger.

This was our disembarkation port.

Got into Kowloon port around 5pm: took free shuttle from port to Plaza Hollywood Shopping building, the basement of this building is the Diamond Hill metro station. Took metro to Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade, walked around and made our way to the Star Ferry Terminal. Took the 15 minute ferry ($2.50 HKD = $0.30 USD) across the channel. BEST USE OF 30 CENTS EVER!! The scenery is just beautiful at night! Didn't have any plans for anything on HK Island but I definitely wanted to use the ferry and would highly recommend to anyone! Took ferry back, walked down Nathan Road for a bit of exploring, took Taxi back to Port.

There's plenty of reviews on using Taxis from Port to Airport so I won't write too much about that. ~$50 USD for 1 taxi: 3 adults, 5 suitcases & 1 carry-on. I was pleasantly surprised that the single taxi was able to handle it all!! We were prepared to split into 2 taxi if need be.

Took train into Kyoto (50 minute ride) to check out Fushimi Inari-Taisha Shrine. During my trip, I visited ~7 different shrines, this one was the best and most intricate!

Came back to Osaka and went to Osaka Castle.

* I would NOT recommend Osaka Castle. There are so many more beautiful and better castles in Japan. This was highly tourist-y, everyone's compacted into 6 story building so there's slight shoving. Sunpu Castle Park in Shimizu is TEN TIMES BETTER!!

Taroko National Park: Bulowan, Swallow's Grotto, Eternal Spring Shrine

Took taxi (~$8 USD) from Port to the main public Bus Station. This public shuttle bus runs all the way to Tiansiang and you can get off and on at about 10 different stops between there and the main Taroko Visitor Center. It runs approximately every hour from about 8:00 to 17:00 [though not on the hour], NT$250 per person unlimited hop on hop off.

**ADVICE** A taxi gal bargained with us at the public bus station and offered us 6 hours of service any stops, anywhere in Taroko area for NT $2,000. She eventually lowered down to NT $1,700. If you're able to bargain a 6 hour taxi service for this price, TAKE IT! The shuttle was great but each time you hop off, you're committing to ~40-70 minutes at each stop until the next shuttle comes through.

We joined a private 8 seat tour to see the Buddhist Monastery at Fokuansham (an hour away) and then the Lotus Lake. We had 7 people so the price break down was $60 USD per person, which was reasonable for us for a 5 hour trip.