Which Japan cruise?

[Snowcat1]

We are looking to book a cruise around Japan in 2025. I see that Regent has several cruises that include Japan. I would like to hear from people who have done one of the Regent Cruises in Japan, about which cruise itinerary they chose, why and would they recommend it. Thanks

[mrlevin]

Depends on whether you have been to Japan before.  For first timer, I would try to find a cruise that lets you have two or three days in Kyoto; reachable from either Osaka or Kobe.  Our first Japan cruise embarked at Osaka so we were able to do a three day pre-cruise on our own to Kyoto.  If you have never been to Tokyo, I would allow at least three days there either pre or post.  Forget the Regent tour and do it on your own.  Other important ports are Hiroshima, Miyajima, and Nagasaki.  The rest of the Kyushu and and Honshu ports are interesting but nothing must see.  If you can go to Nikko that is also fantastic.  And you have to see Kamakura.  Cruises to the north are different; and although we have been to Hokkaido for Sapporo Snow Festival our cruise next year will be first with Hokkaido ports.  

 

Spring cruises are better just to see cherry blossoms.

 

Marc

Edited October 30, 2023 by mrlevin

[briar14]

We lived in Japan for several years and Marc’s (mrlevin) advice is excellent! Looking forward to our Japan Explorer cruise for the month of April.

Edited October 31, 2023 by briar14

[RetiredandTravel]

Great advice from mrlevin.  At a minimum I would have a full day private tour for Kyoto.  When we visited the Hiroshima museum (must see) it was VERY crowded.  All the tour buses and school kids descended on the museum at the same time and people were 4-5 deep through most of the museum.  If we did it again we might hire a 1/2 day private tour that beat the crowds.  We also enjoyed Kagoshima, especially the gardens.

[rkaratsu]

One thing that might bear consideration is if you go to Japan in April, yes the cherry blossoms are in full bloom but on the other hand, if you think popular attractions are crowded at any given time, it seems like you can multiply this by ten during the Sakura season (because the Japanese are also taking vacation at this time.)

 

But otherwise, some very good tips. Definitely spend at least four or five days in Tokyo and also consider a private tour of Kyoto. (You could even overnight there.)

 

Finally, I would consider booking a cabin on the starboard side (an odd numbered cabin.) If your itinerary heads south from Tokyo to Shimizu, you will get amazing views of Mt. Fuji from your balcony (assuming the clouds operate) as well as some of the most memorable sunrises and sunsets I have ever seen!

Edited October 31, 2023 by rkaratsu
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[Kiamoose2021]

Hi, I'm also looking for some advice. I have booked a Celebrity Cruise - Best of Japan for June 2025 and wondered if I was better off booking my own excursions? My first cruise is this year so I am totally new to this. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks

[forgap]

We leave for Japan on Thursday.  We booked a 10 day land tour with Gate One prior to the Regent pre cruise and voyage departing on 4/13.  I agree with the previous posters.  I lived in Japan for four years as a teenager.  It is a fascinating country.  We booked the tour in order to make things easier as we are no longer spring chickens.   After the tour we will travel on our own from Kyoto to Tokyo.  We booked two extra days at the Tokyo Hilton before joining the pre cruise tour.  But, we plan to join the tours only for transportation to various parts of Tokyo and then do our own thing.  Also, the Japan travel forums on Facebook have been exceptionally helpful.  

[Kiamoose2021]

1 hour ago, forgap said:

We leave for Japan on Thursday.  We booked a 10 day land tour with Gate One prior to the Regent pre cruise and voyage departing on 4/13.  I agree with the previous posters.  I lived in Japan for four years as a teenager.  It is a fascinating country.  We booked the tour in order to make things easier as we are no longer spring chickens.   After the tour we will travel on our own from Kyoto to Tokyo.  We booked two extra days at the Tokyo Hilton before joining the pre cruise tour.  But, we plan to join the tours only for transportation to various parts of Tokyo and then do our own thing.  Also, the Japan travel forums on Facebook have been exceptionally helpful.  

1 hour ago, forgap said:

We leave for Japan on Thursday.  We booked a 10 day land tour with Gate One prior to the Regent pre cruise and voyage departing on 4/13.  I agree with the previous posters.  I lived in Japan for four years as a teenager.  It is a fascinating country.  We booked the tour in order to make things easier as we are no longer spring chickens.   After the tour we will travel on our own from Kyoto to Tokyo.  We booked two extra days at the Tokyo Hilton before joining the pre cruise tour.  But, we plan to join the tours only for transportation to various parts of Tokyo and then do our own thing.  Also, the Japan travel forums on Facebook have been exceptionally helpful.  

 

[Kiamoose2021]

Thank you Forgap, I'll try to find some forums on FB. The cruise excursions seem so expensive and a lot of the are for small groups but we are going as a couple. 

[1982CruzStart]

On 3/26/2024 at 6:03 AM, Kiamoose2021 said:

Thank you Forgap, I'll try to find some forums on FB. The cruise excursions seem so expensive and a lot of the are for small groups but we are going as a couple. 

We did a similar cruise on Celebrity a few years ago. At that time Regent wasn't sailing to Japan so opted for Celebrity.  We did all private tours except 1 as the group we participated with through CC roll call was not putting one together so we tried a Celebrity ship tour. It was so bad we swore we would never take another ship's tour.

Go to the roll call for your cruise and try and put together private tours with other passengers. Everytime we have cruised with Celebrity that is what we have done and had some fabulous private tours with other passengers. 

Have a wonderful cruise. 

[Kiamoose2021]

Thank you so much. We are complete novices to cruising so this info is great. Thanks again 

[Carol From California]

We did the RT Tokyo last year (2023) in April. We were originally supposed to go in April, 2021 but as we all remember, that was during COVID. The itineraries were similar but not exactly the same. It was our first time to Japan and this itinerary is totally focused on Japan ports, with the exception of two port stops in South Korea. We never made it to Jeju, South Korea because of weather problems that day, so we only had one port stop in South Korea and the rest were all Japan. We did the included pre-cruise 3-days in Tokyo. We booked with a private tour guide when we were overnight in the port that accesses Kyoto. The guide is from Tours By Locals. He met us at the port at 6 am and went first on the train in to Kyoto. Then there was a private car with driver waiting (arranged by the guide), so we were able to go to a few of the best things to see in Kyoto since we could easily get from one to the other in the limited time there. We went back to the port on the bullet train all through our guide. Regent's Kyoto tour was to take a bus and then maybe see 1 or 2 of the sites. All in all we thought that it was a fabulous cruise, although there were some issues with the guides in Tokyo, and in some of the other ports that were not great. I think a lot had to do with Japan just reopening for tourism. A lot of people on the cruise were complaining, but to me I did not let it bother me. I was just happy to be there. I loved Japan!

[papaflamingo]

9 hours ago, Carol From California said:

here were some issues with the guides in Tokyo, and in some of the other ports

We just finished Hong Kong to Tokyo including a 3 day pre-cruise tour.  All our guides were good to great (mostly great).  We sailed Feb 21-Mar. 6. Plus we did a full day tour in Tokyo to Mt. Fuji through Viator and had a great time in spite of cloudy and cold weather.  Only saying this as it's a recent experience, so hopefully the tour guide issue has worked itself out. 

[Kiamoose2021]

Thank you both, great info.

[Pies4u]

Nagasaki is a port not to be missed - the Peace Park is less commercial and not as busy as Hiroshima & if you get the departure “send off” from the Girls High School band, dancers and cheerleaders, that is a highlight not to be missed. They were, quite frankly, the best entertainment I’ve seen connected to any cruise!

 

The opportunity to visit Obi “Castle Town” from Miyazaki is also a bit special  in my view. Lovely scenery around Aoshima in particular with the Jinja shrine & “devils washboard” is very interesting.

 

Japan is stunning and each of the 4 main islands provide varied experiences, try to visit at least 3 of them, which most cruises do tbh.

[Kiamoose2021]

Thank you. Don't think the cruise is going to Nagasaki but is going to Hiroshima. Don't recognise Miyazaki with tbh but thanks so much. It looks an amazing country to visit.

[DeepFreeze63]

On 10/30/2023 at 3:58 PM, Snowcat1 said:

We are looking to book a cruise around Japan in 2025. I see that Regent has several cruises that include Japan. I would like to hear from people who have done one of the Regent Cruises in Japan, about which cruise itinerary they chose, why and would they recommend it. Thanks

Are presently on 14-day Tokyo to Tokyo - a marvelous experience! We wanted the 14-day in order to visit Korea (first time) and Shanghai  (return after 27 years); otherwise, I'd have taken the 12-day all in Japan cruise.

We had previously (2017) spent 3 nights in Tokyo with regent pre-cruise excursion. This time. we went 4 nights early to decompress after 14 hour flight and 13 hour time zone change. Stayed ON OUR OWN in Odaiba (where regent put passengers not on pre-cruise excursion). Grand Nikko Daiba was very nice and located in interesting entertainment district with easy monorail access to both downtown Tokyo and Tokyo Cruise Terminal.

We are taking the included past-cruise "Vibrant Tokyo". With post-cruise excursion, well arrive wide-a-awake and have a full first day.

We rented a private van (we had 4 people) with guide for Kyoto (from Kobe port). Expensive but in 8 hours we visited the 5 most popular sites and had an exterior visit to Osaka castle.

I'll write a trip report on my return home in mid-April (we spent 2 weeks in Japan and a week in Taipei after the cruise.

[Breckski]

We're doing one in 2025 and has the typical overnight in Kobe.  After reading this thread, I'm thinking it would be best to get a hotel in Kyoto instead of staying on ship in Kobe.    We could take a small backpack to get us through one night.  I just don't want to waste 6 hours traveling if it's 1 1/2 hours each way, each day.  Any thoughts/suggestions for this plan?

[toseaornottosea]

 

14 hours ago, mwike said:

 I just don't want to waste 6 hours traveling if it's 1 1/2 hours each way, each day.  Any thoughts/suggestions for this plan?

You might want to consider taking the high speed train Kobe to Kyoto and Kyoto back to Kobe.  Maybe someone who has done this will comment.

[DeepFreeze63]

20 hours ago, mwike said:

We're doing one in 2025 and has the typical overnight in Kobe.  After reading this thread, I'm thinking it would be best to get a hotel in Kyoto instead of staying on ship in Kobe.    We could take a small backpack to get us through one night.  I just don't want to waste 6 hours traveling if it's 1 1/2 hours each way, each day.  Any thoughts/suggestions for this plan?

Great idea! Had planned an overnight in Kyoto but first day in Kobe was cancelled because of high winds. Had a reservation in hotel in Gion section of Kyoto for one night. Got permission from to leave ship for overnight. Getting around Kyoto with out a car is time consuming; plan to at least use a taxi between major sites. Bring Yen to expedite ticket purchases at sites, etc

[GMIAC]

1 hour ago, DeepFreeze63 said:

Great idea! Had planned an overnight in Kyoto but first day in Kobe was cancelled because of high winds. Had a reservation in hotel in Gion section of Kyoto for one night. Got permission from to leave ship for overnight. Getting around Kyoto with out a car is time consuming; plan to at least use a taxi between major sites. Bring Yen to expedite ticket purchases at sites, etc

Would taxis accept the Suica app for payments?