Choosing our next cruise.

[59impala]

Hello.

 

We are a married couple (64 & 71) from New Zealand and are looking to choose a new destination for our next adventure. We have exclusively sailed the Mediterranean for all of our six previous cruises and feel we have probably seen it all! We love the Mediterranean and we always find it hard to go past for a cruise holiday. In saying that, we think we really should look at other itineraries which we are doing, but we are having a hard time deciding where to go.

Can any of you people let us know if there is somewhere that you really feel is a must see or was a destination that has been a total surprise to you? We have been toying with the idea of a Scandinavian cruise or the Caribbean, or Japan.....We have to choose carefully as we live such a long way down under and the flight times is very long to most places.

Thanks in anticipation. 

 

[mac_tlc]

Our most memorable cruise was to Norway this past June. Highly recommended, especially before the fjord restrictions kick in full force. 
 

I would also recommend Alaska. Less populated places are wonderful to explore.

 

 

mac_tlc

[bigbenboys]

I would fly to Vancouver BC and do a 7 night Alaska cruise Vancouver to Vancouver. Then Vancouver to Hawaii 9 night cruise.

Sept 15 Solstice Alaska, Sept 22 Solstice to Hawaii.

[hcat]

We have not been to Japan   but a recent cruise review with lots of photos makes that a good candidate  for any short list.

 

it was clean, beautiful and cruiser friendly   I will look for the link..

[prmssk]

Japan is definitely on our list of cruises to do.

 

I also suggest looking at Alaska and maybe even combining it with a repositioning cruise between Hawaii and Vancouver (or all the way from Sydney, if you have the time).

[ShawninFL]

We live in Florida and quite a number of years ago, we decided, enough of the Caribbean.  We needed to venture out.  We've done quite a bit of the Mediterranean and then moved on from their.  For us, I would suggest the following:

 

1.  Japan and Korea

2.  Iceland

3.  Norwegian Fjords

4.  Baltic Sea

 

Japan absolutely blew us away.  We were apprehensive due to the language barrier, but we hired private guides in all the ports and had the most amazing time.  We are planning to return to Japan and feel completely confident in getting around on your own.  It's safe, fascinating and the food is amazing.  Our cruise had 3 stops in Korea and we loved them as well, but if I returned to Korea we use guides as we didn't feel as confident getting around.

 

We've been to Iceland twice.  Loved it both times.  Next time we go it will be flying in and renting a car.  It's so easy to get around, so much to do and explore.  And as you travel around, the landscape changes from lush to something lookin like a lunar setting.  There are wonderful waterfalls, thermal pool and hicking.

 

Norway is probably the most beautiful landscape we've ever seen.  Just absolutely beautiful.  Other than Oslo, many of the ports are these tiny towns where the cruise in and out of port and the touring is the highlight.  This cruise requires research and preplanning, but it is so worth it.  Go during the summer up to the North Cape and experience 24 hours of sunlight for a few days on end.  When we went we were lucky enough to have beautiful clear weather resulting is 5 straight days of the sun never setting.  

 

Finally the ports of the Baltic are great.  Stockholm has an amazing sail in and sail out traveling through the archipelago.  Tallin, Estonia was a unexpected gem for us.  We loved it.  Copenhagen is a great European city with so many things to choose from to explore.  

 

The main things is don't be scared to get our of your travel conform zone.  Explore new places and eat new foods.  Happy traveling!

[hcat]

3 minutes ago, hcat said:

We have not been to Japan   but a recent cruise review with lots of photos makes that a good candidate  for any short list.

 

it was clean, beautiful and cruiser friendly   I will look for the link..

here it is....lovely review!

 

[kiwichick62]

1 hour ago, 59impala said:

Hello.

 

We are a married couple (64 & 71) from New Zealand and are looking to choose a new destination for our next adventure. We have exclusively sailed the Mediterranean for all of our six previous cruises and feel we have probably seen it all! We love the Mediterranean and we always find it hard to go past for a cruise holiday. In saying that, we think we really should look at other itineraries which we are doing, but we are having a hard time deciding where to go.

Can any of you people let us know if there is somewhere that you really feel is a must see or was a destination that has been a total surprise to you? We have been toying with the idea of a Scandinavian cruise or the Caribbean, or Japan.....We have to choose carefully as we live such a long way down under and the flight times is very long to most places.

Thanks in anticipation. 

 

 

We have a 13 night Scandinavian cruise booked for May next year.  We chose very carefully bearing in mind the long flights involved too.  The ports look really interesting and there is an over night stay in Copenhagen.   Like you we have cruised the Med in the past.

 

After this cruise we will seriously look at Japan/South Korea for a trip.

 

You can always cruise close to home. We had a wonderful time on the Celebrity Solstice ship cruising from Auckland to Sydney then flying home - 14 night cruise.

 

Another cruise we would consider would be flying to Vancouver and cruising back to Auckland or a similar Pacific Ocean crossing.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, 59impala said:

Hello.

 

We are a married couple (64 & 71) from New Zealand and are looking to choose a new destination for our next adventure. We have exclusively sailed the Mediterranean for all of our six previous cruises and feel we have probably seen it all! We love the Mediterranean and we always find it hard to go past for a cruise holiday. In saying that, we think we really should look at other itineraries which we are doing, but we are having a hard time deciding where to go.

Can any of you people let us know if there is somewhere that you really feel is a must see or was a destination that has been a total surprise to you? We have been toying with the idea of a Scandinavian cruise or the Caribbean, or Japan.....We have to choose carefully as we live such a long way down under and the flight times is very long to most places.

Thanks in anticipation. 

 

The main question I have is how many days/weeks do you want your next cruise to be? We are retired and in our early 70s and like our cruises now to be around 3-5 weeks.
 

For example, during the next 12 months, we are booked to go on a 10-day Galápagos Islands expedition cruise, a 30-day B2B Antarctica/SA cruise, a 22-day B3B Alaska cruise, a 21-day Norway-Baltic B2B, and the 30-day Med B3B to see the pyramids and Ancient Greece and Rome.
 

During the last 12 months we went on a 38-day B2B from Athens through the Suez Canal to Dubai then down to Cape Town, a 20-day Caribbean B3B to include a visit to Disney World, a wonderful 33-day transpacific B3B from Sydney to Vancouver by way of NZ and Hawaii, a 17-day intense B2B around Japan/Korea, and a 22-day Canadian/New England/Caribbean B2B with a 5-day precruise that included a visit to the Canadian side of the Niagara Falls.

 

Did I mention were cruisaholics! 😂

[NutsAboutGolf]

Considering your distance, I'd recommend Asia.  The most magical place I've ever been to was Singapore yet you do have to be there at night; the street food has Michelin stars and its cheap.  There are 3 sailings on the Millie that have start/finish in Japan and Singapore, here's one:

 

[Miaminice]

5 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Considering your distance, I'd recommend Asia.  The most magical place I've ever been to was Singapore yet you do have to be there at night; the street food has Michelin stars and its cheap.  There are 3 sailings on the Millie that have start/finish in Japan and Singapore, here's one:

 

 

TBH, having done all the ports this is not an itinerary I´d recommend. 
Southeast Asia, yes... great cruise. Japan, beyond fabulous!!! But mixed up like this you won´t get to appreciate the freeling of one or the other.

We just did Japan (our review was linked above) and we have done Asia before. And we´ll do Asia again in December. But I wouldn´t do this mix.

 

[Miaminice]

Currently my number 1 recommendation would be Japan. We just returned from our third cruise to Japan and we are already contemplating a next trip - maybe even just on land. Japan is absolutely beautiful! However, choose local guides over ship tours to get the authentic experience.

[holidaylover10]

We have done the Baltics, it was fabulous, we were fortunate to have St Petersburg on the itinerary. I'm sure it is still a great cruise though as Brugge, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Tallin are all beautiful cities. Alaska was also an amazing experience.

[dani negreanu]

1. Norwegian Fjords -- Apex has an amazing itinerary, which goes all the way to the Artic Circle.

2. Iceland.

3. Hawaii, if Lahaina is back, with NCL Pride of America.

[chemmo]

11 hours ago, 59impala said:

Hello.

 

We are a married couple (64 & 71) from New Zealand and are looking to choose a new destination for our next adventure. We have exclusively sailed the Mediterranean for all of our six previous cruises and feel we have probably seen it all! We love the Mediterranean and we always find it hard to go past for a cruise holiday. In saying that, we think we really should look at other itineraries which we are doing, but we are having a hard time deciding where to go.

Can any of you people let us know if there is somewhere that you really feel is a must see or was a destination that has been a total surprise to you? We have been toying with the idea of a Scandinavian cruise or the Caribbean, or Japan.....We have to choose carefully as we live such a long way down under and the flight times is very long to most places.

Thanks in anticipation. 

 

A couple of ideas spring to mind…

 

Totally agree with the Asia options. Singapore and Hong Kong make great starting and finishing points for a South East Asia cruise. Great places in their own right for pre and post cruise stays…Happy memories of sailing into Halong Bay….magical…

 

Alternatively why not combine a cruise with a land stay? Look at your itineraries for Scandinavian cruise (which I think start and end in Southampton or Amsterdam) for Celebrity then add in either a UK tour or a European tour.
 

In the UK you could enjoy a few days in London then work out a pleasant slow route to Southampton visiting Windsor Castle, Winchester, Salisbury, Stonehenge and the New Forest (just a few possible options) before boarding in Southampton. In Europe, you could fly into Paris for a few days, perhaps then move on to Brussels for a few more days then move on to Amsterdam to pick up your cruise…Both of these options could be done as fly drive or by using trains/coaches. For the UK one I would suggest fly drive for the European one I would look at trains…

 

We have done several holidays with land stays first and it works really well. Touring is tiring so finishing an intensive tour by boarding a cruise ship is always a pleasure…

 

 

[Boatharbour]

We took a cruise from Japan in 2019 that also visited Taiwan, China and disembarked in Hong Kong. Absolutely fabulous trip. Living in Sydney the flight wasn’t too long and the difference in time zones was minimal. 

This year we took a Baltic cruise which was also very good, but if you’re travelling all that way I would combine it with something else. Either a b2b or land component as we did. The 24 trip home was tough. 
 

Out of the two, Japan wins hands down. We’ve travelled extensively and Japan was unlike anywhere we had ever been to before. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

1. Norwegian Fjords -- Apex has an amazing itinerary, which goes all the way to the Artic Circle.

2. Iceland.

3. Hawaii, if Lahaina is back, with NCL Pride of America.

 

NCL's primary Maui dock is in the north, and Lahaina was in the west, they only stopped visiting Maui for 3 or 4 sailings.  Coincidently, we've been on all three of your itineraries in the past five months and all were amazing yet I am taking into consideration their location of NZ.  One and Two are just too far and I just feel they would appreciate Japan more than Hawaii

[NutsAboutGolf]

6 hours ago, Miaminice said:

 

TBH, having done all the ports this is not an itinerary I´d recommend. 
Southeast Asia, yes... great cruise. Japan, beyond fabulous!!! But mixed up like this you won´t get to appreciate the freeling of one or the other.

We just did Japan (our review was linked above) and we have done Asia before. And we´ll do Asia again in December. But I wouldn´t do this mix.

 

 

It wasn't perfect but you do get to visit an array of Asia areas.  The OPs are probably retired where time off isn't a problem so perhaps doing a B2B with an Japan exclusive itinerary is the way to go

 

 

[dani negreanu]

15 hours ago, 59impala said:

Hello.

 

We are a married couple (64 & 71) from New Zealand and are looking to choose a new destination for our next adventure. We have exclusively sailed the Mediterranean for all of our six previous cruises and feel we have probably seen it all! 

 

53 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

.... I am taking into consideration their location of NZ.  

 

My recommendations were based on them being 6 (six) times already so far away from their beautiful homeland.

 

Another 1.5-2 hours flight hours between, let's say, Rome/Barcelona and London/Amsterdam wouldn't make a huge difference.

[Cruise a holic]

While a long flight, I would consider b/3/b's on the Apex or any new E class ships.  The experience of the ship is wonderful and the Islands are beautiful.  If you can do it, consider a b/2/b on two different E class ships.  Out of Ft. Lauderdale or Miami.  

[59impala]

Thanks to everyone for their recommendations. We have bit the bullet and have just booked Best of Japan for July this year on the Millennium. We hope we love it as much as Miaminice seems to! We loved their recent review.

 

We have not long returned home from a back to back on the Apex - Mediterranean and Israel / Egypt (and just got out before the region became a war zone 😢.

We were not keen on undertaking those long flights again anytime soon. We tend to make trips to Europe worthwhile by incorporating a land tour and staying away for 5 - 6 weeks. We are not ready to do this at the moment. 
We will look at Scandinavia and or Alaska in the future, all going well. 

The cruise and flights are now booked for Japan. Next is sorting out a hotel near the cruise port and figuring out how to get from Narita Airport to the chosen hotel. It looks a rather daunting place on Google Earth! 
 

 

[dani negreanu]

12 hours ago, 59impala said:

We have not long returned home from a back to back on the Apex - Mediterranean and Israel / Egypt (and just got out before the region became a war zone 😢.

 

So glad you managed to accomplish this "in the nick of time" 😉

 

And to @hcat  - thank you for your kind words. SO FAR, we're ok.

 

[chemmo]

12 hours ago, 59impala said:

Thanks to everyone for their recommendations. We have bit the bullet and have just booked Best of Japan for July this year on the Millennium. We hope we love it as much as Miaminice seems to! We loved their recent review.

 

We have not long returned home from a back to back on the Apex - Mediterranean and Israel / Egypt (and just got out before the region became a war zone 😢.

We were not keen on undertaking those long flights again anytime soon. We tend to make trips to Europe worthwhile by incorporating a land tour and staying away for 5 - 6 weeks. We are not ready to do this at the moment. 
We will look at Scandinavia and or Alaska in the future, all going well. 

The cruise and flights are now booked for Japan. Next is sorting out a hotel near the cruise port and figuring out how to get from Narita Airport to the chosen hotel. It looks a rather daunting place on Google Earth! 
 

 

So pleased you are sorted! Enjoy!

[DaKahuna]

13 hours ago, 59impala said:

Thanks to everyone for their recommendations. We have bit the bullet and have just booked Best of Japan for July this year on the Millennium. We hope we love it as much as Miaminice seems to! We loved their recent review.

 

We have not long returned home from a back to back on the Apex - Mediterranean and Israel / Egypt (and just got out before the region became a war zone 😢.

We were not keen on undertaking those long flights again anytime soon. We tend to make trips to Europe worthwhile by incorporating a land tour and staying away for 5 - 6 weeks. We are not ready to do this at the moment. 
We will look at Scandinavia and or Alaska in the future, all going well. 

The cruise and flights are now booked for Japan. Next is sorting out a hotel near the cruise port and figuring out how to get from Narita Airport to the chosen hotel. It looks a rather daunting place on Google Earth! 
 

 

 

 We wish you a great time on your Japan cruise.  We are booked on the 13-day Best of Japan for May 2nd of next year.  We really enjoyed @Miaminice wonderful cruise review and it made us very anxious for our upcoming cruise.  

 

 We are flying to / from Haneda airport and staying in Yokohama pre and post cruise (two different hotels).  There are a lot of YouTube video's on getting from Narita to Tokyo and most involved the express bus service or the train.  Once in Tokyo there are a number of options depending on where you are staying.  

 

 

[Miaminice]

13 hours ago, 59impala said:

Thanks to everyone for their recommendations. We have bit the bullet and have just booked Best of Japan for July this year on the Millennium. We hope we love it as much as Miaminice seems to! We loved their recent review.

 

We have not long returned home from a back to back on the Apex - Mediterranean and Israel / Egypt (and just got out before the region became a war zone 😢.

We were not keen on undertaking those long flights again anytime soon. We tend to make trips to Europe worthwhile by incorporating a land tour and staying away for 5 - 6 weeks. We are not ready to do this at the moment. 
We will look at Scandinavia and or Alaska in the future, all going well. 

The cruise and flights are now booked for Japan. Next is sorting out a hotel near the cruise port and figuring out how to get from Narita Airport to the chosen hotel. It looks a rather daunting place on Google Earth! 
 

 

 

Nice to hear that we could entice you to choose Japan. I am sure you won´t regred it.
 

We stayed at the Oakwood Suites Hotel in Yokohama and were positively surprised. Huge rooms, great view and friendly service - for a very reasonabe price. We paid €113 for the night and it was well worth it.