Is this overnight ferry to Japan better than flying? I found out

People are running to board the ferry – running. And not because they’re late. The New Camellia isn’t due to depart for another three hours.

Still, as I walk down the long boarding hall towards the gangway multiple people push past, trying to hurry while also dragging heavy luggage, puffing as they lollop along.

It takes a while for the penny to drop, to figure out what the rush is about. If you’ve booked a second-class cabin on the New Camellia for this eight-hour overnight journey from Busan to Fukuoka, you don’t have an assigned spot on board.

So if you want first dibs on the sleeping spaces, if you want to be by the wall or the door and avoid lying in the middle of the floor squished between a whole lot of strangers, you have to hustle.

But let’s rewind.

There’s really no need to catch the overnight ferry from Busan, in South Korea, to Fukuoka, on Kyushu, in Japan. There are plenty of direct flights between the two cities; as many as 11 a day. Those flights start around $100, and take an hour.

But what if you like doing things differently? If you like mixing up your modes of transport, if you want to reduce your carbon footprint, if you want to save on a night’s accommodation and you have a spirit for adventure – then, the New Camellia starts to look attractive.

This isn’t a luxury vessel, so don’t be fooled into thinking you will get all the mod-cons. If you book a second-class ticket on the 522-passenger New Camellia, operated by the Camellia Line, you will be entitled to a space on the floor of a shared cabin, where you will be able to lay down a Japanese-style futon and try to sleep.

If you opt for first class, you will have a private, two-bunk room with a small writing table and a basin, though you will have to walk to the shared bathroom for a shower or to use the toilet. Shell out for deluxe class, meanwhile, and you get two single, Western-style beds and a private bathroom.

I’ve gone for first class, which means I will have to schlepp to the toilet in the middle of the night, but I won’t have to sprint down the boarding hall in the hopes of getting onto the ferry first.

There’s a convoluted process for getting on board here. The ferry doesn’t leave the dock in Busan until 10.30pm, but boarding begins at 7.30pm. Before that, you need to check in at the main counter, and also get through Korean border control, which most people like to do as early as possible so they can line their luggage up in a neat queue by the door, effectively bagging their spot at the front.

Once on board, we all have plenty of time to peruse the limited facilities on a ship that’s more about function than form. There’s a restaurant on board, though it only serves basic cafeteria-style meals, and it does that for just an hour at night – 8pm to 9pm – and an hour in the morning, from 6.30am.

There’s a room filled with Japanese vending machines selling drinks and hot meals, though if you don’t have Japanese yen in cash you won’t be able to use them. You will have to wait, like me, for the little kiosk to open at 8.30pm so you can grab a cold beer and some snacks and pay with a card.

Most of the passengers tonight are smart and have brought their own food on board. You see them crowded around little tables in the public areas sharing huge platters of seafood and grilled meats and rice. I have brought my own Korean fried chicken with kimchi and, with a cold can of Asahi, life doesn’t get much better.

Tuck yourself into bed, enjoy the gentle rocking of the Korea Strait and, before you know it, the ferry has arrived in Fukuoka, and all the passengers are already downstairs arranging their luggage into a queue so they can be the first through Japanese passport control.

They’ll run to get there, too. But that’s surely because there’s decent coffee on the other side.

THE DETAILS

FERRY
The New Camellia ferry travels nightly from Busan to Fukuoka (and the reverse during the day), with second-class spaces starting from ¥9000 ($82), and first-class rooms from ¥12,000 ($110) a person. See insidejapantours.com for packages that include this journey.

The writer travelled as a guest of InsideJapan.