Ovation - Toyko to LA - May 2025 Questions

[de13]

Hi,

 

I am considering booking the Ovation on May 15 from Tokyo to LA. I've done many TAs, mostly to/from Europe and was thinking of something different. I'll be traveling solo (done before) but wondering if this will be a very different cruise and mostly catered to the Asian market. Maybe not many other solos or the activities I like on long cruises such as pickleball. There is not a roll call for group. Does anyone have any idea, or have done a sailing like this? There are a lot of sea days, which is fine, but not sure will have warm, sunny weather for pool and like to play pickleball each day since off of work too. Also saw some other posts about other cruises saying food was mostly catered to Asian market, which I like, but not all the time.

Appreciate any insight!

Diana

[Biker19]

33 minutes ago, de13 said:

I'll be traveling solo (done before) but wondering if this will be a very different cruise and mostly catered to the Asian market.

This is a rare sailing and it's unknown what the demographics will be like but assume mostly US customers with "regular" US style experience. Should be plenty warm enough.

[ARandomTraveler]

Hmmm, good question. Since it's a transpacific coming back to the US, it might be more "typical" in the cruising experience (meaning, shows and activities and food will be similar to what you'd find on European and Caribbean cruises). 
 

I did an Asian cruise last summer and it was definitely geared more towards the Asian market, most notably to me was that the food in the windjammer was much more geared to the way Asian people eat. For example, not a lot of American breakfast items, there was a lot more food that I would consider lunch or dinner food put out for breakfast, and it was mostly Asian food (a lot of soups and noodles and meats for breakfast). Also, the only real sodas were Coca Cola and Fanta orange. And you won't find the same array of salad dressings (I can't recall if they even had ranch). However the fruit is amazing, always ripe and sweet (and you'll get some different, more exotic fruits like rambutan).
 

There weren't as many activities, but the activities they did have were done in English. There were a lot of arts and crafts (like jewelry making and napkin folding), and a TON of trivia (trivia was done to death on that sailing), but not a ton of shows. No comedian. No quest show or anything like that. Karaoke was all in Chinese (even the songs that were supposed to be American had Chinese subtitles 😂), and it was a HOOT to watch because unless you speak Chinese, you can't understand a word and won't recognize any of the songs (and perhaps I'm just immature but I found it hilarious).
 

Tons of room on the pool deck loungers, as Asian people don't like to tan. The people onboard were very friendly, respectful and much quieter than what you'll find on typical sailings. And there's no smoking onboard (but that may have been because we started in Singapore, where smoking isn't allowed). The staff is mostly Asian (instead of Caribbean or European). Signage on board was in English and Chinese, but coming from Japan, I'm not sure how things will be.
 

I definitely recommend doing an Asian cruise if you're looking for something different. It's familiar enough to get by without knowing an Asian language (or being able to read kanji (Japanese) characters), but different enough to feel like it's a distinctly different experience. 

Edited September 12 by ARandomTraveler

[de13]

Thank you very much, that is helpful. I have it held for few days to decide, confirm time off w work and look into Tokyo pre-cruise days.

[Carlos A.]

I'm also interested in this cruise. I'm only having trouble finding reasonable priced flights from LAX to Tokyo

[crzndeb]

I have done a few TP’s on a couple of cruise lines, and I’m a solo traveler. I have a 25 night from Singapore next month, and then the Anthem B2B from Singapore in April. Since the cruise is a TP and not just an Asian RT cruise, there will be a wide variety of nationalities (more US and Canada). They might have a few different dishes than normal, but it’s pretty much the same as any other cruise menu. 

Edited September 12 by crzndeb