Cruises in and around Japan

[ScubaCruiser54]

We are trying to determine which Cruise lines have cruises that are exclusively in and around Japan [a stop in south Korea is ok]. We do not want to go to China or Vietnam.

 

I have seen that Princess is now sailing in Japan and there are the odd one or two cruises on Celebrity or Holland America. Looking in 2017 or so.

 

Has anyone been on a cruise around Japan? Pros and Cons? Ship you were on? Any thoughts on Cruise lines that hail in Japan?

[4774Papa]

We are trying to determine which Cruise lines have cruises that are exclusively in and around Japan [a stop in south Korea is ok]. We do not want to go to China or Vietnam.

 

I have seen that Princess is now sailing in Japan and there are the odd one or two cruises on Celebrity or Holland America. Looking in 2017 or so.

 

Has anyone been on a cruise around Japan? Pros and Cons? Ship you were on? Any thoughts on Cruise lines that hail in Japan?

 

I wanted the same and reserached cruises on Celebrity, NCL, RCL, Princess and HAL.

 

NCL did not and probably still does not have a cruise to Japan.

I didn't find any on Royal or HAL.

 

Princess had a couple of cruises, but the cruises were in the Summer. You don't want to go to Japan in the Summer.

 

We booked a cruise Around Japan for March 2015 on the Celebrity Century, but Celebrity sold the ship and changed the itinerary, so we were changed to Singapore to Dubai instead.

 

Then we booked Celebrity Millennium for September 2015, Around Japan and that cruise as well as the following Around Japan cruise were chartered, so we had to changed to Millennium 25 October 2015 Japan and China (five ports in Japan as well as Shanghai, Taiwan ending in Hong Kong). It was a great cruise, one of our best.

 

Her is our review of that cruise.

 

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

[Floridiana]

Ponant cruises around Japan, small French ship, bilingual French and English. I suspect that other luxury lines do the same. Tauck uses Ponant. We cruised on Ponant followed by a land tour with this company: http://www.uniquejapantours.com/

Loved it!

[Tara Jane]

We did 8 nights around Japan on Diamond Princess last July. It was the 2nd leg of a B2B cruise. Having been to Japan several times I was pretty familiar as to what it would be like and was not at all disappointed. i would guess about 60% Japanese and 40% other nationalities. As the Japanese are such a polite courteous culture there was none of the usual pushing and crowding. There were quite a few children on board, all Japanese and perfectly behaved.

I had only sailed Dawn Princess previously usually prefer celebrity or RC so Diamond was a big step up from the dawn and I don't think I could do any of the smaller princess ships now.

The entertainment on board was for both english and japanese, and they had some unique Japanese activities like english classes for Japanese speakers and Japanese classes for english speakers, origami, flower arranging, we even were given the opportunity to dress up in a japanese yukata (summer kimino). The food was very good, we actually preferred to go to the buffet which we dont usually like. It was more like a food court where we were served rather than passengers serving ourselves with tongs. The dining room menu wasnt as varied as other ships.

The ports were wonderful, extremely well organised, we had a welcome and goodbye entertainment at each port. The Japanese people are so welcoming and helpful that even if you dont know one word you will manage to get around. We boarded in Yokohama, had stops in Nagasaki, Maizuru, Busan (sth Korea)Kanazawa, Aomori where we were during the summer festival then back to Yokohama. Most if not all ports had all day transport tickets for about $5AUD so forget about taking any ships transfers no need unless you want to go a long distance eg visit Kyoto from the Maizuru port.

Yes it was terribly hot and humid but would I do it all again absolutely in a heart beat. The 2016/2017 itineraries aren't as attractive to me as what we did. If you do decided to cruise around Japan please consider doing a bit of land travelling while you are there. It is very easy to get around and the bullet train makes it very easy to base yourself in a few places and travel out each day to difference towns from your base. Japan can been travelled on a budget if you do your homework. We stayed in mostly business hotels very close to the station, also an apartment up near mt fuji and also a temple in takayama. Rail passes are 7,14,21 days but need to be purchased prior to arriving in Japan. We mostly bought our food from 7-11 stores or similar which are everywhere at very reasonable supermarket prices. There are very few supermarkets as we know them in Japan. We never paid more than $100 AU a night for a double room and often a lot less. We were in Hiroshima on the anniversary of the bombing and my sister and friend were invited to participate in the memorial service. We will be back there in spring over the next couple of years as hubby hasnt seen Japan in spring, he never wanted to go to Japan but within 24 hours of us arriving he had fallen in love with the country and the people.

Hope this helps.

Edited March 6, 2016 by Tara Jane

[BruceMuzz]

There are many cruises available around Japan, but most are aimed exclusively at the Japanese market. Japanese cruisers generally have very different standards for quality and service than their Western counterparts.

 

You might want to investigate ASUKA II, formerly called Crystal Harmony.

[4774Papa]

Tara Jane's comments echo our love for Japan and its people.

 

Japanese people of polite, dress well (no grudge like you see in Europe and North America). The country is clean and tidy. Saw no graffiti at all. The food is great and it is not expensive to visit.

 

Our Celebrity cruise did not include a lot of Japanese people, mostly North Americans, British and Australians. Fall is a great time to visit Japan. Don't miss Kyoto and Nara (spend 2-3 days there).

[ROCruiser]

I also agree with Tara Jane's view on Diamond Princess. We did 19 days B2B last July and loved every minute of it (except the long lines for re-entry visas for a couple of ports.) You really have the 'Japanese experience' on the Diamond Princess. I was just telling my family that cruising around Japan was the most fun and interesting cruise that we have been on. I will do it over again in a heart beat! If interested, you may click on the link below my signature for a full report.

[kuldalai]

Princess have several ships in Japan and the season runs from March to sort of October . Only issue is like so many Asian cruises they are of relatively short duration because 1. Lot of Asians just go on a cruise to live in the Casino 24/7 2. Asians only get short holidays so the itineraries are short.

 

However you can patch together some back to back Princess Japanese itineraries to make a longer Japanese cruise experience .

 

Consider also Princess placement cruises Japan - Australia northbound around March, and southbound around September.

 

Also Princess do an annual Circle Pacific ex Sydney that you can book shorter sectors like San Francisco to Tokyo etc .

[socreader]

We are trying to determine which Cruise lines have cruises that are exclusively in and around Japan [a stop in south Korea is ok]. We do not want to go to China or Vietnam.

 

I have seen that Princess is now sailing in Japan and there are the odd one or two cruises on Celebrity or Holland America. Looking in 2017 or so.

 

Has anyone been on a cruise around Japan? Pros and Cons? Ship you were on? Any thoughts on Cruise lines that hail in Japan?

 

We are booked for the 30 day HAL cruise on the Volendam out of Yokohama to Vancouver for April 11, 2017. There are stops in Japan, Korea, and Alaska. We were booked on Celebrity but cancelled because the HAL cruise sees so much more of Japan.

Edited March 11, 2016 by socreader