sunflower ferry

We used this ferry to get down to Hachinoe overnight, which took about eight and a half hours. We needed the sleep and had booked a room that slept four, even though there were only two of us. We had a great night's sleep; the beds were comfy, the amenities in the room were basic but useful, and there was a shared shower room. We had our own supplies with us, and used the vending machines for a beer. All in all just what we wanted.

There’s no reviews written in English concerning this service. I read a somewhat negative report on CNNGo. My report is more positive than the CNN report. My family and I (wife, children aged 8 and 10) took the 1845 ferry from Hokkaido (Tomakomai) to Ibaraki (Oarai) in March 2013 after a ski trip in Niseko. We stayed in a standard room. The sea was calm along the way and we found it to be a comfortable and pleasantly memorable experience. We may or may not do it again because it took 2 days to get to Tokyo instead of the usual 1 day. My children loved it however. Getting there and away. The simplest way, even coming from Niseko, is to go back to the airport and catch the shuttle bus that departs Chitose Airport at 1720. It’s very smooth, the bus drops you off at the ferry well on time. On the Tokyo side of the trip, there is again a shuttle bus right there. However, we had to wait 40 min for it. Once we got to Mito station (most people get off the bus there and it looks like a station), we took a Joban train local which takes an eternity to travel. We should have splurged and done one of two things: buy green car tickets (if on the local train) or not take the local train and instead get on a shinkansen. The boatThe boat is big. They have greeters when you board who usher you politely and efficiently to your room. The interior looks like you’re back in the 60s, even though the boat was built in 1998. The roomsWe had a standard room. It was clean and spacious. Still tight, because it’s a japanese boat, but more comfortable than the rooms on the Tokyo-Sapporo Hokutosei sleeper train. FoodWe brought our own, bought at the airport. We didn’t look forward to all-you-can-eat buffets on a relatively cheap ferry. The buffet did not look appetizing but we didn't look closely. DrinksLots of booze for sale on board. OnsenSurprisingly clean. But I was silly and stayed a whole 12min in the sauna because there’s a clock on the wall that counts up to 12min. I wasn’t feeling too good after that. I don't advise staying 12min just because the clock counts 12min. AnnouncementsThey’re too frequent and in Japanese only. But they don’t announce anything that you don’t know. Mostly: “time for breakfast...breakfast will end soon... breakfast ended,” and so on. So you can just turn off the volume. There's a volume button near the door. Truck driversThere are many on the boat. The CNNGo review made a big fuss about them. We didn’t ourselves see much of them. They’re segregated from the other passengers. And they seemed to be polite and most civilized. All in allA positive experience. But it's a long way to reach Tokyo. Make sure to get a nice train to Tokyo from Mito station. It ruins the trip to be standing the whole way on the Joban local train.

北海道に行くときに利用してます。１９時間と長い船旅なので、食って寝て、食って寝てと過ごすと結構早く時間が過ぎて良いです。大浴場もあるが良いです。