Has anyone done the Southern Japan/Taiwan itinerary on Diamond Princess?

[jspitz1]

Hi, I have put a deposit on this itinerary for 2026 but have not seen any posts/reviews of anyone doing this itinerary?  Just wondered if it was good to do (even though there are 4 sea days) and if my kids (age 12 and 14) will have enough to do on this ship, after doing ships like RCCL Ovation of the Seas and Wonder of the Seas?  Was it easy to get off the ship at the ports, if you were doing your own shore itinerary?  Thanks for any info you can provide.  

[Bianca0917]

Hello! I just started looking at similar itineraries for summer 2026 to do with my husband and 2 boys! They will be 10 and 17. I am looking for feedback and reviews as well. 

[ebw24]

I did an 8-day southern Japan/Taiwan cruise out of Tokyo, but that was back in 2019, so quite some time ago. What places are you stopping at? We stopped at Okinawa, Miyakojima, and Taipei. From what I recall the first two stops were easy to get on/off the ship and we walked around everywhere at the first two places. It was July, so very hot, humid, and muggy, so have plenty of water on hand for that. We did not do any excursions in the first two places, just walked around and did our own thing. For Taipei, you are really in the port of Keelung and Taipei is actually a 45-50 min bus ride if I recall correctly. We did pay for princess to bus us to downtown Taipei and then from there explored on our own and used the local bus transportation to get around until it was time to meet the Princess bus which took us back to the ship. I am not much help with activities for children as it was just My husband and I on the cruise. We had an amazing time and would love to go back to Japan! We made friends with a lot of people as dining was very traditional at that time, so we sat next to the same people every night at dinner and had a lovely time with them at dinner every night. We did pretty much all of their trivia, played a scavenger hunt game, swam in the pool, sang karaoke one night, etc. I will say they had 2 cruise directors (1 who spoke Japanese and the other English). You might find on the list of activities that they indicated whether the activity will be spoken in Japanese or English, from what I can recall. All announcements were done in Japanese first and then said again in English. I am happy to try and answer more questions, if I can manage to remember 5 years ago. Of course, some things may be different now than there were back then. We stayed a couple of nights in a hotel in Tokyo before getting on the cruise as well.

[jspitz1]

Hi ebw24, thanks so much for your detailed reply. We are stopping at Taipei, Hualien, Ishigaki and Okinawa, if you happen to remember what you did at any of these ports. I'm hoping to do our own thing from all the ports if it's not too complicated. 

[Hlitner]

With Japan cruises, on a larger ship, you will generally be cleared within 30-45 minutes, after which everyone can get off.  The problems are when you might have a tender port (not very common in Japan) which causes delays on larger ships (like the Diamond Princess).  The other problem ports are the first Japanese port after the ship has been to a different country (i.e. Korea or Taiwan).  The Japanese officials insist on a face-to-face whenever a ship returns from a non-Japanese port, and this can cause significant delays as everyone must queue-up to see the Japanese officials.

 

Hank

[frantic36]

@jspitz1 recently did a trip from Alaska to Japan and I will second @Hlitner comment about the delay in your arrival port when you come from another country. It took over 2 hours and we were only 400 passengers. Initially there was only two officials and one was very slow and over thorough. It did speed up halfway through when another official joined the assessment team.

 

On a side note is your screen name because you have a Japanese Spitz? In my photo is the two we had before when they were puppies. We have another boy now and he is just as much a snuggle bunny as the other two were.

[jspitz1]

Hi Hlitner and frantic36, thanks so much for your replies. I'm a bit nervous about the Ishigaki port now-its both a tender port and the first Japanese port and shorter day. Guess we'll have to assume we'll have a 2hr+ wait to get off and not plan to go too far from the port. I guess doing these places by land is easier in some ways but i just love cruising and dragging two teenagers from airport to airport from Australia is hard work too. And frantic36 your dogs are beautiful. Yes i had a beautiful Japanese Spitz for 10yrs-i still miss her and that was 15yrs ago-they are a wonderful dog!

[ebw24]

@jspitz1 For Taipei what you do will depend upon how long you are in port for. Even though you are going to Taipei, the ship will actually be docked in the port of Keelung, which is a good 45 min to an hour away from Taipei depending on traffic. We did pay Princess to bus us to Taipei and back. Once in Taipei we took local buses/transportation around and went to the National Palace Museum. I would not recommend this option if wanting to visit the museum for an extended length of time. By taking the local transportation we only had a couple of hours at the museum before having to get back and meet the Princess bus. The National Palace Museum was massive, and we only had time for a small portion. We did not do anything in the Keelung area by the ship, so I am not sure of what options are available in that area. The other port I can talk about is Okinawa. It was very easy getting on/off the ship and walking around. We walked around the downtown Okinawa area on our own. We did find a little garden/temple? area when walking to the downtown area. Since it has been quite a few years I do not remember the name of the place, but it was a nice place to walk around but might not be interesting for kids. We went in July, so if going in the summer be prepared for it to be hot and humid!

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, ebw24 said:

@jspitz1 For Taipei what you do will depend upon how long you are in port for. Even though you are going to Taipei, the ship will actually be docked in the port of Keelung, which is a good 45 min to an hour away from Taipei depending on traffic. We did pay Princess to bus us to Taipei and back. Once in Taipei we took local buses/transportation around and went to the National Palace Museum. I would not recommend this option if wanting to visit the museum for an extended length of time. By taking the local transportation we only had a couple of hours at the museum before having to get back and meet the Princess bus. The National Palace Museum was massive, and we only had time for a small portion. We did not do anything in the Keelung area by the ship, so I am not sure of what options are available in that area. The other port I can talk about is Okinawa. It was very easy getting on/off the ship and walking around. We walked around the downtown Okinawa area on our own. We did find a little garden/temple? area when walking to the downtown area. Since it has been quite a few years I do not remember the name of the place, but it was a nice place to walk around but might not be interesting for kids. We went in July, so if going in the summer be prepared for it to be hot and humid!

One does not need to use a cruise line transfer or excursion to get from Keelung to Taipei.  The Keelung train station is within easy walking distance of the cruise terminal, and there are frequent (and very inexpensive) trains to and from Taipei,  A great option for DIYers. I think we paid less than $4 round trip.

 

Hank

[jspitz1]

Thanks so much for the great information!