Which cruise line for Japan?

[Bluebury]

Hi, hope that someone can help.

 

Japan is on our bucket list but we think is too expensive to do a land tour, so thought that we would do a cruise. I know that we will not see as much but I am sure that we will get a taste of the country.

 

My question is - for those that have been before or have done the research, which cruise line would you suggest that would help us to see as much of Japan as possible and to have several stops at different ports?

 

I have started to look and found Celebrity and Princess so far but I am sure that there are many more to choose from.

 

Your opinions would be very welcome.

 

Thank you for your help and advice

 

S

[Floridiana]

We did it on a Ponant ship. The small ship made it possible to stay in ports the big ones can't. It was a very comfortable way to see a bit of Japan.

 

We followed up with a land tour which was MUCH more informative than the cruise. Our land tour was with Unique Japan Tours, much less expensive than many other tours we found, small group of 14 Irish, Canadians, Argentinians and us. I can highly recommend this company. We used trains and our own charter bus and stayed in everything from 5 * hotels to a traditional ryokan and a monastery. The youngest participants were in their early thirties, we were the oldest at retirement age.

[LHT28]

Some of the luxury lines go there

Silversea, Regent, Ponant, Seabourn

 

Others may only do 2-3 ports

Hal & Cunard

[Keith1010]

Some of the luxury lines go there

Silversea, Regent, Ponant, Seabourn

 

Others may only do 2-3 ports

Hal & Cunard

 

Crystal Cruises too. :)

 

Keith

[cruisemom42]

I question whether you'll get more than a port or two on the mass market lines (maybe Princess does a few more....), and the more deluxe lines may be out of your budget.

 

I challenge you to rethink whether Japan is too expensive to do as a land trip. I spent two weeks there with my DS (he really wanted to go) and we did it largely on our own, with maybe 3 day tours.

 

Transportation is easy to manage around the major cities. We got JR rail passes which really helped with the cost of getting around. There is wonderful advice on Tripadvisor (and endlessly helpful local experts) on how to plan it all.