Symphony Tokyo Bay Cruise

Perhaps we’ve all dreamed of sailing away on a glamorous super yacht at some stage of our life, sitting on the top deck sipping a martini or devouring delicious cuisine served by a personal chef. For most of us, this may be a very distant reality, but a taste of this dreamy lifestyle is now possible thanks to Symphony Tokyo Bay Cruises.

Symphony Tokyo Bay Cruise offers exactly that, the life of a superstar at a very reasonable price albeit for a couple of hours. Symphony's offers lunch, afternoon, sunset and dinner cruises on Tokyo Bay, allowing you to sit on the top deck sipping a cocktail or enjoying local and international cuisine. The 70 meter Classica yacht gracefully glides passengers around to the most popular sights in Tokyo Bay including the Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Skytree, Tokyo Gate Bridge, Wakasu and Odaiba seaside parks before concluding at the Hinode Passenger Terminal.

I opted for the 120 minute sunset cruise which offers the best of both worlds, Tokyo Bay by day and night for a reasonable price of ¥3,000. The enthusiastic staff escorted me up to the bar and promptly took my drink order. As we started cruising I ventured outside to get some photos of the Rainbow Bridge, sunset silhouetted gantry-like Cranes and observe low-flying aircraft attempting to land in the heavy crosswinds. Unfortunately these heavy winds limited our route and we were only about to venture as far out as the Tokyo Light Beacon before having to turn around and find the more sheltered parts of Tokyo Bay. As we turned, the spectacular sight of the Tokyo skyline and Rainbow Bridge greeted us as we slowly meandered back to the terminal. As I could barely stand in the gusting winds, I headed back inside and was greeted by the beautiful sound of a well-tuned piano, as a pianist delicately played away.

Symphony Tokyo Bay Cruises offers cruise and restaurant packages starting from ¥1,500 for the shorter afternoon cruise to lavish dinner packages setting you back up to ¥20,000. Alternatively, if you really want to impress your friends, you can hire the entire yacht! I highly recommend the sunset cruise as it really does allow you to view Tokyo by day and night, with the freedom to wander around the deck and snap away to your hearts content.

To access the Hinode Terminal Office, take the Yukikamome line to Hinode Station or with a 15 minute walk you can also access the terminal from the JR Hamamatsucho Station located on the JR Yamanote line.