Has anyone done a cruise around (at least a bit) of Japan? Any suggestions?

[CrystalSingerFan]

Japan is on my bucket list, I'm 66 and single, and have been on various cruises. (Fred Olsen, MSc, Hurtigruten).

Can anyone report back on their experiences of this? It seems like an easy, safe organised way of trying the country out, plus some cruises include S Korea, which sounds interesting.

As someone who has travelled to Japan a few times, I don’t personally think a cruise is the best way to experience Japan. Some of the best things about Japan are things you miss on a cruise. In particular, the food scene and the atmospheric evenings. It’s also just a far more inefficient way to get from one place to another compared to the bullet train.

Planning can feel intimidating, but Japan is super safe and accessible for solo travel either independently or with a tour.

There was someone on the Japan Planning Thread that did a cruise last year. If you take a look you may be able to find their posts.

Thanks so much. I'm sure you're right about cruising not being the best way to experience anywhere. It's also great to have it confirmed that it's such a safe place to visit. I must widen my horizons. (I particularly love your mention of the 'atmospheric evenings'.)

I'll also check out the Japan Planning thread...

I have done a cruise with MSC, dlew to Tokyo, spe t a couple days there then boarded the ship and cruised to Nagasaki it was a great experience. We travelled in to South Korea and then China and stayed in Beijing for a few days before flying home. I thouroughly enjoyed it so did DH

We went last September with Igloo, flew into Seoul from Heathrow for a couple of nights then joined the ship and had another stop in S Korea before cruising round Japan for about 2 weeks. Roughly the same age as you are and we found it to be great - really tiring (no sea days!) but we saw so much without using any of the ships (expensive) excursions. It was very easy to get around under our own steam - eg we used the bullet train to travel to Kyoto from Kobe (overnight stop
on the ship there)

We also had an excellent view of Mount Fuji from where we were docked - I couldn’t believe how clear (and close) it seemed.
We finished up with two nights in a hotel in Tokyo. Would highly recommend it.

Why not join a tour group instead? We did an amazing tour of Japan many years ago and made some great friends on the holiday some of whom were in their 60s and single.
Japan is amazing. We'd love to go back.

I agree with pp that a land based holiday to Japan would be my preference as you would be able to see much more of the beautiful country, including the mountains. It's very easy to travel round the country and people are helpful.
If you do decide on a cruise, definitely choose one with S. Korea, it's a fabulous country to visit.

Can I suggest a couple of YouTube channels to look at? Both 'Emma Cruises' and 'Tips For Travellers' (he's a solo cruiser a lot of the time) have done Japan cruises. Both did some of the organised tours and also their own thing.

I managed to spend 10 days without really leaving Tokyo when I went - so much to see and do. When I go back I will travel more and spend longer in Japan.

@CrystalSingerFan The atmospheric evenings really are one of my favourite things about being Japan. Whether that’s exploring quiet temples lit up after dark, dinner in a tiny ramen bar staffed by one elderly man, bright, high-tech sushi train restaurants, neon lights, a walk by the river or even just a convenience store stop before turning in for the night.

Hiroshima might be my favourite city in Japan and the day trippers and cruise shippers really do miss out on the best of the place. I love Hiroshima after dark. The okonomiyaki bars, the quiet eeriness of the atomic bomb dome and peace park, the buzz of the shopping streets, the baseball. It’s wonderful.

It really is worth being a bit brave. There’s so much more that you can experience if you travel by land.

@CrystalSingerFanI would also recommend a group tour if you don’t want go it alone. A cruise will just scratch the surface and you really won’t see much of Japan. I think Inside Japan is a good tour operator to start with.

Thanks!

Unfortunately I checked their website and got a Chatbot popping up almost immediately, asking me when I was planning to go and what could they do. Not really what I wanted.

FWIW a friend (single older female) has recommended Dragonfly tours, which also offer a small group tour experience, without the hard sell. I hope to do this, but taking a cruise first sounded like an easy first step.

Ooh, I've been on 3 Msc cruises to Northern Europe. I really enjoyed the way they they had a more international clientele, compared to, say, Fred Olsen. Where were your fellow passengers from? Did the ship have a deck 17?

Thanks!

Iglu seems to be a broker. Which cruise company did you go with?

This is such an evocative post. Just lovely. I'll try and get there...

That's great. I've seen Emma Cruises stuff before in the pandemic, although I'm more of a Gary Bembridge fan. I'll check them both out.

@CrystalSingerFanSlightly odd response to Inside Japan. Many tour operators do that. You can pick up the phone of course.

It was NCL
We only used it to sleep in as we were on land every day. I think we used Iglu as they put the package together and we wanted the Seoul and Tokyo stays. To be fair, it was all very easy and suited us perfectly.

we’ve previously done a land tour of South America and I would never have considered a cruise for that holiday as so much of what we wanted to see was inland. We only had a maximum of 3 weeks to see Japan so knew we wouldn’t get to see it all but we felt that the holiday we chose did enable us to visit as many places as we could in the time allowed. There were a few overnight stops which gave us a chance to stay out late without worrying about getting back on board. We came home shattered but it was worth it!

It was a very mixed crowd onboard, when we docked in China there was a lot of locals (i assume).waiting to board and very few westerners it was chaotic and a but overwhelming. A few people from.our.cruise booked the bullet train to Beijing.whereas we.had a car booked.and enjoyed the longer trip. I believe there was a dexk 17 but cant really remember as was the end of 2019 (just as covid.was starting)

@Tara220

Thanks! That's helpful. On my Northern European MSC cruises there were a higher proportion of Chinese/Far Eastern people compared to Fred Olsen or Hurtigruten. It has been suggested that's because MSC ships have casinos, which the other two lines don't. Has anyone with more local knowledge than me got a view on this? (I don't gamble so have little direct experience.)

YouTube Cruise reviewer Gary Bembridge apparently likes Fred Olsen less than some other lines because they don't have casinos and he likes a 'flutter' when he's cruising.

This and the train - oh my goodness it’s so clean and efficient. Train is the way to go and it’s super super safe too. I would do a train trip!

I’m a big cruise fan but for Japan I felt I wouldn’t be fully immersed visiting via ship. Instead I went for a group solo escorted tour with Just You in November. Had a marvellous time, loved the bullet trains and still missing the amazing toilets! 😂

@CrystalSingerFan Do you care whether you see Japan or not? You seem more concerned about other passengers and a casino! Japan is about sampling a totally different culture and just dipping in from a cruise ship is minimizing the Japan experience. A great shame.

My apologies for being old and ill. My hopes are that I will be encouraged to return and explore the country using trains and other more local transport options.

Meanwhile, as a cruiser in northern Europe, I actually enjoy exploring the local ports such as Zeebrugge and 'Bilbao' (Getxo) without taking expensive cruise coach trips to the main tourist attractions. Can anyone tell me how that might work in Japan?

🙄

We used local taxis (which are far cheaper than at home and no tipping) together with trains and busses to do our own thing. It really was very easy and we saw and experienced amazing things. Entrance to the temples was ofen either free or just a pound or two and several times we came across coach loads of tourists who had obviously paid well above the odds for something that could easily be done independently. In Hiroshima the taxi driver who took us from the gardens to the peace park shared his grandparents story with us, it was incredibly moving. He was so friendly and very keen for us to experience the memorial for ourselves.
We don’t feel we missed out on anything by spending our nights on the ship, more the opposite as it took away the stress of packing and moving from hotel to hotel every few nights.

We are also old by the way but like you, not afraid to get out there and do things for ourselves!

@CrystalSingerFan There will be plenty of transport options that allow you to explore independently and do your own thing rather than relying on expensive excursions.

If you’re happy to do that then I don’t know that the cruise would be making the trip any simpler though. Local transport is the more complex and intimidating bit of travel in Japan (though still very doable). Inter-city travel is a doddle by comparison.

You don’t have to hotel hop every night to see lots of places. If you stayed in Tokyo, Osaka/Kyoto and Hiroshima only, there are tons of places that you can see from those cities in less time than it might take you to get from a port to a city centre in some places.