Marendy Blog: Day 11 (Tuesday 6th October 2026) Sea day to korea

Today was a delightful sea day as we continued our journey towards Japan.

Kanmon Strait

One of the highlights of the morning was passing through the spectacular Kanmon Strait, the narrow waterway separating the Japanese islands of Honshu and Kyushu. The strait stretches for around 18 kilometres and narrows to just 1 kilometre wide for much of its length, before widening at either end. Watching the coastline glide past from our balcony was a fantastic experience but in comparison to New Zealand’s Milford Sounds, it was a poor second.

Breakfast in the Kanmon Strait

Part 1 of 6 of breakfast

To celebrate both our cruise and our birthdays, we had arranged a special balcony breakfast. What arrived was nothing short of a feast! There was so much food that we ended up grazing on it throughout the day while relaxing on the balcony and enjoying the ever-changing views as we sailed through the strait. It was a wonderfully indulgent way to spend the morning.

The day wasn't completely without drama. At one point, a coffee machine in the buffet area started smoking, which triggered a minor emergency response from the crew. Passengers were evacuated from the immediate area while the situation was assessed. Although we were three decks below, we could hear announcements over the ship's public address system as the crew responded with great care and professionalism. By the end of the day, that section of the buffet remained closed, suggesting the incident had produced a significant amount of smoke. Thankfully, it appears everything was handled safely and efficiently.

After our enormous breakfast, we remained in our cabin for what felt like a well-earned morning nap. Recovering from such a feast is hard work! Later, we took advantage of the sea day to catch up on some laundry and ironing, always a satisfying task when travelling for an extended period.

During the afternoon, we treated ourselves to some speciality ice cream before heading back to the cabin to prepare for the evening's Captain's Circle Cocktail Party. As members of the cruise line's loyalty programme, we've recently reached Platinum status, earning us an invitation to this special event.

The gathering was fascinating, particularly when we learned about some of the most dedicated cruisers onboard. Several guests had accumulated between 1,100 and 1,700 days at sea with this cruise line alone. That's an astonishing amount of cruising experience! By comparison, we've completed around a dozen cruises and estimate that we've spent about 80 days at sea across four different cruise lines. It certainly put our own cruising adventures into perspective.

Invite to Captains’s cocktail party

Captains cocktail party

Following the cocktail party, we enjoyed dinner at a Brazilian-style pop-up restaurant onboard, where we sampled a seemingly endless parade of delicious cuts of meat. It was the perfect way to round off an enjoyable day at sea.