Royal Princess Japan cruise info/opinions

[VersaliusPrimus]

Hi all!  

 

My family has been interested in sailing around Japan, but decided we would wait until an itinerary was offered on a Royal class ship after we spent 3 weeks on the Sapphire.  Looking through the 2021 Alaska itineraries posted on this board the other day, we found such an opportunity:

• Royal Princess
• Itinerary:  Japan & North Pacific Crossing 
• Leaving Saturday, Sept 4th, 2021 for 16 days
• Ports:  Anchorage (Whittier), Cross International Date Line, Kushiro, Aomori, Niigata, Kanazawa, Sakaiminato, Busan, Kagoshima, Tokyo (Yokohama)

 

This brings up a few questions:

1. How are the waves along this path in the north Pacific and around Japan?  Looking at windy.com shows 20+ ft waves southwest of Alaska but how would it look in September?  I'm looking for a website that shows historical wave data with an interface similar to windy.com.
2. Is this a "good" time of the year to be visiting Japan?  Regional typhoon season is said to be May through October, peaking in August/September.  I have read previous reports of the Diamond Princess missing a port or two from its schedule, but it follows a different path than the Royal will take.  
3. Is this itinerary missing a port that previous cruisers would consider a must-see?  
4. The sailing after this one has the Royal Princess ending in Singapore.  Does this mean the Royal and Regal are swapping places for winter 2021 i.e. Royal out of Sydney, Regal out of LA/SF?

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated!  

[snoozecrooze]

Hi! I can't answer your questions as specifically because I don't have first-hand knowledge but I do have some other more general answers to provide. 

 

1. Regarding your first question, check out the reviews for the Celebrity Millennium transpacific from Vancouver here: https://www.cruisecritic.com/celebrity-millennium-transpacific-cruises_cl9-sh167-de146/mra/

They most recently just operated it in a similar timeframe. The all-Transpacific thread of reviews is here: https://www.cruisecritic.com/vancouver-transpacific-cruises_dp27-de146/mra/

 

4. Yes, I believe this is for sure happening, at least for now. The Sydney port schedule has revealed that Royal Princess will cruise in Oceania (along with sister ship, Majestic Princess) in the winter (their summer) of 2021/2022. It's subjective to change, of course, but this seems likely now that Royal's repositioning is out there.

[nomadguy]

1 hour ago, VersaliusPrimus said:

Hi all!  

 

My family has been interested in sailing around Japan, but decided we would wait until an itinerary was offered on a Royal class ship after we spent 3 weeks on the Sapphire.  Looking through the 2021 Alaska itineraries posted on this board the other day, we found such an opportunity:

• Royal Princess
• Itinerary:  Japan & North Pacific Crossing 
• Leaving Saturday, Sept 4th, 2021 for 16 days
• Ports:  Anchorage (Whittier), Cross International Date Line, Kushiro, Aomori, Niigata, Kanazawa, Sakaiminato, Busan, Kagoshima, Tokyo (Yokohama)

 

This brings up a few questions:

1. How are the waves along this path in the north Pacific and around Japan?  Looking at windy.com shows 20+ ft waves southwest of Alaska but how would it look in September?  I'm looking for a website that shows historical wave data with an interface similar to windy.com.
2. Is this a "good" time of the year to be visiting Japan?  Regional typhoon season is said to be May through October, peaking in August/September.  I have read previous reports of the Diamond Princess missing a port or two from its schedule, but it follows a different path than the Royal will take.  
3. Is this itinerary missing a port that previous cruisers would consider a must-see?  
4. The sailing after this one has the Royal Princess ending in Singapore.  Does this mean the Royal and Regal are swapping places for winter 2021 i.e. Royal out of Sydney, Regal out of LA/SF?

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated!  

I sailed on the Diamond Princess in June 2019. (The iris and rhododendron were in bloom.) Our itinerary started and ended at Kobe. Ports included Kobe, Kochi, Matsuyama, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Pusan (S.Korea), sailing through the Kanmon straits, and back to Kobe. (Full disclosure - This was our second trip to Japan; the first was a land tour with Collette featuring the gardens of Japan so my opinion is biased based on our previous trip.)

 

It gets hot starting in June so ideally I would choose mid-April to May to visit and see the flowers in bloom, too. But typically that's not when the cruise ships sail there. I might also consider October/early November but would need to double check before committing during that time frame.

 

We did have a little bit of motion when sailing through the Kanmon straits (mid-aft Baja deck, cabin 617) and just slight motion one day early in the cruise (don't recall which) but otherwise it was pretty calm.

 

We enjoyed seeing the castles and the temples in Japan and did a ship excursion to a temple and then to the fish market and shopping area in S. Korea (b'c it was easier than trying to get there on our own). In Kagoshima we took the ship's excursion which went on a ferry over to the volcano and then saw a very nice Japanese style garden (but not the same quality as the National Gardens which we saw with Collette). Our guide that day was excellent. We felt the ship excursions were pretty expensive and noted that many had not booked excursions - assuming due to the expense but it could have been because the ship was 50% Japanese so they may have seen these places previously. (The S. Korean excursion was about 1/2 the price of the Japan port excursions by Princess.)

 

One day it poured down rain - perhaps it was Miyazaki. We never left the ship as we didn't have a tour scheduled so we were glad we hadn't committed that day. Our tour in Kochi was cancelled (I suspect not enough English-speaking guests registered for it) so we went to the Manga museum and castle on our own. (I remember carrying an umbrella that day so I assume there was at least a threat of rain.) Almost at every port there were locals sending us off in style - drumming, dancing, etc. Really spectacular that they had such great warm greetings for us. (I think this may have been the first time Princess was in many of these ports but I'm not 100% sure of that fact.)

 

My priorities for Japan would include include Tokyo and Kyoto - neither port stops. Closest port to Tokyo would be Yokohama and closest to Kyoto might be Kobe (but double check). 

 

In Tokyo, I would suggest seeing the National Gardens, temples, anime at Akihabara an IT nerd's dream, towers, Tsukiji fish market, castles, Asakusa - old town style as well as eating at a conveyor belt sushi place and looking for Kimonos and Yakatas. (We planned but missed Shibuya - to see that crazy scramble intersection seen in movies and Hachi the Dog - real story with movie starring Richard Gere.) We also took a day trip from Tokyo to Kamakura (see Buddha pix below) which was fascinating!

 

Kyoto is a must see! (Geishas, Bamboo grove, National Gardens, temples, castles, Golden Pavilion. We took the bullet train from Kobe after our cruise ended over to Kyoto where we stayed two nights. (Then we took the bullet train back to Tokyo for two more nights before returning stateside.)

 

I want to return. I loved visiting Japan. I'm sorry I cannot provide more specific information to answer your questions but this may give you a flavor for what we experienced. Feel free to DM me if there's anything else I might share.

 

[LawDog61]

14 hours ago, VersaliusPrimus said:

Hi all!  

 

My family has been interested in sailing around Japan, but decided we would wait until an itinerary was offered on a Royal class ship after we spent 3 weeks on the Sapphire.  Looking through the 2021 Alaska itineraries posted on this board the other day, we found such an opportunity:

• Royal Princess
• Itinerary:  Japan & North Pacific Crossing 
• Leaving Saturday, Sept 4th, 2021 for 16 days
• Ports:  Anchorage (Whittier), Cross International Date Line, Kushiro, Aomori, Niigata, Kanazawa, Sakaiminato, Busan, Kagoshima, Tokyo (Yokohama)

 

This brings up a few questions:

1. How are the waves along this path in the north Pacific and around Japan?  Looking at windy.com shows 20+ ft waves southwest of Alaska but how would it look in September?  I'm looking for a website that shows historical wave data with an interface similar to windy.com.
2. Is this a "good" time of the year to be visiting Japan?  Regional typhoon season is said to be May through October, peaking in August/September.  I have read previous reports of the Diamond Princess missing a port or two from its schedule, but it follows a different path than the Royal will take.  
3. Is this itinerary missing a port that previous cruisers would consider a must-see?  
4. The sailing after this one has the Royal Princess ending in Singapore.  Does this mean the Royal and Regal are swapping places for winter 2021 i.e. Royal out of Sydney, Regal out of LA/SF?

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated!  

Sounds great, but I don’t see it on the Princess web page.

[Crystabel]

I’d sure like to see where you found this cruise. Nothing listed on the Princess website. 

[VersaliusPrimus]

17 hours ago, snoozecrooze said:

Hi! I can't answer your questions as specifically because I don't have first-hand knowledge but I do have some other more general answers to provide. 

 

1. Regarding your first question, check out the reviews for the Celebrity Millennium transpacific from Vancouver here: https://www.cruisecritic.com/celebrity-millennium-transpacific-cruises_cl9-sh167-de146/mra/

They most recently just operated it in a similar timeframe. The all-Transpacific thread of reviews is here: https://www.cruisecritic.com/vancouver-transpacific-cruises_dp27-de146/mra/

 

4. Yes, I believe this is for sure happening, at least for now. The Sydney port schedule has revealed that Royal Princess will cruise in Oceania (along with sister ship, Majestic Princess) in the winter (their summer) of 2021/2022. It's subjective to change, of course, but this seems likely now that Royal's repositioning is out there.

Thanks for the links!  Going through them, I'm finding very few mentions of rough seas around Japan, just a few brief mentions of waves the first couple days coming from Vancouver.  So far only one mention of missing a port due to weather, resulting in them spending an extra day in Tokyo.  An extra day to take Tokyo excursions sounds like a good deal to us!  

 

Interesting, I hadn't looked up the Sydney port schedule but it would make sense with the visible Royal itineraries.  A transition from Singapore to Sydney would also be a cruise we'd be interested in, although the Tokyo to Singapore segment doesn't have any ports of interest to us so a B2B2B wouldn't be ideal (and that is a long time to be on one ship).  

 

15 hours ago, nomadguy said:

I sailed on the Diamond Princess in June 2019. (The iris and rhododendron were in bloom.) Our itinerary started and ended at Kobe. Ports included Kobe, Kochi, Matsuyama, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Pusan (S.Korea), sailing through the Kanmon straits, and back to Kobe. (Full disclosure - This was our second trip to Japan; the first was a land tour with Collette featuring the gardens of Japan so my opinion is biased based on our previous trip.)

 

It gets hot starting in June so ideally I would choose mid-April to May to visit and see the flowers in bloom, too. But typically that's not when the cruise ships sail there. I might also consider October/early November but would need to double check before committing during that time frame.

 

We did have a little bit of motion when sailing through the Kanmon straits (mid-aft Baja deck, cabin 617) and just slight motion one day early in the cruise (don't recall which) but otherwise it was pretty calm.

 

[snipped for post brevity]

 

I want to return. I loved visiting Japan. I'm sorry I cannot provide more specific information to answer your questions but this may give you a flavor for what we experienced. Feel free to DM me if there's anything else I might share.

 

 

A LOT of good info here, thank you very much!  We'll definitely try to get tours around Kyoto and Tokyo due to all the culture and history.  We're interested in the land tour Princess offers due to their focus on these two cities, but it appears it's only offered prior to the cruise, so this Royal sailing wouldn't be eligible.  We'll definitely look into all of these places and tours you mentioned though!  We may just have to do a post-cruise land tour of our own design like you did.  

 

As far as weather and rough seas go, it seems you didn't have much trouble while onboard but the weather ashore didn't always cooperate.  This sounds like what we've been told about scheduling a British Isles cruise:  Don't try to plan it around local weather, just book the cruise when it suits you, the weather will do what it wants.  😄

 

3 hours ago, LawDog61 said:

Sounds great, but I don’t see it on the Princess web page.

 

3 hours ago, Crystabel said:

I’d sure like to see where you found this cruise. Nothing listed on the Princess website. 

We found this itinerary in the Excel spreadsheet for Alaska cruises posted last week over in this thread:

 

[jondfk]

I can't comment on the cruise portion itself as I've never done this particular route.  I will comment on September weather in Japan having travelled there dozens of times.  September is an excellent time to visit Japan.  Summer, especially July & August, can be oppressively hot and humid, this coupled with the more formal dress and less robust air conditioning (both compared to American standards) can make things very unpleasant.  By the second half of September temperatures have moderated and humidity typically has fallen a bit - so I would suggest this is a great time to visit.

 

The other thing I'd say is that Japan is a very large country in north / south terms.  I've been in Tokyo in shirtsleeves and boarded a flight to Sapporo which landed in snow.  That sort of variation isn't typical, but it can happen especially as the seasons change - this cruise happens at exactly that time of year.  Still, if you dress for your departure from Alaska you'll be prepared for whatever you find on the other end and at the ports in between.  

 

[johnmik1]

21 hours ago, VersaliusPrimus said:

Hi all!  

 

My family has been interested in sailing around Japan, but decided we would wait until an itinerary was offered on a Royal class ship after we spent 3 weeks on the Sapphire.  Looking through the 2021 Alaska itineraries posted on this board the other day, we found such an opportunity:

• Royal Princess
• Itinerary:  Japan & North Pacific Crossing 
• Leaving Saturday, Sept 4th, 2021 for 16 days
• Ports:  Anchorage (Whittier), Cross International Date Line, Kushiro, Aomori, Niigata, Kanazawa, Sakaiminato, Busan, Kagoshima, Tokyo (Yokohama)

 

This brings up a few questions:

1. How are the waves along this path in the north Pacific and around Japan?  Looking at windy.com shows 20+ ft waves southwest of Alaska but how would it look in September?  I'm looking for a website that shows historical wave data with an interface similar to windy.com.
2. Is this a "good" time of the year to be visiting Japan?  Regional typhoon season is said to be May through October, peaking in August/September.  I have read previous reports of the Diamond Princess missing a port or two from its schedule, but it follows a different path than the Royal will take.  
3. Is this itinerary missing a port that previous cruisers would consider a must-see?  
4. The sailing after this one has the Royal Princess ending in Singapore.  Does this mean the Royal and Regal are swapping places for winter 2021 i.e. Royal out of Sydney, Regal out of LA/SF?

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated!  

I can't see any cruises that far in advance on the website.Am I missing something?

[VersaliusPrimus]

7 hours ago, johnmik1 said:

I can't see any cruises that far in advance on the website.Am I missing something?

 

See the bottom of post #6 in this thread for the link.  This particular cruise is listed in the spreadsheet for the Alaska itineraries instead of the Japan file, presumably because it starts in Alaska.