Circle Japan only

[NMTraveller]

Are there any cruises that only visit Japan?  I was searching for one ...

[cruisestitch]

Yes there are.  I am on one this coming spring. It circles Japan and also visits one port in S. Korea. But there may not be much availability of cabins left at this time.

 

and there may not be any that only the Japan without that South Korea stop

Edited May 4 by cruisestitch

[Reisdawg]

Almost all cruises try to visit two countries or more due to tax laws.   

[NMTraveller]

8 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Yes there are.  I am on one this coming spring. It circles Japan and also visits one port in S. Korea. But there may not be much availability of cabins left at this time.

 

and there may not be any that only the Japan without that South Korea stop

I was looking to avoid South Korea ...

[Northern Aurora]

We left the Millennium about 11 days ago after B2B Japan cruises.  Both stopped in S. Korea.

 

When we wereB2B (again on the Millennium) in 2018 both itineraries were severely impacted by two typhoons.  The second typhoon impacted our itinerary early into the cruise.  A number of passengers were upset that the S. Korea stop could not be eliminated.  While I don't remember the exact verbiage, but the explanation provided was that Japan has a law somewhat similar to the PVSA so the ship had to make a stop in S. Korea; I have never spent the time investigating as to the accuracy of that statement.  But apparently it is much easier to move crew members on and off the ship in S. Korea, so that is why a number of crew will be ending their contracts there and their replacements will be board in S. Korea.

[Pushka]

2 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

I was looking to avoid South Korea ...

My understanding is that cruise ships must visit a port out of Japan. I've read of one Celebrity cruise going to Vladivostok but that's onbviously no longer used. 

[mahasamatman]

The cruises we have booked around Japan stop either in S. Korea or Taiwan.

[zitsky]

When is typhoon season in Japan / S. Korea?  I have googled but I’m getting just a rough idea.  Is cruising in Apr/May better than Sep/Oct for weather?

[NMTraveller]

I was under the impression that May was one of the better months for Japanese weather ...

[DaKahuna]

10 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

I was looking to avoid South Korea ...

 

 You do not have to go ashore !

 As mentioned earlier, Japan law requires ships to visit a non-Japanese port.  This is pretty much like the law in the US that requires a distant port visit for ships sailing between US ports. 

 

 

 

[DaKahuna]

8 hours ago, zitsky said:

When is typhoon season in Japan / S. Korea?  I have googled but I’m getting just a rough idea.  Is cruising in Apr/May better than Sep/Oct for weather?

 Summer and early fall are typhoon season.  We are having beautiful weather on our cruise.  We had rain pre-cruise but it has been wonderful since then.  Just avoid Golden Week — the locations have all been so crowded.  Fortunately today is the last day and people will be headed back home.  

[Pushka]

16 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 Summer and early fall are typhoon season.  We are having beautiful weather on our cruise.  We had rain pre-cruise but it has been wonderful since then.  Just avoid Golden Week — the locations have all been so crowded.  Fortunately today is the last day and people will be headed back home.  

Next Year Golden Week falls on our third last day, in Aomori. It's the only day I've booked a ship tour as a result. Unfortunately it is also the first port after we have been to Busan so it also means an Immigration check. Then the next port is Hakodate then a sea day. Then Yokohama. 

[chengkp75]

3 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 You do not have to go ashore !

 As mentioned earlier, Japan law requires ships to visit a non-Japanese port.  This is pretty much like the law in the US that requires a distant port visit for ships sailing between US ports. 

 

 

 

Yes, Japan, like many nations, have cabotage laws similar to the US's PVSA that makes it mandatory that the foreign flag ship visit at least one foreign port.  In fact, 91 nations, accounting for 80% of the world's coastline, have maritime cabotage laws.

[Pushka]

51 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Yes, Japan, like many nations, have cabotage laws similar to the US's PVSA that makes it mandatory that the foreign flag ship visit at least one foreign port.  In fact, 91 nations, accounting for 80% of the world's coastline, have maritime cabotage laws.

But not Australia. 

[chengkp75]

33 minutes ago, Pushka said:

But not Australia. 

Australia does, but the both the Navigation Act of 1912 and the Coastal Trading Act of 2012 allow for the granting of licenses to foreign flag ships to operate in Australian waters.  I believe in 2016, the government moved to simplify the regulations regarding these licenses (used to be for 12 months, and specified number of voyages, and each voyage had to be approved in advance), but I don't know if the CTA was repealed or not.

 

Brazil will do this also, but again for limited time periods subject to renewal.

Edited May 5 by chengkp75

[NMTraveller]

3 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Australia does, but the both the Navigation Act of 1912 and the Coastal Trading Act of 2012 allow for the granting of licenses to foreign flag ships to operate in Australian waters.  I believe in 2016, the government moved to simplify the regulations regarding these licenses (used to be for 12 months, and specified number of voyages, and each voyage had to be approved in advance), but I don't know if the CTA was repealed or not.

 

Brazil will do this also, but again for limited time periods subject to renewal.

The last time I checked there were a few cruises that circled Australia.  But only a few.  I would like to circle Australia before I go back to New Zealand again.

[chengkp75]

Just now, NMTraveller said:

The last time I checked there were a few cruises that circled Australia.  But only a few.  I would like to circle Australia before I go back to New Zealand again.

No, but there are some cruises that just do Australian ports, that are homeported there, and these ships have to apply for licenses to operate there, and they have to hire a percentage of crew from Australia.

[NMTraveller]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

No, but there are some cruises that just do Australian ports, that are homeported there, and these ships have to apply for licenses to operate there, and they have to hire a percentage of crew from Australia.

Yep.  I just took a peek again.  The circle Australia cruise hit Indonesia for a couple of stops.

 

Celebrity does have an Australia only Sydney to Great Barrier reef cruise.  That would give me half of the circle.  I would then need to cruise up the left side.

[Pushka]

4 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Yep.  I just took a peek again.  The circle Australia cruise hit Indonesia for a couple of stops.

 

Celebrity does have an Australia only Sydney to Great Barrier reef cruise.  That would give me half of the circle.  I would then need to cruise up the left side.

There are many many cruises that don't sail the full circumnavigation but simply do capital city to capital city. I've been on several of those and they are very popular here. 
 

Cruises that circumnavigate then hit an overseas country also do so because then they qualify for being a duty free cruise for Australian duty free regulations. And on only Aussie cruises the currency onboard is AUD. Ships usually spend from October to April cruising Australian sectors and sometimes venturing over to NZ or Bali. 
 

Im on a Japan cruise next year and it seems the exit and rentry requirements that Japan has in place are time consuming. Rather frustrating given that it's a cabotage requirement for Japan. 

Edited May 5 by Pushka