Cruise docks in Osaka - Need a guide for 6-7 hours for Kyoto - March 8, 2023

We did Japan in 2015 and docked in in Kobe , just south of Osaka. We did a tour of Osaka that included Osaka Castle which I recommend.

As for visiting Kyoto, you absolutely need a guide We did Kyoto on a tour for 2.5 days from Tokyo prior to the cruise.
I strongly recommend not trying to see Kyoto for 6-7 hours. You won't see more than a few sites. The Golden temple is a must and takes a while, since it is always crowded.

In our 2.5 days we visited about 12-15 sites. We didn't do them all, there are many more.

Be sure to research what sites you want to see prior to going.

There are several issues, including the ship's docking hours, its next port (in case you fail to get back by sailing time), daylight number of hours, and budget. It's certainly not a mistake to hire a guide. But I want to note for the record that when I had a solo day off from work in Osaka, I had no trouble making an independent train trip to Kyoto, and walking around on my own. with an excellent printed tour book - this was Frommer's, in 1987. It's no longer the perfect book for this now, I think. Things were plenty crowded back then. (We were there again in 2018, but slept in Kyoto two nights. I would say it was more crowded than 1987, but not that much.)

When a cruise we were on stopped in Osaka, we made a nice day of Osaka. But I agree that Kyoto is, by far, the top priority, followed by Nara and then Inari.

I did take a taxi to the Golden Pavillion, because it's out of the way. But mostly, I walked. A lot.

The many sites are distributed all over the city and walking to them is not a reasonable option.