Cruise West in Japan this year ?

Has anyone been on the Cruise West Spirit of Oceanus this year ? If so, what are your thoughts about the ship, food and tours. We're about due to pay out final payment for our Sept. cruise and we're having second thoughts. It's a lot of money for 10 days for cafeteria food and blah surroundings, it that's the case.

Thanks for your input.

We have 7 of us going on the Oct.07 Japan trip & after seeing so much on this board about the food, I asked our TA about it. She had others on a spring trip who loved it but did have "concerns" about the food. She said she would be "chatting" with her sales rep from CW about it. I'll try & find out what happened & if CW made any acknowledgement that they have a problem. I'll keep you posted.

I hope someone else posts on this thread so we'll have more thoughts on the April trips.

This might be too late, but see the other CW post. I found the food good and plentiful, service was attentive. The strength of the cruise to Alaska was the expertise of the staff and opportunities to experience Alaska in the small zodiacs, etc. There is no entertainment, but many enrichment lectures. I would sail them again.

We did this cruise last Oct. No complaints about the ship, the cabins or the service. I only had one complaint about the food. Don't order the crab legs--they were not good. The food was very good--always prepared very well. Breakfast was easy to order--always a good variety. Really enjoyed lunch on the deck. It was served buffet style--a nice change from the dining room. The hamburgers were good. Our major complaint was about the expidention leaders---they had not logistical knowledge about the ports, i.e. location of ATMs, maps,banks. It was always leave it to the local guides. There was never an alternative given to the ship's tour. We did go on our own in Nagasaki and Takamatsu--they were the only ports where you could walk off the ship into town. Not to be missed is th Louis C. Tiffany museaum in Matsue. A remarkable collection of Tiffany. Also the island of Miyajima. A whole morning was spent there with plenty of down time. It is a very peaceful place. It is a wonderful cruise but some of the tours are very strenuous. Travel safely and enjoy. Pat

Thanks so much pacmom for your thoughts. I was becoming very concerned since I've read some negatives lately about Cruise West, especially the food (highly important to us!!!) Let's hope they'll get the message on the expedition leaders & get them trained a little better since they can make or break the cruise, especially one like this. If you think of anything else we should know, please let us know. Did you stay over in Tokyo? We've added 2 extra days on our own & I suppose will continue at the Imperial & just wander around. Any thoughts? We're arriving one day early to "get over" jet lag, also.

We're on the Sept. 26 cruise. Going in 3 days early to get over jet lag and hopefully take a trip over to the mountain. If we clear the wait list, we're using FFB miles, we'll be staying over for several days in Kyoto. Can't wait, I suspect we're going to be a bit early for the falls colors, you'll probably get lucky.

Jean

We were on this cruise last March and it was one of the best cruises we have done. We arrived 4 days early and stayed at the Imperial Hotel. Just loved Tokyo. We also did the Kyoto extension. We did not find anything that was not up to standard with the exception of tea and coffee during the day on the ship. We found the food to be good and we had some delightful evenings with interesting friendly passegers. Don't do this cruise if you want a rest. It was very busy, we saw and experienced heaps. Lots of early morning starts.