Japan and Korea Cruise Excursion Recommendations

[jimmymc]

This June, I am going on a cruise from Seoul to Tokyo! I'm very excited and have an idea of what I'd like to see in each port, but finding excursions has been difficult. The cruiseline (NCL) only offers 3 or 4 choices in each port, and typical 3rd party sites don't seem to have many options either. So I have two questions:

Does anyone have a good website to search for 3rd party excursions in Korea and/or Japan?

Do you have any recommendations for these ports:

Jeju
Sasebo
Beppu
Hiroshima
Kochi
Kobe
Nagoya
Shimizu

Right now, I'm probably going to rent a car in Sasebo, walk to the hot springs in Beppu, visit the Peace Park and Museum in Hiroshima, and visit a sake brewery at the base of Mt Fuji in Shimizu. I would love to hear anything else people enjoyed in these cities.

 

[gelatoni fan]

For Nagoya, I think the cruise port is basically right next to the aquarium which is really good. There's a free to enter pay per ride amusement park next to there so you can fill your remaining time with the ferris wheel or something. Legoland and the maglev museum near there is another option.

The Kobe port area has a tower, ferris wheel, etc. Other than eating kobe beef, most people visit the retro former foreigner residence quarter.

I'm curious what you're planning to do in Sasebo that requires a car? I've only gone to Huis Ten Bosch in Sasebo.

I haven't been to Jeju, Kochi or Shimizu yet so hopefully someone else will have input on that.

 

[jimmymc]

For Nagoya, I think the cruise port is basically right next to the aquarium which is really good. There's a free to enter pay per ride amusement park next to there so you can fill your remaining time with the ferris wheel or something. Legoland and the maglev museum near there is another option.

The Kobe port area has a tower, ferris wheel, etc. Other than eating kobe beef, most people visit the retro former foreigner residence quarter.

I'm curious what you're planning to do in Sasebo that requires a car? I've only gone to Huis Ten Bosch in Sasebo.

I haven't been to Jeju, Kochi or Shimizu yet so hopefully someone else will have input on that.

The plan for Sasebo is to drive to Hirado Island. It's possible to get to the main town by public transit, but it would take a long time, and a lot of the views around the island you need to drive to.

The pier area in Nagoya looks pretty good. I might just combine that with a nice restaurant. The Toyota Industry Museum also looks interesting.

I think Kobe would be a good town to just explore without any excursions. I actually just remembered I have a coworker who grew up there, so I'll ask him if there's any must-see places.