Review of China, South Korea & Japan Cruise with Lots of Pics

I had always wanted to visit China and Japan; but couldn’t take off enough time to do it properly when I was working. Now that I am retired, last month we spent 4 days in Beijing before a 16 day cruise on the Oceania Nautica that visited China, South Korea and Japan. What an awesome vacation!

We stayed at the Park Plaza hotel in Beijing and could not have been happier. It was reasonably priced, centrally located and very comfortable; plus they provided great service. We booked all of our Beijing based tours with a wonderful service named Beijing Discovery Tours. When we were planning the vacation, I wavered on whether or not to spend the extra cost for a flight to Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors. I am so glad that we did. With it probably being the only time that we will ever be in China, it gave us a chance to see this amazing place.

We were also able to visit the main sites around Beijing including the Great Wall of China, Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. Just unbelievably beautiful places. The biggest issue with traveling to China unfortunately is the pollution. When we arrived it was at a hazardous level. Fortunately it improved and by the third day, the pollution level was actually good. If you are going to Beijing, be sure to use the website http://aqicn.org/city/beijing to see what the pollution level is at; since you will want to have pollution masks to protect you from the horrible stuff. This is what the airport looked like on our flight from Beijing to Xian.

Below are a few photos we took while in Beijing.

Terracotta Warriors

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Forbidden City

Temple of Heaven

Our cruise on the Oceania Nautica began at Tianjin; which is about 2.5 hours away from Beijing, so there is a real benefit in having a cruise start or end in Tianjin, so that you can spend some touring time in Beijing. With this being our third Oceania cruise, we have gotten used to the wonderful food and service. We have been spoiled by Oceania and are worried that we might not be as happy with other lines anymore.

The only disappointment with the cruise was that we arrived at the port for Seoul at 1:00 PM, which didn't leave much time for touring; and it was on Friday afternoon with terrible traffic. But we did get to the Gyeongbok Palace, which was most enjoyable.

Our requirement for a cruise to Northeast Asia was that we stop in Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo. It was difficult to find a cruise that did all three; but fortunately Oceania did. With the smaller size of the Nautica, we were able to dock in downtown Shanghai, right across from the beautiful Pudong area. It allowed us to be able to watch the Orient Pearl Tower light show each night.

We also visited the port of Dalian in China. We were so impressed with how modern that every city we visited was. Additionally there was so much construction going on everywhere. We had originally expected China to be more like North Vietnam that we visited a few years ago. It was nothing at all like it, thank goodness; and we thoroughly enjoyed all the sights we saw and the lovely people we met.

In addition to Tokyo, we also visited Okinawa, Kobe and Nagoya in Japan. Japan is such a lovely place; but the people are so sweet. They are the most respectful and polite people we have experienced. Plus everything is so clean. There was no trash on the highways and we saw almost no graffiti anywhere. We were able to have overnight visits in both Kobe and Tokyo. By being in Kobe overnight, we were able to visit Kyoto one day and Osaka the next. Both just amazing cities. Below are some pics from Kyoto.

Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine

Golden Pavillion

Below are some pics from Osaka.

Osaka Castle

Shinsekai area of Osaka

We had hoped that with the timing of the cruise that we would be in Tokyo during the high point of Cherry Blossom season. Unfortunately we were a week early; but it was still beautiful with all the buds; plus there were some early blooming trees.

It was a definitely a once in a lifetime vacation. Our full review with many photos is on our website www.thepreismans.com. I hope it encourages you to book a trip to China and/or Japan. You will be glad you did. I now understand better why Royal Caribbean is home porting their newest ships in Asia. It is such a dynamic area with so much to see and do.

Great review, thanks!

Wonderful, thank you. :)

Great review - We plan to do Hong Kong to Tokyo next year so reading your review has added to my excitement. We did Paris to Prague a few years back and I must have read your review of a similar trip over and over in preparing for that trip. Really great help. Thanks

DT

Great review - We plan to do Hong Kong to Tokyo next year so reading your review has added to my excitement. We did Paris to Prague a few years back and I must have read your review of a similar trip over and over in preparing for that trip. Really great help. Thanks

 

DT

I am glad the reviews helped in the past and I hope that this one and the SE Asia one that included Hong Kong will help in your planning. They are all amazing destinations.

I so love reading your reviews! We are sailing from Tokyo to Singapore next year, and chose Azamara because we love the idea of being able to sail up the rivers to Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City.

You've already given me an idea for the Shanghai tours:). I looked at the Shanghai Travel Professionals website and couldn't tell if the tour prices were per person or for a van. Do you recall?

I so love reading your reviews! We are sailing from Tokyo to Singapore next year, and chose Azamara because we love the idea of being able to sail up the rivers to Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City.

 

You've already given me an idea for the Shanghai tours:). I looked at the Shanghai Travel Professionals website and couldn't tell if the tour prices were per person or for a van. Do you recall?

I am so glad we have been able to help. The prices are per van. It does seem to be too cheap, doesn't it? It works out to about $50 pp per day with 6 people for great tours. I would book it quickly, since I am sure that others will be contacting them also after reading the review.

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Our full review with many photos is on our website www.thepreismans.com. I hope it encourages you to book a trip to China and/or Japan. You will be glad you did. I now understand better why Royal Caribbean is home porting their newest ships in Asia. It is such a dynamic area with so much to see and do. [/font]

Thank you so much for your review AND for the full review on your website! We are sailing on the Volendam next April, going to several of the ports you visited, and loved the stories and especially loved the pictures, WOW, just beautiful! We have so much to look forward to.

Thank you and best wishes!

Thank you so much for your review AND for the full review on your website! We are sailing on the Volendam next April, going to several of the ports you visited, and loved the stories and especially loved the pictures, WOW, just beautiful! We have so much to look forward to.

Thank you and best wishes!

You are most welcome. I hope you have a great time in Asia. It is quite an experience.

We are also going on the Hal Volendam next year and received your wonderful posting from Cheryl and Mike. It is so helpful in planning what to see in many of the same ports. Thanks so much for your posting. Yours, Ellen and Larry

We are also going on the Hal Volendam next year and received your wonderful posting from Cheryl and Mike. It is so helpful in planning what to see in many of the same ports. Thanks so much for your posting. Yours, Ellen and Larry

You are most welcome. Glad the review was helpful for you.