loeb

Okinawa is very tropical like Hawaii with some interesting sites related to World War II

Fukuoka is a more traditional area of Japan, but sites to see in Kushu would be Nagasaki, Beppu and Kamakura.

Seoul has a lot of historical sites, more than Busan.

Thank you for posting, this has so much useful information.

Have you tried Green Tomato, many years ago we used them and provided a Mini bus to pick up about 12 people at different hotels in Tokyo and take us to Osanbashi.

Might help if you provide more information.  Where does your cruise depart from?  Yokohama?  If so, you might want to stay in Yokohama rather than at Narita.  However, it also depends on when your flight arrives and are you able to navigate with your luggage on a train. Have you considered booking the precurse hotel and transfer with your cruise line, less hassle, but you will pay more than doing it on your own.

We have been on both ships on Japan cruises, both are older ships.  As Bruce mentioned, the Diamond Princess was built in Japan and focuses on the Japanese market, but I would base my decision on the itinerary.

The Celebrity cruise as mentioned has the better ports. If you go to Japan, Kyoto and Tokyo are two places you want to see and, you also get to visit both Hiroshima and Nagasaki (the Atomic Bomb sites).  Shimizu will also allow you to visit Hakone (a mountain area near Mt Fuji.).  To us, those are the major sites if your time is limited and you are on a cruise.

The time you arrive and how long your flight is may influence your decision on where to stay.  If you arrive early you might want to stay at one of the hotels mentioned previously.  However, if you have a long flight and arrive later in the afternoon or in the evening, then you might want to stay at the airport.  There are two new hotels connected to terminal 3 at HND.  We arrived at 5:00 pm after a 10-hour flight and stayed at one of the new hotels.  There are many restaurants to eat at so it was convenient to have dinner and get over jet lag.  The next morning we checked out and walked back to the arrival terminal to catch the cruise line transfer to the ship.  

If you arrive early in the morning or if you have two days in Yokohama, one of the hotels recommended would be a good choice.  On another cruise, we stayed at a hotel across the street from the baseball park and a couple of blocks away from Chinatown. It was also close to Osanbashi Pier.

Note to get from HND to Yokohama, I would suggest you take the limousine bus (Keikyu Bus) and then a taxi to your hotel in Yokohama. (note YCAT is Yokohama City Air Terminal)

Here is a video on the bus (it's an old video but still applies)

Sorry we will miss your presentations, may be on a future Princess cruise we will get to experience your presentation(s) first hand.

With the price increases in the Premium Package, I sure wish  Princess would price protect us when we book another cruise.  Said another, the 50% future cruise credit is not 50% when you consider the price increases.

Try WhatsInPort to get information about each port.

You might try Green Tomato, we used them in the past (not recently) to get from Tokyo to the cruise port in Yokohama.  They arranged a minibus to the port.

https://www.greentomato-j.com/eng/

see video on where to pick up the pocket wifi at Haneda

see what's in port

https://www.whatsinport.com/Ishigaki-Sakishima-Islands.htm

My recommendation is when you have a question about something, try youtube.  For example here are two videos on Ishigashi

another video

As a starting point when going to a new port / area I look at WhatsInPort, see the link to Singapore under currency

https://www.whatsinport.com/Singapore.htm

To do further research check Trip Advisor and also Youtube.

see the options from Haneda to Tokyo

We stayed at a hotel near Tokyo Station (train station) which is near the Ginza.  We used the Green Line (Yamanote line) to see the sites since it goes to most of the tourist attractions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamanote_Line

I should have mentioned that it is just as easy to catch the bus as taking a taxi at Haneda and a lot cheaper.  Follow the directions in the second video, even with luggage it was easy to find the bus.

See ATM's at Haneda, easy to use

Catch the Keikyu Bus to YCAT (Yokohama City Air Terminal) and then a taxi from YCAT to the Pier.

There are many tours from Tokyo (or Yokohama)  to Kyoto that include a stop at Mt. Hakone.  We took a bus from Tokyo to Hakone, stayed overnight, stopped at the 5th station (I'm pretty sure it was the 5th station) at Mt. Fuji (could not see anything because it was too cloudy), and then caught the bullet train to Kyoto. Stayed overnight in Kyoto (I would recommend two nights) and then took the train back to Tokyo (or in your case to Yokohama)

From Yokohama to Kyoto will take at least 2 hours each way so it might be better to stay overnight to see some of the major sites there.  Mt Hakone is another area to see.

Some of the best fall colors are in November.  We went several years ago and it was great, the weather was cool, but no rain.  We like the fall colors better than the cherry blossoms. These pictures were taken in Kyoto.

I assume you are referring to December 2023.  You might check the impact of El Nino, it may be warmer than the last couple of years during La Nina.  It could also mean more storms,  During El Nino it can result in what is referred to as the pineapple express,  warm rain or heavy snow coming from around Hawaii to the Coast of California.

Try Green Tomato, they have shared bus / van service.

I think Japan is the only place where tipping is not welcome.  All of the other Asian countries accept or assume you will tip.  Off topic, in most Asian countries you are also  expected to bargain (except for high end stores).  In Japan, most places will not bargain, the price listed or quoted is what you will pay.  However, I have gotten a "special" gift if I bought a lot, but the price stayed the same.

It has been a few years since we used Green Tomato, but they provided private car service,  they are also an approved vendor of Viator.  However,  it was less money to book directly with Green Tomato.  The following is the link

https://www.greentomato-j.com/eng/

We leave tomorrow to join you on Sunday aboard the Rotterdam.