Tomakomai → Oarai "Sunflower Sapporo" Suite Room Experience: With a Lamborghini

Travel by ferry in the only suite on the ship, which is highly sought after

A while ago I wrote about taking a ferry from Oarai to Tomakomai, Hokkaido with my Lamborghini Huracan EVO.

Click here for the article at that time:Take a ferry to Hokkaido! Transporting a Lamborghini on the Sunflower Furano from Oarai to Tomakomai

This time, I will write about my experience taking the ferry from Tomakomai to Oarai on the way back.

The highlight of the trip back was undoubtedly the fact that the cabin we stayed in on the ferry was a "suite room," of which there is only one on the ferry.

The price for a suite room on the Huracan EVO, including boarding fees, is approximately 140,000 yen.

In fact, the idea of taking this ferry trip in a suite room actually started for us about two years ago.

What does that mean? You may be wondering.

About two years before this ferry trip, a couple who own a Porsche and are acquaintances of mine used this ferry to travel round trip from Oarai to Hokkaido.

At the time, I had heard that the only suite room on this ship (the Sunflower) was apparently quite nice, so my husband and I had been talking about how we'd like to take a Hokkaido touring trip someday, loading our car onto the Sunflower's suite room.

However, we were unable to bring ourselves to plan to take a ferry just for the suite, and for the past two years our ferry trip has remained a dream, something we thought would happen "someday."

But! !!

So, here we are. Lamborghini sponsored"Lamborghini Esperienza GIRO Japan 2025" will be held in Hokkaido this year...And what's more, miraculously, the first meeting place was New Chitose Airport, located very close to Tomakomai.

From the moment we heard that, my husband and I thought, "Oh, maybe this is finally our chance to travel to Hokkaido in a suite on the Sunflower?!"

We started planning after receiving confirmation from Lamborghini Shiba, who has been helping us out, that it would be OK for us to transport the car to Hokkaido ourselves for this GIRO, but then we discovered that it would be difficult for my husband to board the ferry due to work commitments and other reasons.

So I decided to take the ferry trip alone on the way there, and use a suite room with my husband on the way back. I didn't really want to use a suite room on the way there by myself, and I thought it would be weird to enjoy it by myself first, so I stayed in a superior room on the way there.

It is extremely difficult to reserve a suite room on the Sunflower, and reservations must be made within the first minute.

However, even if you decide to stay in a suite room, it's not as easy as you might think on the Sunflower train that runs between Oarai and Tomakomai.

There is a real scramble to reserve suite rooms every day, and they are booked up within just one minute of opening time on the day reservations open.

Having heard about this, my husband recorded all of the information on the computer a few days before the reservations slots opened for the day of our trip, and practiced making reservations many times in preparation for the battle to get reservations (laughs).

On the day, my husband and I tried to make a reservation together. My husband was the main person, and I was the sub who made the reservation just in case.

The tension grows as we count down to the opening time. My hands gripping the mouse become stiff with tension.

Reservation slots open.

I concentrated on the screen in front of me and clicked. I moved forward. …But 20 seconds after the reservation started, the message "Suite rooms are fully booked" appeared. I was screwed!!

At this point, I still didn't know if my husband had won the battle for the suite, so I quickly made a tentative reservation for a room in the next grade below the suite...and just as I was about to do so, I got a LINE message from my husband saying, "I got it!!"

Wow, all that practice paid off, as my husband managed to get a suite reservation within 20 seconds of the reservation opening. It was amazing, the battle for a suite on the Sunflower (lol).

Looking at this, it's clear that the suite rooms fill up quickly every day. It's amazing how many people are aiming for this one room every day.

So, on the way back from Lamborghini GIRO Japan, I was able to secure a suite room on the Sunflower Sapporo, so I was looking forward to the return journey from this GIRO Japan as well.

On the day, after GIRO Japan ended and we said goodbye to everyone, we headed to the ferry terminal in Tomakomai and the first thing we did was go through the boarding procedures.

On the way there, there was a height check saying "The height of the car is too low to be loaded, so we will check the actual car." However, on the way back, since we already knew that the car could be loaded after the actual car check from "Oarai to Tomakomai", we were able to get the OK without any actual car check, which was great.

To the local supermarket and Seria again

After successfully completing the boarding procedures, we had some time before actually boarding, so we went to a supermarket near the ferry terminal to do some shopping.

We bought snacks and other things on the ferry (lol).

There was a store called TRIAL so I stopped by there, and a few days after returning from Hokkaido I saw the news that TRIAL had been acquired by Seiyu, and I was a little happy (?) as I thought, "Oh! I went to TRIAL!!"

By the way, Trial here was selling Yubari melons at a low price, so I bought some as souvenirs. Because I was in a car, I was able to transport the melons safely, which was great. They were delicious.

Since we still had a little more time, we decided to go to another Seria store that we had stopped by on the way there.

My child was looking for the battle figures sold at Seria, so the purpose of the trip was to go look for them (even if you call the store in advance, the Seria in the Tomakomai area (?) often says they can't tell you about stock availability, so you have no choice but to go and see for yourself...).

I followed Google's directions to the nearest Seria, but I had to go through a terrible road under construction. The Huracan EVO overcame the obstacles and headed to Seria.

There was another reason for heading to Seria.

That is "buying champagne glasses." Because, when I wanted to drink wine on the ferry, the only thing in the room was a teacup, so I drank wine from a teacup.

Since it was a sweet treat on the way back, I had prepared some good champagne, but I thought it would be strange to drink it from a teacup, or even a glass for water or a coffee cup, so I quickly decided to buy some at Seria.

In the end, there were no battle figures and I was disappointed to find out that "the manufacturer has run out of stock and it won't be available for a while." However, while I thought that the only champagne glasses they had available were disposable plastic ones, I was surprised to find that they had glass glasses for sale, so I got one of those.

Nowadays, you can buy things like glass wine glasses for just 100 yen. Amazing.

Join us on the ferry

As boarding time approaches, we return to the waiting area.

First, we had the room key scanned. Here is the suite room key. I'm so happy. I'm so happy that I won this in just 20 seconds.

By the way, when boarding the ferry, the basic rule is "only one person in a car, and if you have passengers, they must board the ferry separately on foot."

So, this time too, I was originally supposed to board the ship from the boarding gate on foot, and my husband would board the car by himself, but when we were checking in to board, the receptionist asked me, "Would you like to join me?" and gave me something called a "passenger permit."

In the case of the Lamborghini, as was the case on the way there, boarding took place at the very end of the trip, so it took time, so they were considerate enough to issue the ticket. I'm grateful.

So, I was able to stay with him when the car was loaded onto the boat, and we waited in the car together until we boarded.

As expected, we were called onto the ship at the very last moment (it really was the last car that day).

This time we will be parking on the 3rd floor, the same as the large trucks.

Just like on the way there, before I even had a chance to notice, the wheel chocks were put on. They were really quick. They worked quickly.

As you can see here, we left the front lifter raised while on the ferry because we were worried that it would hit the wheel chock if we lowered it.

Sunflower Sapporo Suite Room

After parking the car, we headed to the seventh floor, the top floor of the Sunflower, in search of a suite room.

This is the suite room.

The Sunflower Sapporo (Tomakomai to Oarai) has only one suite room, room 7A21. Exciting.

So let's go in.

Door open!!

Wow, this is completely different from the Japanese-style room we were in.

This is what it looks like when you enter.

The spacious living space is big enough that you can invite friends over for drinks.

As it is a suite, there is a bedroom at the back of the living room.

Each bed is spacious enough for everyone to sleep comfortably.

The Japanese-style room where we all slept together on the outbound journey felt like such an upgrade that it was hard to believe it was on the same ship (note that the Japanese-style room also had mattresses for two people).

When I entered the room, the TV in the living room was broadcasting a video about emergency response on the Sunflower; I had seen this video on the way there and it scared me.

The reason is that the life jackets worn in emergencies are not the ordinary ones you normally see (like those for leisure), but rather "one that actually helps you stay afloat with just your neck", and just seeing this life jacket made me fear the danger of falling into the middle of the ocean...

After watching the emergency response video, I turned off the TV, but even after turning it off, I could still hear people talking somewhere.

"Hmm? Who's talking?" I thought, but there was a TV in the bedroom too. If we wanted to, we could each watch different TVs.

I'll explore the room further.

This is the bathroom.

It was spacious and even had carbonated bath tablets for the bath.

The amenities were also upgraded from the superior room we stayed in.

The bathroom is also spacious and comfortable, so when staying in a suite, I found it more comfortable to relax there rather than going to the large public bath.

So, we didn't use the public bath on the return ferry. It was great to be able to do everything comfortably in our room.

In addition to a towel set and two pajamas, there were also slippers. Maybe there were slippers in other Western-style rooms too?

Red and white wine gift

And then there was this gift on the table.

I wondered what it was, and when I opened it, it was a red and white Furano wine. It was a half bottle, but I was happy.

The same wines are also sold in the ship's shops.

There was also a toy set for children to enjoy and for some reason two hairdryers. One of them was Refa (in a bag).

There were also several magazines reserved for this room, called "Suite Only," which were great for killing time.

Food-centric guide

There was also this thing there, but what is it for? A button to call the staff?

I couldn't find any explanation anywhere so I didn't understand. There was nothing urgent so I was afraid to press it just to try it out.

I was concerned about the glasses, but since there was wine in the gift section I thought there might be wine glasses, but unfortunately there were no wine glasses, only coffee cups, mugs and teacups.

It was a good idea to buy champagne glasses at Seria. I almost drank champagne out of a coffee cup on the way home (lol).

This is the champagne I brought.

Since I had brought it all the way from home, I stored it in the hotel's wine cellar during GIRO Japan (the room also had a wine cellar).

Cheers with Celia glasses.

I was originally thinking of buying plastic glasses from Seria, but I ended up buying glass glasses instead, so I felt bad about throwing them away after just one use, which was not eco-friendly, and I felt it would be a waste, so I ended up taking them home.

I wonder if I'll use Seria glasses when drinking champagne at home from now on? Good memories (lol).

The suite also had its own private deck.

Since this is the only place that can be accessed from this room, you can go outside even in the middle of the night without feeling the same fear that you felt on the deck on the way there, when you thought, "If someone drops me off, I'll die."

You can relax here and watch the sea or read a book.

It's a luxurious space. You'll have the ocean right in front of you all to yourself.

Sunflower SSQ Service

Oh yes, on the way back I was able to connect to "SSQ," an in-ship service that for some reason I wasn't able to connect to properly on the way there.

SSQ is apparently an abbreviation for Sunfloor Smart Quest.

When connected to this, you will not be able to connect to the Internet outside, but you will be able to watch movies and other content on the ship even when there is no Internet connection outside.

You can also find information about the ship here.

Of the new releases that could be viewed in the SSQ, three were being played repeatedly on the TV in the room, so it was possible to watch the new releases on TV as well (this is available not only in the suite rooms, but in all rooms with a TV).

When we boarded, Fall Guy and Minions were being shown.

There are many other movies registered, so if you watch SSQ you will be able to watch movies for a long time without getting bored.

By the way, there were categories such as "New Releases," "Variety," and "Masterpieces," so I checked out what was in each one, and when I looked at the "Variety" category, the first thing that came up was three episodes of "Super Moo World," and just seeing this screen made me laugh because it already had a variety show feel to it (lol).

It's also nice to immerse yourself in the world of Moo on the Sunflower ^^ You have 19 hours.

Buffet restaurant on board

Regarding meals on board, on the return flight we enjoyed the onboard buffet for both dinner and breakfast.

The suite room includes both dinner and breakfast buffets.

Furthermore, suite room guests are guaranteed a seat in the buffet restaurant, so there is no need to wait in line and you can be sure to sit at your reserved seat whenever you visit.

What a luxurious experience.

The buffet was simple but had a wide variety.

For example, dinner would look something like this:

The breakfast menu has a wide variety of items, from boiled dumplings to French fries.

Just before boarding the ship, we had been eating until we were about to burst at Lamborghini's GIRO Japan, and even after we boarded the ship, when we were told it was a buffet, we couldn't help but eat more because we're cheap, and we ended up practicing our own food fight mode (lol).

By the way, there were also a variety of condiments available for enjoying different flavors, so everyone was able to arrange their food however they liked.

Alcoholic drinks are sold separately, but soft drinks and coffee are included and self-service.

After eating, each person clears their table in the return area.

We had dinner, then the next morning we had a hearty breakfast at the buffet and went out for a morning walk.

It's a pleasant morning.

On the way back, the sea was very calm, so I was able to enjoy the trip comfortably without getting seasick or taking any motion sickness medication.

Now then.

I had been eating out since GIRO Japan, and I had eaten buffets for dinner and breakfast on the ferry, so I reflected on that and thought, "I'll try to eat less for a while from now on," but...unbelievably, a staff member came to my table at breakfast.

"I will serve you lunch later. We have udon noodles and katsudon."

I was surprised and thought, "Oh, they even offer lunch service?!" but I thought, "Oh, I have a choice between udon and katsudon. In that case, udon is probably lighter." But the staff member continued,

"Would you like it delivered to your room? Are you here (at the restaurant)?"

The question was:

Eh? Wasn't the question "Would you like udon or katsudon?"

With these doubts in mind, I said, "In that case, I'll eat in my room, please," but at around 12 o'clock, I was shocked to hear the doorbell and see a staff member come downstairs to my room bringing my lunch.

No, um, the lunch was a set of udon and katsudon (pork cutlet rice bowl) (lol)?!

It was an incredible volume, as it came with both udon and katsudon.

I had just eaten a hearty meal at the breakfast buffet, and then just lazed around and took a nap, and yet here I was again, eating udon and katsudon!!!

The food fight training continued even after we got on the ferry...

Even though I was feeling happy and troubled about being full, I kept munching away while looking at the beautiful ocean outside the window.

Ahh, my appetite is scary. After my experience at GIRO Japan, food just keeps going into my stomach.

It was a wonderful and comfortable stay, with plenty of food and the best experience in the San Francisco suite room. As the saying goes, we ate and slept so much that the 19-hour voyage ended in a flash.

Hamburger Boys: Sunflower

As we approached docking and disembarking time, the Hamburger Boys' "Sanflower" was played repeatedly on board the ship, and my head was now filled with the melody of the song.

I really want everyone to listen to this. If possible, listen to it about 10 times.

I can't get the lyrics to "Let's go cruising, how far shall we go? The shining sunflowers" out of my head (laughs).

In this music video you can see inside the Sunflower van, and the Hamburger Boys are so happy and positive, so be sure to check it out!

The ship arrives in Oarai, so we pack our luggage and head to the car.

When I got in the car and looked at the navigation system, it was obvious that the Huracan EVO was still on the sea.

After docking, we watched from our car as the large trucks that had been parked on the same floor disembarked first.

What surprised me was this.

It seemed that only the bed of the truck was loaded, and the front of the car connected to the bed came whizzing by and connected with the parked bed with a clang, and then quickly drove off.

The way this was connected to the cargo bed was truly a professional move, as it looked like they were backing up at incredible speed, and both were then connected to the cargo bed with a loud bang in one go.

As if nothing had happened, the passengers were disembarked, this time together with the cargo.

It was so amazing that I just kept watching it. So professional! So cool.

Well, maybe because most of the large trucks had disembarked, our Huracan EVO was also asked to disembark, so we set off.

Thank you, Sunflower. We were able to return to Oarai safely.

As soon as we disembarked, the first thing we could see was Mentaiko-kun from Mentaiko Park, which we had also stopped off at on the way there (lol).

When I see this, I realize that I've returned to Oarai.

In this way, we were able to achieve something we had wanted to do for the past two years: travel to Hokkaido in a suite on the Sunflower.

On the way there, it was a great experience to load the Lamborghini onto the ferry and transport it all the way to Hokkaido by myself, and on the way back, I won the battle to stay in a suite room, which made for a truly wonderful experience on the Sunflower.

If you are thinking of taking a Sunflower to Hokkaido for a tour in the future, please practice making reservations before joining the battle for a suite room.

The ferry journey in the suite was very comfortable and very nice, quite different from the other room experiences.

After returning home, I washed the Lamborghini that had returned from a ferry trip with GIRO Japan.

We parked the shiny new Huracan EVO in the parking lot, and our ferry trip on our Sanfuraha and the Lamborghini Esperienza GIRO Japan 2025 in Hokkaido came to an end.

All in all it was a fun experience.

We are very grateful to the Porsche owner couple who told us about the suite room on the Sunflower.

Thanks to your advice, I was able to enjoy the ferry trip during this GIRO Japan trip. Thank you very much!

If you ever have the opportunity, I encourage you to take your car to Hokkaido and go on a tour of the wonderful land of Hokkaido (however, the roads in Hokkaido are quite bumpy due to the snow and the driving is not very comfortable...but the scenery is magnificent and amazing, and you don't have to drive at high speed (lol), so I'm sure it will be a wonderful tour).

It was a fun trip to Hokkaido!!

Related article:
◆Take a ferry to Hokkaido! Transporting a Lamborghini on the Sunflower Furano from Oarai to Tomakomai

Lamborghini GIRO Japan 2025 (Hokkaido) Record
Bonus:Take a ferry to Hokkaido! Transporting a Lamborghini on the Sunflower Furano from Oarai to Tomakomai

①Lamborghini GIRO Japan 2025 Record 1 (Day 1-1)
②Lamborghini GIRO Japan 2025 Record 2 (Day 1-2)
③Lamborghini GIRO Japan 2025 Record 3 (Day 2-1)
④Lamborghini GIRO Japan 2025 Record 4 (Day 2-2)
⑤Lamborghini GIRO Japan 2025 Record 5 (Day 3)

Bonus:Tomakomai → Oarai "Sunflower Sapporo" Suite Room Experience: With a Lamborghini

And more bonus points:How to Disable the Alarm System in a Porsche 911 or Lamborghini

Lamborghini GIRO Japan 2024 (Okinawa) Record
①Lamborghini GIRO Japan 2024 Record 1 (Day 1-1)
②Lamborghini GIRO Japan 2024 Record 2 (Day 1-2)
③Lamborghini GIRO Japan 2024 Record 3 (Day 2-1)
④Lamborghini GIRO Japan 2024 Record 4 (Day 2-2)
⑤Lamborghini GIRO Japan 2024 Record 5 (Day 3)