cjwags

This thread is such a good example of how multiple people can have different perspectives on the same topic. Our food on Riviera in Japan the week before was not especially bland or under salted to us. In fact, several dishes were so salty I could barley eat them! Just goes to show, everyone has different tastes. As for Vista, we loved the ship last June! Found it beautiful, had no problems with noise in our cabins, food was mostly very good. We had a couple of very nice dishes in Ember, but did think it was quite noisy. Jacques is a step above for sure. All in all, just happy to be on vacation!

We did a private guide in Tokyo through Go With Guide. Her name is Kahoko K. In Nagoya we did a private guide, Mikari, through Tours by Locals. In Kyoto and Nara we did private tours with Pinpoint Traveler. Our guide was Lito. All of these experiences were fantastic and far superior to O excursions. We just did our own thing in Beppu (monkey park and private onsen). Beppu was very easy to navigate with taxis or buses. In all the other ports we did O excursions. The day in Nagasaki up to Arita and then the peace park was our least favorite. Way too much driving. The O excursions were all well done and well organized. No real complaints. We just really prefer private guides. With Simply More we did not want to "waste" our excursion credit so we did more ship tours than usual. We will rethink that for our next O cruise in 2025. regardless of what you decide, you will have a fantastic time. Japan is amazing!

We had the same schedule for Kobe/Kyoto. We booked private tours with Pinpoint Traveler. Our wonderful guide, Lito, picked us up at the port early on the first day and drove us straight to Kyoto. On this day there were six of us. We were able to do the bamboo forest, some quick shopping, Fushimi Inari, and lunch. He then took us back to the port by about 7 pm. The next day he picked us (four of us this day) up early again and we went to Nara. We fed the deer, visited the temple, and the shrine. We were back at the port in plenty of time for departure. Theses two days were two of the best on the whole cruise. HIGHLY recommend a private tour with Pinpoint. While it can be costly, sharing the tour with others made it less expensive than the ship excursion and a thousand times better! It is easy to find folks to join you from your CC roll call!

Agree with so may of your points @pinotlover Your experience is quite similar to ours. We are already talking about visiting Japan again, but as independent travelers. The cruise on Riveria was the perfect introduction. Our favorite meal was the local udon with red miso in Nagoya. Would have never had it were it not for a fantastic private guide through Tours by Locals. She took us there, ordered for us and so much more. While Narita was quite a trek, we had no problems with the airport or customs, while our friends that flew into Haneda spent two hours clearing customs. I guess you never know! Enjoy Kyoto! Wish we had more time there.

I have lived the "carry on only" lifestyle for may years as i traveled space available due to airline connections. I mastered the art of a "capsule wardrobe" and washing clothes in the bathtub when there was no other option. While I loved not worrying about lost luggage and waiting at the baggage claim, I now travel with a large suitcase and a decent size tote bag on board. While I don't love the heavy suitcase, I do love having choice and more than two pair of shoes! 🙂 We have the Brigs and Rile "trunk"style suitcases. Unfortunately I don't see them on their site anymore. They are taller and narrower than the standard ones. This makes them perfect for trains in Europe as they fit compartments much better. They do have to stay open under the bed, but it becomes our "laundry hamper" and extra storage. Just pull it our when you need to access it. We also travel with a foldable dufflebag in our suitcase on the way to our destination. We then unfold it, stuff it with packing cubes of clothes or shoes, and refill our suitcases with wine or other purchases we picked up along our travels for the way home! Sometimes my husband takes it as his carryon. Other times we check it if the fee is reasonable.🙂 I know lots of folks will disagree with the more is more perspective. Maybe being forced t travel carryon only, even for very long trips has made it feel like a luxury to have mmore space and more choice now! Here is a link to the bag I take on the plane with me. It holds EVERYTHING! Here is the foldable duffle.

That is so interesting. We were on the same cruise but the March 20 sailing. We had one day with terrible wifi. Now that I look back, it was the Busan day! Now I know why. Thanks for sharing. Hope you are enjoying your voyage as much as we did! Japan is a remarkable country.

We just did a 6:30 pm flight from Narita. We used an O transfer. Not sure I would do that again. We were off the ship at 9:30 am. Arrived at Narita at 11:20 am. Could not check our bags in until 3:30 pm. That was a long stretch with luggage. We made the best of it as there is good food and some shopping. I would do it differently next time. Either Haneda or hire a private guide/car for the day. Oceania offered an excursion but it was a bus tour of Tokyo to sights we had already seen. I will say flying Singapore Air direct to Los Angeles made the trek to Narita much more bearable.

Thanks for adding your feedback. I would agree with many of your points! We loved the welcome/send off in the ports. We also enjoyed the fish market in Busan. Really a sight to behold. Still my favorites were the monkeys in Beppu and the deer in Nara. Can you tell I am an animal lover? Favorite temple and shrine was in Nara. Favorite garden was in Kagoshima. We flew into Narita and the visit Japan QR Code worked great. We were through immigration and customs within 20 minutes. Our friends flew into Haneda and had the same bad experience as you. We also witnessed the mobility issues. We heard that a woman on the precruise passed away. So very sad. We also saw one woman being taken off the ship by ambulance. Here’s to many more great vacations!

Our observations were them all sitting at the tables with parents during Bingo, tea, trivia, etc. They had coloring pages, toys, etc. but often displayed signs of boredom and we even overheard them saying as such to their parents. We were on one tour with a family, and observed the children asking to do something else, etc. I certainly think all families are welcome on lines such as Oceania, however they need to assess what their children like and don't like to make such a decision. I traveled extensively with my own children when they were young. Some experiences were better than others, but we always made memories!

I would highly recommend a combination of land and cruise. The cruise allowed us to see parts of japan that would have been impossible by simply land due to logistics. We did three days in Tokyo first and could have done four. We wanted mre time in Kyoto/Nara so I would add that to the trip as well if possible. We felt the cruise was the perfect introduction to Japan and we will travel there again for sure!

We had an EXCELLENT experience with Pinpoint tours in Kyoto and Nara. Best two days of our entire voyage. Lito was our guide and made it wonderful. Another highlight was a private guide booked with Tours by Locals in Nagoya. Mikari was our guide and she was great. As for ship tours, we really enjoyed the day in Kagoshima with a ferry out to the volcano and then a visit to the gardens. The day in Nagasaki to Arita for pottery was a bust for us. While we did not really enjoy Busan, the tour of the fish market there was interesting. We did our own thing in Beppu and loved the Monkey Park! Esy to get there with a taxi. We then did a rivate onsen at the Intercontinetal HOtel. That turned out to be a lovely day.

We just returned yesterday from 12 days in Japan on Riviera. We fell in love with Japan and will absolutely return someday! Background: Active couple (58 and 59), well traveled both on land and at sea, second O cruise, other cruises on X, HAL, RCCL, first trip to Asia, love good food and better wine. My comments are simply our impressions and I respect that others will have contrasting input. Overall a very good cruise. There were outstanding moments and disappointing moments, but we have come to expect as such. No cruise line does everything exactly right. I am sure some folks will focus more on the disappointments, but not me. I am just grateful to have been on a cruise in a spectacular country. Embarkation: Arrived at 1:15. We were on board by 2:00 or so. Luggage was in our cabin by 3:00. One bag was missing but showed up about an hour later. (There was a bit of prompting by DH.) Food: We ate in main dining room four times. Two were good, one was medium, and one was not good at all. We were able to get extra specialty dining reservations because we were willing to eat late, if needed. This resulted in a total of seven specialty dining experiences. Jacques was very good on two occasions with standouts being the pork chop and the dover sole. Red Ginger was good on two occasions. We were advised by wait staff to avoid a couple of dishes due to less than great beef supply, so we had other dishes that were good. It wasn't stellar, but no real complaints. Two nights in Toscana were very good, if the right dish was ordered. Stick with the chef's special pasta and the lasagne and you can not go wrong. They were excellent. Our companions ordered a couple of dishes that were disappointing. The artichoke appetizer was fantastic on the first night, and inedible the second. Our night in Polo Grill was very disappointing. The sommelier was rude and even "corrected" our pronunciation of a wine. (BTW, we were correct, he was not!) The prime rib was good, but two of the sides were terrible. We then waited 25 minutes for desert and never had our wine glasses refilled. By far worst night ever on O and one of the worst on any cruise. I spoke to management about it and learned I was not the first to voice concerns. Waves was always good. Terrace Cafe felt crowded since the back patio was not open most days due to weather. We really missed this option, as it was a favorite of ours last summer. Overall, I think O struggles more with consistency than quality of food. Tours: Typically we prefer private tours over ship tours. Because we had included excursions and shipboard credit we did more ship tours than usual. This proved to be a mixed bag for us, as we aren't good at "following the lollipop". Tour guides were all enthusiastic, polite and accommodating. They did their best with timing, crowds, etc. The ship tours are just too regimented for us, as we like to be independent and explore. We often had to rush through sites in order to get to the next one. We would have preferred longer times in less sites. There was also a great deal of driving time as sites are pretty spread out. In the future, we will use our shore excursion credit on the more expensive and involved tours and do the rest on our own. The days we booked with private guides were by far our favorites. The ports visited were all great, with the exception of Busan. It was a bit jarring and loud after so many serene days in Japan! We were in port with Silversea on one day and their tour followed us to each and every place. Exact same excursion. Same for a day in port with Regent. Ship: The Riviera is a very pretty ship. I fell in love with the decor on the Vista, and it took while for the Riviera to grow on me. Some aspects of the decor on Riviera is just not my style. However, that is completely personal taste. I recognize others will prefer Riviera. Our B3 cabin (7108) was fine, but we didn't love the position of the closet. It was a bit cramped by the side of the bed. The color scheme is quite nice after the refurb. Bathroom is a good size and maximizes space. Our extended balcony would be a great perk in good weather. Lots of rain and cold on our trip so we didn't get much use of it. Also, it is less than private, so if that is an issue, the huge size might not make up for it. Also, someone was smoking on their balcony not far from us everyday so it reeked of cigarette smoke. We spoke with management and they sent security on two occasions to try and identify who was smoking. O was responsive to this concern. Oceania Overall: While I know there are other options out there, we will return to O in 2025 for another cruise on the Vista. The itinerary is very good in Norway and the value is better than what we can find elsewhere. We were booked on a Silversea cruise in June of 2025, and were notified last week that it has been cancelled. We tried to switch to another SS voyage, but the prices have gone up so much, that we can not justify it. A very similar cruise to Norway on SS is more than twice the price on O. I know they can't be compared, but I can not see paying twice the price. I can take another whole vacation for that amount! We were on the younger side of the passengers on this voyage but I think that has more to do with location and time of year. This is not a problem for us at all and enjoy meeting those passengers who are older than us! 🙂 Plenty of folks will complain about the 2+ hour immigration waits for Japan - Korea, so I will not go into it. Not all of it was Oceania's fault. We just waited patiently and met great folks in front of us in line. Some passengers were belligerent and ranting. Never makes the situation better. Staff recognized how they could have course corrected but did not anticipate the string of unexpected location changes, delays and technical difficulty on the part of Japanese immigration officials, otherwise they would have chosen a more appropriate handling of the process. Will we only travel on O? No. Will we try other lines? Yes. Will we return when voyage is a good deal and a good itinerary? Yes. Already booked for 2025. Feel free to ask questions. I will do my best to share our experience if it helps others!

Just back from 12 days in Japan on Riveria. There was one family with children (two teens and three young girls). They appeared bored most of the time. On our Med cruise on Vista last summer there were a few more children as art of a multi generational family, but they also seemed as though there just wasn't enough for them to do. Having done several cruises with Celebrity when my kids were preteens and teens, it was a perfect fit. Still more upscale than RC, NCL, etc. but lots for kids to do and a more family friendly environment. My suggestion would be unless there is no other line doing the itinerary you are looking at, save Oceania for when you are empty nesters! 🙂 Hope that helps!

Our June 25, 2025 Croatia cruise on the Spirit was cancelled as well. Same offer- rebook for 10% discount. Nothing much left out there we are interested in for an amount we are willing to pay during June of 2025. Our time to travel is limited. Not a good introduction to SS for us.

We are booked with Tokyo Airporter. Approx. 100 USD for a minivan for four adults.