Princess, Celebrity or Holland America around Japan

[travellovers2]

We are starting to plan our first trip to Asia. We have decided to start with Japan.

 

We see that all three of these cruise lines do a cruise around Japan. We are undecided on which one to choose. We have cruised with all three, but our main concern is to get the best ports to experience as much as possible. We have 2 weeks and a couple of days for this trip.

 

What has been your experience and why would you recommend it? 

 

Thank you very much for your help! 😎

[travellovers2]

We forgot to mention that our trip will be in May 2025. Thank you.

Edited June 16 by travellovers2

[Donald]

Celebrity and Holland America are just seasonal visitors to Japan.

The Diamond Princess was designed and built to cruise Japan. They have far more local experience, better local connections, and more Japanese passengers onboard.

If you want the best port experience possible, Diamond Princess is your best bet.

[slewis7]

We cruised Japan during cherry blossom season this year.  It was a lovely cruise with wonderful ports but we wished we could have spent more time in many of the stops.  In retrospect, we regret not doing a self guided land trip instead since Japan seems well suited for that with its excellent public transportation and tourist friendly nature.  While I have no experience with the other lines’ Japan itineraries, I would suggest you consider not just where they go but also how long they stay in port.

[Hlitner]

We have cruised a lot on both Princess and HAL and would be fine with either line in Japan (cruised around Japan on 2023 on the Westerdam).  If choosing between those two lines we would let price and itinerary be the deciding factor...even though we prefer Princess.  Have not cruised on X for a few years, but they also have a decent product.

 

I would not limit one's search to only those 3 lines.  Several of the luxury lines (i.e. Seabourn, Silversea, etc) also operate in Japan/Asia and they offer the ability to cruise on a luxury small ship.  There are also so-called Premium Lines (Oceania and Azamara) that have cruises in the Japanese market.   Before saying, "I cannot possibly afford a luxury or Premium line" it is wise to price out the options.  Keep in mind that luxury lines have few extras and Silversea does offer options that include excursions (these can be quite expensive in Japan).  Arriving at a port on a small ship (fewer than 1000 passengers) is a much nicer experience than having to deal with 2000+ of "your friends."  And whenever a cruise enters or leaves Japan (such as when they go to/from Korea or Taiwan) each person on the ship must go through a face-to-face with Japanese officials.  This is a royal pain and can mean long delays (hours) on large vessels.

 

Hank

[bennybear]

I would choose the itinerary with the most ports.  HAL routinely has two week itineraries that circumnavigate Japan and take you to a number of less easily accessible ports.  But I would combine that with at least a week preferably two pre or  post.  We spent 10 days pre cruise and that allowed us to really enjoy Kyoto.  An overnight is just not enough for Kyoto, as well as visiting other worthwhile spots.   It also allowed us to work up to Tokyo,  a city of near 40 million.   Keep in mind avoiding golden week.     
 

Japan is much easier than one would expect and extremely rewarding.  Enjoy! 

Edited June 16 by bennybear

[hubofhockey]

Loved the 12-night itinerary on the Celebrity Millennium.  At the end of the day, find the best itinerary for you.  We had Shimizu, two days in Osaka, Hiroshima, Busan SK, Hakodate, and Aomori. To be honest, I wasn’t crazy about Aomori but loved other ports. Before the cruise, we stayed four nights in Tokyo and two Kyoto.  Since we did Kyoto pre-cruise, from Osaka, we did a day and night in Osaka and a day in Nara.  In Hiroshima, on a private tour we did both Miyajima and Hiroshima.

 

The Millennium is permanently in Asia, mostly in Japan, but offseason is does go to Bali, India, and Vietnam among other itineraries.

 

As far as waits in ports, the longest was 20-25 minutes and that was the port after re-arrival in Japan after Busan.  The ship arrives very early in Busan, around 7 am, and our toursbylocals tour didn’t begin until around 9. We had no problems with immigration there.  We love the M class ships on Celebrity because you will have sea days and the entertainment is very good and has the advantages of larger ships.  The one negative is the Oceanside can get busy and crowded an hour before you can get off the ship in ports.  Hiroshima was 1 pm and crowds were insane.  

 

Happy to answer more questions.  We got back three weeks ago and loved the cruise and also would recommend the Conrad Tokyo (amazing hotel in a convenient location with great views- even saw Mt Fuji) and also Hilton Garden Inn in Kyoto (convenient and can do self serve laundry before your cruise).  

[travellovers2]

We really appreciate your responses. We're going to look at all the options. We're debating whether to cruise or go on our own and stay a few days in different places like Osaka, Kyoto, Kanasawa and Tokyo. We can visit other towns from each base. That's why we're leaning towards doing this instead. We don't thing the cruise stops are going to cover all we want to see. We may wait until November 2025 to go for 17 days. 

 

Any recommendations are very much welcomed! 🙂

Thank you.

[Northern Aurora]

@travellovers2:  Just a few random thoughts.

 

In 2018 we did a transpacific from Vancouver to Yokohama followed by a cruise around Japan on the same ship (Celebrity Millennium).  We then spent five days in Tokyo.  We enjoyed the fall colors.

 

Last March we again boarded the Millennium for a B2B pair.  While both legs included overnights in Osaka and stops in Shimizu the itineraries were different.  On the 2024 cruises about half of the passengers were Japanese nationals.  Both legs had their own hospitality desks staffed by Japanese hosts.  I was rather surprised that we didn't have announcements in Japanese.  Brent Nixon was the naturalist onboard and had prepared presentations on such topics as the Japanese snow monkeys.  His wife Mary Amanda was also onboard and had prepared presentations on each port.  There were a number of Japanese foods in the Ocean View Cafe.  This year we spent time in Yokohama prior to boarding the ship.  Yokohama is a convenient city to use as a base of operations.  Japan is easy to navigate if you are willing to use their metro and train systems.  For instance, it was easy to visit the deer of Nara from Osaka by using both the Osaka metro system and a train.

 

 

[travellovers2]

Thank you for all your comments! 🙂

Edited June 20 by travellovers2

[Hlitner]

On 6/17/2024 at 4:32 PM, travellovers2 said:

We really appreciate your responses. We're going to look at all the options. We're debating whether to cruise or go on our own and stay a few days in different places like Osaka, Kyoto, Kanasawa and Tokyo. We can visit other towns from each base. That's why we're leaning towards doing this instead. We don't thing the cruise stops are going to cover all we want to see. We may wait until November 2025 to go for 17 days. 

 

Any recommendations are very much welcomed! 🙂

Thank you.

If you simply go on your own to do a land tour, there are lots of terrific options.   Within Japan, the train system is excellent (you can set your watch by their schedule) and can get you all over the country.  The JR system (the main railroad) has quite a few train pass options (somewhat like the Eurorail passes) which can really make train use a lot more affordable.  When looking at the JR system, the "Green Car" options are akin to first class.  Also keep in mind that the Green Class cars, are not only more spacious, but they have a few seats (at the end of the cars) that include some extra space for folks that have large pieces of luggage.  Those seats (with extra luggage storage) do need to be reserved a bit further in advance since their numbers are very limited.

 

For us, the trick to independent land travel is to plan multiple days in fewer places.  With the excellent (and fast) trains and a train pass, one can use one place as a base and take day trips (avoiding the hassles of changing hotels).  For example, last year we spent a week in Kyoto (one of our favorite cities in the country) and used our rail pass to take a day trip all the way to Hiroshima.  Although it is over 200 miles distant, it was an easy day train trip (the fast trains run over 100mph).  

 

Cruising around Japan is also fun (which is why we like the combination of a land trip and a cruise).  But DW and I would be happy just spending 1-2 months in Japan with a rail pass.  

 

Hank