Sun Princess - Hokkaido (Japan) cruise

[orgutierrez]

Hello, I am looking at the Sun Princess departing the 9th August 2014 out of Otaru, Japan. I would like to know if it is worth to take a one week cruise to the north of Japan (Hokkaido) and recommendations for the following ports of call:

• Hakodate, Japan
  

• Muroran (Sapporo), Japan
  

• Kushiro, Japan
  

• Abashiri, Japan
  

• Korsakov, Russia
  

 

I have never cruised with Princess before, I usually cruise Celebrity or Holland, how does the Sun Princess compare to Celebrity or Holland? I would be cruising with my family, so how's the Princess program for kids and teens?

 

Thank you very much. Looking forward to try Princess!

[Coral]

The Sun Princess would compare to some of the older ships with HAL or Celebrity, not the newer ones. It was one of the first ships with a lot of balconies. It was built in 1995.

 

I am not sure the age of your kids, but having 4 in a cabin (inside, outside or balcony) would be very challenging. I would also avoid the balcony cabins for 4 on the Sun Class ships. They are arranged strangely and people generally don't like them. If you are considering a balcony with 4, try to find some pictures. The minisuites are very large on the Sun Princess.

 

The kids program is fine and would be enhanced the more kids there are on the ship. If it is only your kids, they may be a tad bored.

 

I have sailed many times on the Sun Princess (and her sisters) and love the ship. I really like the size. The balconies are built from the hull and are smaller compared to newer ships.

 

I personally wouldn't hesitate to book this ship but realize it won't compare to the newer ships you have sailed on.

 

I have been to Japan once but missed the ports you are going to. Enjoy!

[Desert Cruisers]

We spent 30 days this summer sailing around Japan on the Sun Princess. All of your ports except Abashari were on our itineraries. We enjoyed all ports visited especially Otaru. We decided not to take the tender to Korsakov. Even the Russian staff were not enthusiastic. Soviet-era small town with not much there.

 

While we enjoyed the ports of Otaru, Hakodate, Muroran, and Kushiro, I'm not sure that these ports are "stars". If you are doing this cruise in combination with land travel in more urban parts of Japan, then it makes a nice contrast to visit small cities and towns.

 

Don't know much about children's programs. On our 3 sailings, there were not a lot of children - possibly because schools were in session. With port-intensive sailings, consider how important children's programming might be.

 

Regarding the Sun Princess, it went into dry dock after the Japan season. Improvements were made to public areas. Inside and outside cabins are SMALL. Mini suites are large. We were in multiple cabins and could not comfortably have our beds together. If you have sailed on the newer Princess ships, you may be disappointed.

[Duane T]

I lived in Northern Japan (stationed at a US Air Force Base) and visited the Northern Japan locations. It's a different environment versus the big cities like Tokyo/Yokohama, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Fukuoka in southern Japan. Depending on when you're there, the general lifestyle was less hectic. We thought it was more friendly and relaxed, a different sort of charm and environment.

[orgutierrez]

We spent 30 days this summer sailing around Japan on the Sun Princess. All of your ports except Abashari were on our itineraries. We enjoyed all ports visited especially Otaru. We decided not to take the tender to Korsakov. Even the Russian staff were not enthusiastic. Soviet-era small town with not much there.

 

While we enjoyed the ports of Otaru, Hakodate, Muroran, and Kushiro, I'm not sure that these ports are "stars". If you are doing this cruise in combination with land travel in more urban parts of Japan, then it makes a nice contrast to visit small cities and towns.

 

Don't know much about children's programs. On our 3 sailings, there were not a lot of children - possibly because schools were in session. With port-intensive sailings, consider how important children's programming might be.

 

Regarding the Sun Princess, it went into dry dock after the Japan season. Improvements were made to public areas. Inside and outside cabins are SMALL. Mini suites are large. We were in multiple cabins and could not comfortably have our beds together. If you have sailed on the newer Princess ships, you may be disappointed.

Thank you for your response. Our idea is to after the Hokkaido cruise, visit both Tokyo and Kyoto (from Kyoto visit the Temples and Nara or Osaka) during a week. Could you give us information about the ports you've been? Any shore excursions/tour operator recommendations? Do you have any pics of these places?

 

Thank you very much. Oriol.

[Desert Cruisers]

We didn't do any organized shore excursions or tours. Will look through my notes and post more info later.

[Coral]

Thank you for your response. Our idea is to after the Hokkaido cruise, visit both Tokyo and Kyoto (from Kyoto visit the Temples and Nara or Osaka) during a week. Could you give us information about the ports you've been? Any shore excursions/tour operator recommendations? Do you have any pics of these places?

 

Thank you very much. Oriol.

 

I caught an unbelievable airfare to Osaka a few years ago for $400. We had very limited time frame there (5 days I think) due to our schedules.

 

We flew to Osaka and stayed across the street from a major train station. We took day trips to Nara, Himeji and Kyoto. I could easily skip Himeji - there is one major castle there. Nara was great but one day there was fine. Kyoto was to die for and I wish we had spent at least 2 days there if not more (we were only there for a day). We spent 1.5 days in Osaka wandering around.

 

Neither of us spoke any Japanese and really didn't have any problems. We did have "a friend of a friend" meet us to go to Kyoto for the day and she signed us up for a bus tour in Kyoto to see the sights in Japanese. English may have been better but we thoroughly enjoyed the day and periodically she translated what the guide was saying.

 

Long story short - we did Osaka, Nara and Himeji on our own with little difficulty. Biggest issue was the first day buying train tickets (we did not do the JR pass due to the limited time but we probably would have broke even if we did). Due to spending only one day in Kyoto, I am glad we grabbed a tour, English would have been better but in the end, I loved Kyoto and it didn't matter.

 

I didn't know what to expect in Nara but ended up loving the deer park area there.

 

Osaka was ok. The beauty of the castle is outside of it as inside is very plain with pictures of how it was previous to being burned down. We did the aquarium in Osaka and there is one 60 miles from our house that is much better. We walked through miles and miles of underground shopping.

 

We basically survived most places by going to a visitor center or the hotel (not difficult to find) and they circled something on a map and we showed people what was circled on a map and then pointed us in the right direction. We also ran into a lot of people who spoke English but many were very shy.

 

We looked at Trip Advisor. There are a lot of free walking tours where locals volunteer to take people around so that they can practice English and you just pay for their lunch or entrance to temples, etc... We just ran out of time.

 

Enjoy Japan. I have 2 good friends from Osaka so I was excited to visit their country.