Has anyone cruised Japan with Oceania?

[MomC]

I am looking to book a cruise to Japan in 2025.  I have narrowed my search to Oceania and Azamara.  Any feedback would be helpful.

 

Thanks,

Mom C

[mauibabes]

We did a segment of the 2018 World cruise and we hit many of the ports from Tokyo down, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, etc. and it was fantastic. We are booked on a Tokyo north islands and a TransPacific and Alaska in May 2025 on Riviera and are really looking forward to it. If you are looking at a Riviera cruise in 2025, there is NO COMPARISON with the small ships of Azamara. Your Oceania trip would be far superior but then we have never sailed on Azamara but the ships are the same R Class as Oceania and Riviera would be 1200+ pax and 4 wonderful Specialty restaurants. Based on seeing the A ships in various ports around the world when we were on Oceania cruises, they are not maintained nor updated like O ships. Couple that with Azamara having been sold and being operated by a much less experienced ownership team, I could not imagine opting for A over O but you are the ones making the decision and writing the check. 
JMHO after over 25 Oceania cruises.

Mauibabes

[1985rz1]

1 hour ago, mauibabes said:

We did a segment of the 2018 World cruise and we hit many of the ports from Tokyo down, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, etc. and it was fantastic. We are booked on a Tokyo north islands and a TransPacific and Alaska in May 2025 on Riviera and are really looking forward to it. If you are looking at a Riviera cruise in 2025, there is NO COMPARISON with the small ships of Azamara. Your Oceania trip would be far superior but then we have never sailed on Azamara but the ships are the same R Class as Oceania and Riviera would be 1200+ pax and 4 wonderful Specialty restaurants. Based on seeing the A ships in various ports around the world when we were on Oceania cruises, they are not maintained nor updated like O ships. Couple that with Azamara having been sold and being operated by a much less experienced ownership team, I could not imagine opting for A over O but you are the ones making the decision and writing the check. 
JMHO after over 25 Oceania cruises.

Mauibabes

Don't be so sure, especially if you haven't sailed Azamara recently.  We're Oceania regulars (not 25 as you), but took a recent Azamara cruise around New Zealand because of the itinerary.  We had low expectations, but in the end Azamara was more or less on par with Oceania's R-ships.  In some case O bested A, but in others, A bested O.   In all cases they weren't so different as your comment would suggest. We were pleasantly surprised and have scheduled another Azamara cruise to supplement our Oceania cruises...because of itinerary and our experience on the NZ cruise.

[Jay19]

2 hours ago, mauibabes said:

 Your Oceania trip would be far superior but then we have never sailed on Azamara but the ships are the same R Class as Oceania and Riviera would be 1200+ pax and 4 wonderful Specialty restaurants. Based on seeing the A ships in various ports around the world when we were on Oceania cruises, they are not maintained nor updated like O ships. Couple that with Azamara having been sold and being operated by a much less experienced ownership team, I could not imagine opting for A over O but you are the ones making the decision and writing the check. 

If you have never sailed on Azamara, why do you feel you are qualified to make this kind of judgement?    If someone were to write this about Oceania and then say "but then we have never sailed on Oceania" wouldn't you be annoyed and tell them they should try it before commenting? 

 

We have sailed on  Oceania and Azamara and enjoyed both.   The ships of both fleets are well maintained, crew are great and hard working on both and both lines have their strengths and weaknesses.  I realize you are a huge Oceania fan but perhaps in future you could avoid making sweeping generalizations without the knowledge to back them up.

 

 

[mauibabes]

I accept being chastised. I earned it. Mauibabes. 

[Hlitner]

I lived in Japan for two years (60's) and just recently returned on a 42 day HAL cruise.  We did spend a few week in Japan (pre-cruise) where we did our own thing (primarily Tokyo and Kyoto) and loved very moment (despite too much rain).

 

We understand that cruisers tend to be fans of one or two favorite lines.  However, we suggest that cruising in Japan should be based on the itinerary more then the cruise line.  Most cruises are pretty port intensive, and you want to longest port days and perhaps an overnight in a few ports (such as Osaka).  

 

Since we tend to do our own thing in most ports, the cruise ship excursions hold little interest.  On O, we do accept that Simplymore means we should book excursions to use up our credit.  So be it.  In Japan. on HAL where we went to many ports, we seldom took any cruise line excursion except to use up a shore excursion credit (somewhat like O).

 

One big problem we have with O is that they seem to feel that itineraries are simply "advisory" and its fine to make any changes they see fit, at any time, for no particular reason.  This would bother me if booking O in Japan (i.e. will they really go to that port, will they really stay those hours, etc)?

 

Hank

[Jay19]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

 

 

One big problem we have with O is that they seem to feel that itineraries are simply "advisory" and its fine to make any changes they see fit, at any time, for no particular reason.  This would bother me if booking O in Japan (i.e. will they really go to that port, will they really stay those hours, etc)?

 

Hank

Unfortunately this has also been our experience with O, 4 cruises and ports missed on all of them as well as time cut from the ports on the last one.   

[cruisemom42]

5 hours ago, 1985rz1 said:

Don't be so sure, especially if you haven't sailed Azamara recently.  We're Oceania regulars (not 25 as you), but took a recent Azamara cruise around New Zealand because of the itinerary.  We had low expectations, but in the end Azamara was more or less on par with Oceania's R-ships.  In some case O bested A, but in others, A bested O.   In all cases they weren't so different as your comment would suggest. We were pleasantly surprised and have scheduled another Azamara cruise to supplement our Oceania cruises...because of itinerary and our experience on the NZ cruise.

 

And that is exactly the way I felt, having been on Oceania twice and Azamara twice within the last 7 months. I agree Azamara wins in some areas, O wins in others. In future, all things being equal, I would probably choose Azamara over Oceania because of their commitment to fulfilling their itineraries as scheduled and their longer times in port.

 

[Hlitner]

50 minutes ago, Jay19 said:

Unfortunately this has also been our experience with O, 4 cruises and ports missed on all of them as well as time cut from the ports on the last one.   

I do not get it!  with O and its itinerary along with port time changes.  We have been cruising (extensively) for 50 years (17 cruise lines) and it is only recently with a few lines that we see this trend of changing itineraries on a whim.  It makes little sense.  For the first 45 years (with far more then 1000 cruise days all over the world) there were hardly any port changes unless there was a nasty weather related problem.  Now, lines like O simply suck in folks with their decent itineraries, and once they have the bookings, think it is fine to make all kinds of changes.  

 

What is even more interesting, to us is that fans of the lines that are always changing things (such as O) defend their favorite cruise line and insist it is normal (it is not).  Consider that NCL (part of the same folks who own O) seem to have had no problem selling an "Antarctica Cruise" and once folks made their final payments, simply doing away with all of the Antarctica part of the cruise.  Folks paid top dollar for their Antartica only to later learn they were not going to do that part of their itinerary.  Why?  Nobody seems to want to explain.  After all, why should the folks who booked those cruises be told anything?  Really?

 

I love to cruise and generally will defend the cruise industry.  But what is happening now is simply not defensible!  But fans of the affected cruise lines seem to be like the person who gets slapped, turns their head and gets slapped again, and keeps turning the other cheek and begging the cruise line to "hit me again."  Strange.

 

Hank

[Jay19]

As I said above, we genuinely have enjoyed the onboard experience of O and would gladly keep sailing with them if it were not for the issues of the missing ports and cut port times.   We also haven't been happy about the way customers were treated with the Red Sea cruise.   We sail for the itinerary first and foremost and for that reason we currently have 5 cruises booked on Azamara and none on Oceania.

[pinotlover]

Azamara does more overnights and late departures than Oceania and is less inclined to skip ports. For some of us this is important. 
 

I had a fairly lengthy conversation about Azamara with my TA who sells a lot on both lines. She says that even though Azamara certainly has its issues, the overall satisfaction level of her Az clients has been significantly higher than that of O customers for the past couple of years.  They both have their strengths and weaknesses. 
 

A simple how do you personally compare. Oceania still has the edge on food although the differences have narrowed. However, Azamara does a lot more late departures. Most of her clients don’t go to Japan to eat Americanized Italian, Americanized French, and Americanized American. They can get all of the above at home. The late departures mean they eat dinner ashore and get authentic local cuisine that’s not available at home. For those customers, the late departures more than compensate for any edge in ship food. Ship food is something they eat when local cuisine isn’t available. Cruisers versus Travelers, to each their own.

[Acrusa]

We boarded Naitica on March 11 2014 cruising from Beijing to Hong  Kong with 4 stops in Japan. We got to our cabin turned on the TV to breaking news EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN. 

O did a great job to re do ports had a great cruise.Never did make it back to Japan 

[pinotlover]

We are doing an O cruise to Japan starting on 4/1. Doing private land tours on both sides of the cruise. Will report back experiences late April.

[Vallesan]

42 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

We are doing an O cruise to Japan starting on 4/1. Doing private land tours on both sides of the cruise. Will report back experiences late April.

I think that’s probably the best idea. We haven’t cruised in Japan but did fly to Osaka and stayed in Kyoto for several days then took the bullet train to Tokyo and spent several days there. A few hours in port aren’t  enough to really ‘see’ the country.

Enjoy your trip!

[Cape Hernlopen]

Last summer we were on the Bangkok to Tokyo portion of the "around the world" cruise on Insignia.  Overall the cruise and the port visits were excellent. The staff, food and service were exemplary. We did a combination of Oceania tours, independent tours and out and about on our own tours  ( two very late 70's adventurers).  We enjoyed all of our experiences.  The Oceania tours were somewhat expensive but in some ports the only good option for our interests. Only in the port of Hiroshima did we suffer a shortened port visit and that was due to a mechanical problem the prior day that effected our departure by 3+ hours.  We spent four days in Tokyo at the completion of the tour as well four days in Bangkok prior to the cruise.  I highly recommend three or four days in Tokyo.

Joel Barry

[Tr1v1alCru1ser]

We did Beijing to Hong Kong a few years back, and found the excursions O provided were excellent.  

[PSahoy]

Great posts to read as I embark Insignia in March for Tokyo Hong Kong segment of ATW. If any tips please advise. Spending 4 days Tokyo as pre. This trip was canceled 4 times over the last as many years and ships so happy to be finally going!

[ozcruiseguy]

HI I see Pinotlover is on Riviera Japan April 1st,

We are also and wondered what to do re excursions as all good ones on board are booked out,

ANy ideas please🤞

[oceanpark]

I am also considering Japan with Oceania in 2025, so am very interested in any responses as I am not sure if a cruise is the best way to see it.  I have compared the ports with Azamara and like the Oceania itinerary slightly better, but would be very upset if they changed the ports after final payment.  We loved our first Azamara cruise last year and have never sailed with Oceania.  Price and itinerary will be the deciding factor.

[no fuss travel]

15 minutes ago, oceanpark said:

I am also considering Japan with Oceania in 2025, so am very interested in any responses as I am not sure if a cruise is the best way to see it.  I have compared the ports with Azamara and like the Oceania itinerary slightly better, but would be very upset if they changed the ports after final payment.  We loved our first Azamara cruise last year and have never sailed with Oceania.  Price and itinerary will be the deciding factor.

 

We did an Oceania cruise, to Japan which included several ports and then got off and did a land tour of Japan.  It was a great way to see more of Japan and yet still have the pleasure of sailing into many Japanese ports.

[urlaub]

On 2/25/2024 at 4:07 AM, Jay19 said:

Unfortunately this has also been our experience with O, 4 cruises and ports missed on all of them as well as time cut from the ports on the last one.   

We have the same experiences with Oceania and after 25 cruises with them we will not come back. The port times were mostly cutted. The food is boring. No new menus since years. On Azamara we have been about 8 times. They never cutted the port times. The food was very good. They often did an extra dinner at seadays on deck "under the stars" ( no extra costs). And they have more fun.

[Vallesan]

2 hours ago, urlaub said:

We have the same experiences with Oceania and after 25 cruises with them we will not come back. The port times were mostly cutted. The food is boring. No new menus since years. On Azamara we have been about 8 times. They never cutted the port times. The food was very good. They often did an extra dinner at seadays on deck "under the stars" ( no extra costs). And they have more fun.

Looks like Azamara is the best fit for you now. Enjoy!

[cruiseaholic78]

On 2/26/2024 at 3:40 AM, PSahoy said:. Spending 4 days Tokyo as pre. This trip was canceled 4 times over the last as many years and ships so happy to be finally going!

After seeing the shrines/Pagodas extensively in Tokyo here is something completely different but definitely worth a visit. If it is fully booked keep checking as tickets can become available.

https://www.teamlab.art/e/planets/

happy planning

 

[pinotlover]

I promised to comment on this post based on current situations. This will not be a day to day posting telling people what I ate every meal, or how the entertainment is, but general conversation on an Oceania Japanese cruise.

For our pre cruise Oceania tour package, we are staying in the Hilton Tokyo. Nice hotel, no complaints. We are here with a separate Regent cruise that seems to have our exact itinerary or nearly so. Concierge Desk for Oceania people 9-1, same desk same people for Regent people 2-6. All tours, airport pickups and deliveries, etc for here and all of Japan are ran by Asian Adventures on contract to Oceania. No Oceania people involved. 

 

The Hilton is located in the South East of Tokyo. We arranged our own air and conveniently arrived at Haneda Airport which is also in the SE of Tokyo. We arranged pickup by Blacklane. They met us as we left customs and entered the main hall. Forty minutes to the hotel. 

 

The following comments will be mostly ignored, but here goes. Between fellow Oceania guests and RSSC guests there has been a large cry over horrible flight arrangements and required connections made by O/RSSC ( all the same) Air. Some have been breathtaking bad. I just tell people that what they choose when they decided to leave it to the cruise line, it was all of their choosing. Additionally, even if on your own Air, don’t fly into Narita. It’s 2.5-3 hours from the hotel in good traffic. It will be over 3-4 hours from the cruise ship on departure.

 

Here is one example of an O Air patron . They had two connections in the US, then flown to Taiwan with a 4 hour layover, then to Narita. At Narita, they were met by the Asian Adventurers (AA)  rep and had to wait with the bus over an hour while other guests were collected. Then a 2.5 hour bus ride from Narita to the Hilton. Mother Oceania at her finest, but that is what the guests wanted obviously. Other similar horrid connection stories have likewise been told like Kansas City- DFW-DET-NRT.

 

Yesterday the AA rep gave us a welcoming talk. Things in Japan are still chaotic and in flux. They are having severe labor shortages. Many hotels are only at 50-60% capacity because that’s all the staff they have to manage the hotels. He commented on the number of ship tours on waitlist or recently cancelled ( I have one of each). Reason: they don’t have the staff to run them all. He said some of the tour excursions staff we’ll see multiple times because they’re transporting them from one port to another to have the help. This situation will not resolve itself anytime soon.

 

We leave for the ship tomorrow at around 11. Four buses of us, a bit over 220. RSSC has seven bus loads of folks.

 

I’ll try to answer questions or other wise will report back after Embarkment on the transport and the ship.

[osandomir]

5 hours ago, pinotlover said:

I promised to comment on this post based on current situations. This will not be a day to day posting telling people what I ate every meal, or how the entertainment is, but general conversation on an Oceania Japanese cruise.

For our pre cruise Oceania tour package, we are staying in the Hilton Tokyo. Nice hotel, no complaints. We are here with a separate Regent cruise that seems to have our exact itinerary or nearly so. Concierge Desk for Oceania people 9-1, same desk same people for Regent people 2-6. All tours, airport pickups and deliveries, etc for here and all of Japan are ran by Asian Adventures on contract to Oceania. No Oceania people involved. 

 

The Hilton is located in the South East of Tokyo. We arranged our own air and conveniently arrived at Haneda Airport which is also in the SE of Tokyo. We arranged pickup by Blacklane. They met us as we left customs and entered the main hall. Forty minutes to the hotel. 

 

The following comments will be mostly ignored, but here goes. Between fellow Oceania guests and RSSC guests there has been a large cry over horrible flight arrangements and required connections made by O/RSSC ( all the same) Air. Some have been breathtaking bad. I just tell people that what they choose when they decided to leave it to the cruise line, it was all of their choosing. Additionally, even if on your own Air, don’t fly into Narita. It’s 2.5-3 hours from the hotel in good traffic. It will be over 3-4 hours from the cruise ship on departure.

 

Here is one example of an O Air patron . They had two connections in the US, then flown to Taiwan with a 4 hour layover, then to Narita. At Narita, they were met by the Asian Adventurers (AA)  rep and had to wait with the bus over an hour while other guests were collected. Then a 2.5 hour bus ride from Narita to the Hilton. Mother Oceania at her finest, but that is what the guests wanted obviously. Other similar horrid connection stories have likewise been told like Kansas City- DFW-DET-NRT.

 

Yesterday the AA rep gave us a welcoming talk. Things in Japan are still chaotic and in flux. They are having severe labor shortages. Many hotels are only at 50-60% capacity because that’s all the staff they have to manage the hotels. He commented on the number of ship tours on waitlist or recently cancelled ( I have one of each). Reason: they don’t have the staff to run them all. He said some of the tour excursions staff we’ll see multiple times because they’re transporting them from one port to another to have the help. This situation will not resolve itself anytime soon.

 

We leave for the ship tomorrow at around 11. Four buses of us, a bit over 220. RSSC has seven bus loads of folks.

 

I’ll try to answer questions or other wise will report back after Embarkment on the transport and the ship.

Your observations are all spot on. We’re on the cruise leaving from Tokyo in February, 2025. I already have our one way air to Osaka booked. We are also planning to spend 10 days in Japan pre-cruise on our own taking the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo to board the ship. But unfortunately, a lot of people don’t feel comfortable to book anything themselves and leave it to the cruise line to make all the arrangements. And there’s also nothing wrong with that because everyone should do whatever suits them best.