Cruise round Japan

Hi,

My two boys (currently 8 and 14) love Japanese computer games and when asked where they wanted to go for a big family holiday they have both said Tokyo (no interest in doing Disney at all!). Considering me and my DH's preferences though, we want a cruise. So, the plan is cruise round Japan preferably starting or finishing with a couple of days in Tokyo (Yokohama - I understand is the closest port).

We're wanting to do this August 2018 so have plenty of time to plan but I'm not sure where to start. We have only cruised Royal Caribbean but they don't seem to have an itinerary suitable. Does anyone have any suggestions of cruise lines that do good itineraries in Japan? Preferably ones with bigger ships and plenty to do for teenage boys.

Thanks in anticipation.

Hi,

 

My two boys (currently 8 and 14) love Japanese computer games and when asked where they wanted to go for a big family holiday they have both said Tokyo (no interest in doing Disney at all!). Considering me and my DH's preferences though, we want a cruise. So, the plan is cruise round Japan preferably starting or finishing with a couple of days in Tokyo (Yokohama - I understand is the closest port).

 

We're wanting to do this August 2018 so have plenty of time to plan but I'm not sure where to start. We have only cruised Royal Caribbean but they don't seem to have an itinerary suitable. Does anyone have any suggestions of cruise lines that do good itineraries in Japan? Preferably ones with bigger ships and plenty to do for teenage boys.

 

Thanks in anticipation.

We did a wonderful cruise out of Yokohama last Fall and loved Japan.

We wanted to do Celebrity's Around Japan cruise last year.

First, we booked the Century's Around Japan cruise in Spring, but it was cancelled, since the ship was to be sold. The ship then had cruises in route to Rome. We changed our cruise to the Singapore to Dubai, which turned out to be a very nice cruise.

Still, we wanted to do Around Japan. Then we booked the Millenium's Around Japan in September. Guess what?! That cruise and the only other Around Japan cruise were cancelled due to charters. Our best choice for transfer to another cruise was to the Japan and China cruise in October, which ended in Hong Kong. That cruise turned out to be great. We visited four Japanese ports on the main islands, then Shanghai, Okinawa, Taiwan and ended in Hong Kong.

We did 8 days in Japan prior to the cruise going to Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara.

Here is my review.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=518503&et_cid=2531924&et_rid=17221689&et_referrer=Boards

We were frustrated with Celebrity last year due to the two cancellations, but actually it turned out well. We have been to China and enjoyed that country, but Japan was special due to the wonderful people. We love Japan.

The closest port to Tokyo is - Tokyo.

Harumi is the name of the terminal in Tokyo Bay.

The rainbow bridge that crosses Tokyo Bay is too low to allow mega-ships access to Harumi Terminal.

As a result, only the better, smaller cruise lines and ships call at Harumi Terminal.

The bigger, cheaper ships call at Osanbashi Terminal at Yokohama.

There is quite a variety of Japanese and International cruise ships calling at Yokohama.

On the positive side, you can take the subway from the Yokohama terminal to downtown Tokyo In as little as 29 minutes.

Another point, you want to do Japan in August. If you do, it will be hot. Best time to do Japan is September.

Plan an extensive pre-cruise, there is so much to see that you won't get just from the ports.

My review has hotel recommendations as well as tours and places to visit.

Princess and Holland America also have cruises around Japan. Some may start and return to Yokohama.

One place you will want to take the boys is to Akihabara, the electronics district in Tokyo. The following is one of the many videos on youtube about the area.

Princess and Holland America also have cruises around Japan. Some may start and return to Yokohama.

 

One place you will want to take the boys is to Akihabara, the electronics district in Tokyo. The following is one of the many videos on youtube about the area.

 

 

When I researched cruises around Japan or to/from Japan, I didn't find any from HAL. I did find some from Princess, but they were in the Summer. I didn't want to go to Japan in the Summer due to the heat.

Princess have many cruises around Japan with various itineraries. Diamond Princess is actually designated for the Japanese market. I have been told by the crew that it is very popular and well demanded in Japan. We did a b2b cruise last July on the Diamond Princess. Loved it and would go back in a heart beat.

For electronics, the BIC Stores in Japan would be the place for your sons. You can find them easily in Tokyo. We went to the one in Ginza and its a huge place full of stuff.

It really doesn't matter where you board the ship, Tokyo or Yokohama, transportation is very convenient in Japan.

If you are interested, click on the link under my signature for our trip report.

Here is one HAL cruise that begins and ends in Yokohama for April 2017. Note that it is already sold out. It doesn't look like they have a cruise in August so HAL may not work for you

http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetails.action?tourId=&webItineraryIdForAudit=O7WA14&fromSearchVacation=true&guestsCount=undefined&voyageCode=V723&

Thanks so much everyone for your comments and advice. There's lots of avenues for me to research and I will definitely read the trip reports/reviews. Unfortunately we are stuck with August due to school summer holidays, though I would love to go in the spring to see the cherry blossom but my eldest will be doing exams

We are also restricted to school holidays as my wife is a Teacher. We did a Princess Cruise in July 2014 on the Diamond Princess with 3 nights pre-cruise in Tokyo and 9 nights around Japan with a stop in Busan South Korea.

It remains one of our favourite cruises and we intend to do it again.

We have just done the same cruise as "goody1" this year (2016) in August we had a few days in Tokyo before boarding in Yokahama Diamond Princess, saw Kumano fireworks plus other Japanese ports and Busan in South Korea, the cruise and Tokyo were fantastic, sure the boys would love it. Yes it was VERY HOT but we coped and drunk plenty of water, wore a hat and stayed in the shade where possible. The only issue was immigration, fine going into South Korea but when we returned to Nagoya (Japan) we waited one and a half hours in line for immigration (if your Japanese no queue), even though we had been through immigration when we boarded the ship everyone HAD to go through it again after visiting South Korea. We had booked a ships tour which should have started at 10:30 it was nearer 12 noon before we got there, luckily being a ships tour they waited, if we had been going alone we could have been in trouble, something to consider when booking your cruise and tours (watch out for immigration they be slower than expected! MUCH slower).

We did a wonderful cruise out of Yokohama last Fall and loved Japan.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=518503&et_cid=2531924&et_rid=17221689&et_referrer=Boards

We love Japan.

We are planning a similar combo trip of land and sea and your review offered many excellent tips. I know detailed reviews are a lot of work so thanks for sharing:)

Princess have many cruises around Japan with various itineraries. Diamond Princess is actually designated for the Japanese market. I have been told by the crew that it is very popular and well demanded in Japan. We did a b2b cruise last July on the Diamond Princess. Loved it and would go back in a heart beat.

 

For electronics, the BIC Stores in Japan would be the place for your sons. You can find them easily in Tokyo. We went to the one in Ginza and its a huge place full of stuff.

 

It really doesn't matter where you board the ship, Tokyo or Yokohama, transportation is very convenient in Japan.

 

If you are interested, click on the link under my signature for our trip report.

Loved your blog posts! You were so lucky to spend that amount of time in Japan:) Thanks for sharing...lots of great info and pics to help my planning.

Loved your blog posts! You were so lucky to spend that amount of time in Japan:) Thanks for sharing...lots of great info and pics to help my planning.

Thank you so much for the kind words! I am very thankful that I am able to travel to the many places around the world. We just returned from a trip to Asian (land) last night, visiting Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Szechuan, China. A very different kind of trip and rather interesting. Will be posting about the trip soon. :)

The more active lines don't seem to offer a lot of cruises around Japan. Celebrity as noted above could be a good choice for your family and they do cruise a lot in Japan. If you prefer the RCL style there might be more choices by 2018. RCL, Carnival and NCL are all sending new builds to the Chinese market. Currently they mostly do short runs to one or two cities in Japan but with the added capacity maybe they will expand their offerings.

Another unorthodox option that might work is looking at the charters designed for the Japanese market. Onboard service would be conducted in Japanese but could add a ship and itinerary of interest. I would guess a Japanese travel agent could give you access to these. Compared to others in the region Japanese are very polite and pleasant to travel with and your boys would be the stars of the ship.