• 飛鳥(Asuka) ⇒Japanese site
Japanese Wikipedia has separate articles for the historical place (in Nara) and all the other references.
Thanks to cruise fan Manako's pointer to the official Japanese site, I now know that this was the ship's last port of call. As the photo should suggest, things didn't look pretty festive—no brass bands, for example—but the official site includes a press release telling us the sad news.
This shot was around 1 pm. By the time (5 pm) we got up the Landmark Tower, the ship had sailed off into retirement.
garyhymes added this photo to his favorites. (88 months ago)
Manako 88 months ago | reply
I'm always looking out for my next cruise option, so I checked and found that this Asuka had just retired on Feb. 11 after 971 voyages that included ports of call in a total of 73 countries. Now Asuka II is ready to set sail on her maiden voyage. An around-the-world cruise costs as much 18,000,000 yen! Guess I'll have to wait for another opportunity....
www.asukacruise.co.jp/
Nemo's great uncle 88 months ago | reply
@manako: Thanks for your young eyes. It was late, and it's been 10.5 years since my last laser corrections.
garyhymes 88 months ago | reply
Very nice! Thank you for sharing the cruise information.
-Gary
Nemo's great uncle 88 months ago | reply
@garyhymes: Don't thank me. Thank Manako. If I'd known, I would have tried to get on for a tour.