Cruising to Japan in Early 2018

[Sailaway John]

Hi all fellow Cruise Critic members,

Who has visited Japan? And who has visited Japan in the Cherry Blossom time?

Both wife and I want to do that and we are asking what is the best time of the year to go? Can you help?

[Sportfisher]

It varies each year. In general is starts at the end of March and goes on well into April depending on which cities you are visiting. Last year we were in Japan 22 to about 29 March and were about two weeks early. We still were able to view the blossom but not in all ports and not in full flight.

There is a web site that you can lookup the expected flowering dates.

Hope this helps

 

 

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[casofilia]

NCL Jewel is going there for April 1st 2018 from Hong Kong if that helps.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We're doing the Diamond Princess repositioning cruise that departs Sydney 22nd March and arrives in Yokohama 13th April. There are two port stops in Japan - Osaka and Shimizu (near Mt Fuji) before reaching Yokohama. If the blossom season is similar to this year that cruise should arrive when the blossoms are out. We plan on staying a few days in Tokyo before flying home.

 

Another CC member, Bodogbodog, is currently in Tokyo prior to boarding a cruise to San Francisc. He has started a blog which includes some great shots of the blossoms. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2480745

 

It looks like it's still fairly cool over there, so it's a trade-off: blossoms versus warmer weather.

 

]We have been to Japan before and it's worth doing some land travel there. We did a wonderful tour, from Tokyo to Kyoto, which went to Mt Fuji, then up through the middle of the island from Nagoya to Kanazawa via Takayama. I'd also recommend going to Hiroshima and Miyajima - if possible stay overnight on Miyajima in a traditional ryokan.