Japanese cruise - land tour

I wonder if anyone could help with advice, we are wishing to cruise Japan next year possibly with Princess (but we are open to change) we would like to do a land tour before and maybe after as well, is there any land tour company that people would recommend or avoid!! And are there any places we should not miss? I know Princess offer a land tour but I feel it is very expensive and we would prefer to travel as a smaller group and not do too much shopping!! Thank you in anticipation of some help in planning our holiday. :)

We followed up our Ponant cruise (small French ship) with a tour arranged by Unique Japan tours. I highly recommend them. The owner Davina is Irish, speaks Japanese and is married to a Japanese who led the tour. Masaki was an excellent organizer.

In addition, we had local guides. Our group of 14 had Irish, Argentinian, Canadian and American participants. They consider this one of their large groups. The price is reasonable. We had accommodations ranging from local inns to 4 and 5 star hotels. They also do smaller groups and individualized itineraries. If we return to Japan, we will work with them again.

http://www.uniquejapantours.com/

We had looked at several other companies and are glad we picked this one. DH and I were the only one who needed picking up at the cruise port in Osaka. Darina arranged everything for us.

And are there any places we should not miss?

Lots of them! Kyoto, of course! Since we were there during cherry blossom time, many places were crowded with tourists from all over the world especially China. It was also the week of Buddah's birthday and several temple and shrine had festivals with lots of pilgrims. It's interesting but crowded. Luckily, our tour also took us to a few out of the way places. We made paper and tasty noodles in mountain villages.

I wish I had read about Japanese history before the trip. I felt dumb as if I had visited the UK without knowing who William the Conqueror, Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria were. :o

Thanks for that, I had better start doing some history homework!!!. Also taking into account various festival dates.

An enjoyable way to learn something of the history of Japan is by listening to these podcasts: https://historyofjapan.wordpress.com/ . The sound quality is atrocious but the content is excellent. He's up to episode 115 but to get an overview you just need the first 12 episodes, which start here: https://historyofjapan.wordpress.com/2013/03/

Ooh that sounds very interesting, thank you

I wonder if anyone could help with advice, we are wishing to cruise Japan next year possibly with Princess (but we are open to change) we would like to do a land tour before and maybe after as well, is there any land tour company that people would recommend or avoid!! And are there any places we should not miss? I know Princess offer a land tour but I feel it is very expensive and we would prefer to travel as a smaller group and not do too much shopping!! Thank you in anticipation of some help in planning our holiday. :)

Hello

3 years ago I went on a Japanese Gardens tour, based in Kyoto and Tokyo, and made a video of each day. If it of interest or helps in your planning the links are here

Thank you very much

Most ports are doable on your own in Japan with the very helpful volunteers at each port. Transportation easy with a map provided. We just returned from a 17-day Grand Japan cruise on Diamond Princess. Would love to go back any time!

Thanks, that is one of the cruises we are thinking of, what was the weather like when you were there? Also did you do a pre or post cruise tour?

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Thanks, that is one of the cruises we are thinking of, what was the weather like when you were there?

When we were there (cherry blossom time in April 2015), the weather was English. Raincoat and sweater. It was the coldest and wettest spring in 15 years. I haven't checked their summer weather right now, but a friend posted on Facebook that she has a lot of rain. It's still a great country with great people!

Thanks, that is one of the cruises we are thinking of, what was the weather like when you were there? Also did you do a pre or post cruise tour?

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

We cruised in July so the weather was hot, but being on the ship made it much better.

We had two-day pre cruise in Yokohama, two days post cruise in Tokyo. Then we joined a 6-day land tour from Tokyo to Mt. Fuji, Kyoto, and Osaka. Had a great time!

I started posting our trip on my blog. If you are interested, just click at the bottom of my signature on the 2015 Grand Japan cruise. This was one of the best cruises we had been on.

We were also on the diamond princess for the July 26th 8 night cruise around Japan. Loved the cruise and absolutely adore the Japanese people.

After the tour we did 10 nights of our own land touring using the bullet train and a JR railpass. We stayed in a variety of places including a traditional inn in takayama, an apartment in the mt fuji area and other hotels all near the stations. It is so easy to get around the people are extremely helpful and it is surprisingly cheap to eat and get around. Most cities had all day bus tickets, like the hop on hop off without the commentary for 400 or 500 yen.

Must see places to me at Hiroshima and Miyanjima, Nara, the golden pavillion in kyoto but I also love to get out of the cities into the country so hakone area for Mt Fuji and also Nikko are my must see places.

We are on Celebrity Millennium next month and have 8 days pre-cruise in Japan.

We are spending five days in Tokyo, then taking a tour to Kyoto.

Here is the link:

http://www.viator.com/tours/Tokyo/Kyoto-and-Nara-2-Day-or-3-Day-Rail-Tour-by-Bullet-Train-from-Tokyo/d334-2142TYO_QT2_QT3?aid=se1

Most ports are doable on your own in Japan with the very helpful volunteers at each port. Transportation easy with a map provided. We just returned from a 17-day Grand Japan cruise on Diamond Princess. Would love to go back any time!

We are planning the same cruise (I believe) in May/June 2016. Did you fly into Tokyo or Osaka, or someplace else? We will, hopefully, fly into Osaka and get from there to the cruise terminal in Kobe. Do you recall what terminal you left from and returned to? Any recommendations of tours? We like to do private vs. ship cruises. :confused:

Aloha, Judy

We are planning the same cruise (I believe) in May/June 2016. Did you fly into Tokyo or Osaka, or someplace else? We will, hopefully, fly into Osaka and get from there to the cruise terminal in Kobe. Do you recall what terminal you left from and returned to? Any recommendations of tours? We like to do private vs. ship cruises. :confused:

Aloha, Judy

Hi, Judy,

We embarked and debarked in Yokohama so we flew into Narita. We had a land tour after the cruise which ended in Osaka, so we flew from Osaka to Haneda then transferred back to LAX. For the cruise, we really did not take any tour except for the Russia port. It was really easy to DIY on this cruise. Have a nice trip!