Cruises in Asia - any experiences?

[peacefrogdog]

Looking to hear experiences of those who may have done cruises in Asia. Looking at some that stop in Japanese ports, but the length of time spent at each doesn't seem that long. For example, the longest stays in port I could find was a cruise that did overnight stays in Kyoto and Tokyo, but overnight means it arrives around 3-5 pm, and then departs the next day around 3-5 pm, so around 24 hours total in each.

 

[jimmymc]

I did the NCL Spirit from Seoul to Tokyo.

Port days usually started between 7 and 9 am and finished around 5 PM. Our Kobe stop was 7 am to 8 pm, which was our only day near Osaka and Kyoto. I had been to both cities before, so this was fine with me. I split the day between Kobe and Osaka. But if it was my first trip to Japan, I would've added on days there before or after the cruise. We ended with an overnight in Tokyo, which ended up blending the last day of the cruise with my two post-nights in the city. It also means they did the final stage shows the night before we arrived there instead of the last night of the cruise.

In general, I think one day was enough for most cities. If it were my first and possibly only trip to Japan, I would've added more days in Tokyo and Kyoto. The two cities are only about 3 hours away by train, so it's not unreasonable to add a few days in each.

 

[E&Cmom]

I was on 12 night Seoul to Tokyo cruise but on the Celebrity Millennium just last month. We had an amazing time . Most of the time we got into port around 7-9AM and departed between 4-6pm. Most ports I found that adequate to see what I wanted to see. The ship stayed overnight in Osaka arriving at 9AM the first day and departing at 8PM the following. Because my main focus was Kyoto and I booked an early morning tour of 3 of the main sites so the second day we choose to stay at a hotel overnight in Kyoto . We also had a tea ceremony and tickets for Ninentdo museum there. If I were to go back I would have loved more time there but we did most of the things we wanted those days and got back to the ship with time to spare. It was our first time using the train system which was a bit of an adventure but google map was great and we didn’t get lost.

I did add 3 days prior in Seoul ( wish I had done one or two more) and 6 nights following in Tokyo ( last 3 were Disney).

I found that prioritizing the things you want to see the most and not expecting to see everything worked best. I ended up cutting out a few things due to time, the heat (humidity ), some very rainy days and exhausting/ sore feet but I don’t feel like I missed out as we had a wonderful trip.