Which cruise line for Japan

[subaru94]

We are looking at a cruise to Japan, there is Celebrity, Princess, Holland America and Norwegian.  We have been on Princess and Celebrity, however, not Norwegian (NCL),  anyone had experience with the Norwegian/Holland America line please?  Or are we better to stick with either Princess or Celebrity who we are familiar with.  Also if anyone has been to Japan, is Spring or Autumn better in their opinion?

[lyndarra]

I would be looking closely at the itinerary however, in my experience, HAL usually has more variety in ports of call than Celebrity. These two would be my preference over the others.

[Aus Traveller]

We have been to Japan with Princess a few times. In the Northern spring you have a chance of seeing cherry trees in bloom but this depends on the itinerary.

[icat2000]

I havent been to Japan yet but I have researched this a couple of times and of what I can see HAL, Princess as sometimes Curnard have the best itineraries.

[timtam2]

I did a Japan cruise on Norwegian Jewel a few years ago. It was my first Norwegian cruise and I was very happy with it. I've cruised with Princess, Celebrity and Royal and Norwegian is right up with them. I'd base the choice on itinerary.

[sewgood]

We were there in Spring and the weather was lovely.

In Tokyo I wore a t-shirt with a light jacket which I sometimes had to take off but about ten days earlier we were in Kagoshima on one of the southern islands and I mostly wore just the t-shirt all day. Most people did have light jackets on though but I'm from the cold part of Australia and anything over 18 degrees is warm to me.

There was a wonderful send off for the Ship (Diamond Princess) in Kagoshima from the local teenagers.

We saw lots of cherry blossoms which were wonderful but autumn trees are stunning too.

[lissie]

Just booked a Cunard relocation from Sydney to Tokyo  for Mar 24 and a southern islandz/Taiwan with 9 days to do our own thing in between. Want to spend mors than a few hours in places like Kyoto 

[LittleFish1976]

13 hours ago, lissie said:

Just booked a Cunard relocation from Sydney to Tokyo  for Mar 24 and a southern islandz/Taiwan with 9 days to do our own thing in between. Want to spend mors than a few hours in places like Kyoto 

 

Sounds like a good plan. I've been to Japan before and done a lot of land-based travel so thought putting a couple of the Japan castal cruises together could be a good way of seeing different aspects of Japan and getting effciently to distant parts of Japan for a look.

 

Did you manage to avoid covid on your recent long travels?

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

12 hours ago, lissie said:

Just booked a Cunard relocation from Sydney to Tokyo  for Mar 24 and a southern islandz/Taiwan with 9 days to do our own thing in between. Want to spend mors than a few hours in places like Kyoto 

Years ago we did a wonderful tour from Tokyo to Kyoto. It went to Mt Fuji, Hakone, Takayama, the Shirakiwago region, and Kanazawa. Some of the travel was by bus, and some was by train. I booked it through a Japanese travel agency, Sunrise Tours.

[MMDown Under]

15 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Years ago we did a wonderful tour from Tokyo to Kyoto. It went to Mt Fuji, Hakone, Takayama, the Shirakiwago region, and Kanazawa. Some of the travel was by bus, and some was by train. I booked it through a Japanese travel agency, Sunrise Tours.

We travelled around southern Japan by train, a wonderful experience.  My younger daughter did Japanese at school, which was a help.