We are trying to make a decision for a cruise in 2025 to Japan. We have sailed HAL a fair amount and are happy with the overall experience. We are booked next month to visit Norway on the Rotterdam in an aft Neptune suite which we’ve experienced before on other HAL ships and loved the suite and location. We’ve only sailed with Princess once many years ago and had a great trip.
I found a decent deal on Princess Diamond for their Grand Suite B750 for a 10 day itinerary from Yokohama with ports Toba, Kobe, Kochi, Beppu, Busan, Nagasaki and Shimizu. The suite looks incredible and probably compares close to a Pinnacle Suite on HAL.
For about the same price, I can book a 15 day voyage on HAL’s Westerdam in a Neptune Suite. Ports include Omaezaki, Kobe, Kochi, Fukuoka, Sokcho, Kanazawa, Sakata, Otaru, Aomori, Hakodate and Miyako. So this would provide 4 more ports compared to the Princess itinerary.
We are trying to determine which experience would be best for us. Better cabin on Princess vs a longer cruise on HAL. I’m sure we’d love both and being our first time to Japan, we want to make the most of this trip. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.