Cruises offer an easier, cheaper way to see Japan

NAGASAKI, JAPAN -- Two days ago, Peter Harrington and his fellow Diamond Princess passengers were touring one of Japan's most carefree cities: palm-tree-lined Kagoshima. Two days before that, they were in the fun-focused spa town of Beppu. But today is reserved for one of the country's more solemn destinations: Nagasaki.

"It's something everyone should see," says the 53-year-old management consultant from Sydney, pausing to talk just steps from the spot where an atomic bomb detonated in 1945, killing nearly 75,000 people.

As a Japanese tour guide arranged by Princess Cruises leads Harrington and other English-speaking passengers into the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, which documents the horrors of the attack, he says it has been an eye-opening day. And he says he has Princess to thank for it.

"It can be daunting for a non-Japanese speaker to get around Japan," he says. "This ship has taken us to a lot of places I probably never would have gone to otherwise."

Call it a new way to visit Japan. After years of expansion across the Pacific, California-based Princess has become the first major international cruise line to offer an extended season of voyages around the country.

Sailing out of Yokohama (near Tokyo) from May through September, the 2,670-passenger Diamond Princess is operating nine-night trips that deliver vacationers to such iconic Japanese destinations as Nagasaki and temple-filled Kyoto (via the port of Kobe).

Like cruises elsewhere, the new voyages offer vacationers the chance to travel to multiple destinations without having to change hotels or navigate the local transportation system — a proposition that is particularly appealing in a land where English isn't widely spoken and signs often are just a jumble of Japanese kanji.

The sailings also offer a relatively affordable way to tour a country known as one of the world's most expensive. Hotels in Japan can run several hundred dollars a night, and restaurants are famously pricey. Fares for nine-night Japan sailings on the Diamond Princess, by contrast, start at just $1,009 per person — or about $112 a night for a room, meals and transportation around Japan combined.

"It's a good value," says passenger Rebecca Thompson, 53, of Los Angeles, who is here with her husband and two kids.

Asian touches

Thompson is on a ferry ride across the harbor of Kagoshima, part of a Princess-organized tour of the city that includes a visit to its famed Sengen-en Gardens and Sakura Jima volcano. In Beppu, she and other passengers visit such attractions as "the hells," a succession of geothermal sites featuring bubbly hot springs, geysers and mud pots.

Unlike Kyoto or Nagasaki, they're not Japan's most famous destinations, but they offer a glimpse into Japanese life.

"It's interesting that the culture is so old, but the cities are so new," Thompson says. "In a lot of ways, they seem more modern than U.S. cities."

Princess first dipped a toe into Japan cruising last year with a handful of sailings on one of its smallest ships, the 2,022-passenger Sun Princess. But this is the first year the company has made a sizeable commitment to the market with the deployment of the larger Diamond Princess as well as the Sun Princess for nearly half the year.

The 10-year-old Diamond Princess has a distinct Japanese flavor — the result of a massive makeover in drydock earlier this year. Among several new features are an extensive traditional Japanese bath area — a first for a cruise ship — as well as an à la carte sushi restaurant. Menus in its main restaurants and Horizon Court buffet feature Japanese items, such as miso soup and noodles, alongside Western fare.

Some of the new features were designed specifically to lure Japanese vacationers, who until now haven't cruised in great numbers. But they're proving popular with Princess' traditional Western customers, too.

At $20 a visit, the Japanese baths, called Izumi, are drawing interest from both groups, although some Westerners are finding it a tad too authentic. Holding true to the long Japanese tradition of Onsen bathing, Princess requires passengers to disrobe completely when entering the baths, which have separate areas for men and women.

"I don't want to get naked with people I might see again. Sorry — that's me," quips Stephen Neal, 53, of Gold Beach, Australia.

Still, speaking in the Wheelhouse Bar, where a musical duo has drawn a mostly Japanese crowd, Neal says he's loving some of the other Japan-themed changes to the ship, particularly the addition of Japanese cuisine.

One noticeable difference on board is that — in a nod to the local market — announcements are in both Japanese and English, as is much of the entertainment.

It's just 'a taste'

Initially, Princess had planned to fill a large number of cabins with Japanese vacationers. But demand from the local market has been slow to take hold, even as Princess' traditional customers from English-speaking countries have showed more interest than expected. On this voyage, just 333 of 1,597 passengers are from Japan, while more than 800 are from North America, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. There also are several hundred Europeans and South Americans on board..

If Princess' new Japan departures have a flaw, it's that many of them take place during the country's rainy season of June and early July, when the weather can be dreary. The sailings also can be affected by the typhoons that roll through the region from May through October. Just last month, Typhoon Neoguri forced the Diamond Princess to skip an overnight visit to Kobe, Japan -- gateway to highlight-of-the-trip Kyoto.

Another drawback to the sailings is that the ships sometimes arrive at terminals far from city centers. In ports such as Kagoshima, Princess has had to arrange lengthy shuttle rides for passengers to reach interesting areas. When combined with relatively tight port calls — in Beppu, passengers get just 61/2 hours on land — the result can be limited time to explore.

"All these cruises do is give you a taste of a country," Thompson notes. "It's never as in-depth an experience as when you travel by land."

Still, she's upbeat about the trip. "For areas such as Japan, where it's hard to get around, a cruise is a great way to go."

If you go ...

Princess Cruises is the only line catering to English-speaking vacationers with regular sailings around Japan. As of this year, the company's 2,670-passenger Diamond Princess is operating three- to 27-night Japan voyages from Yokohama (near Tokyo) between April and October as well as a handful of four- to 10-night Japan voyages from Kobe and Hakata. In 2014 only, Princess also is offering seven-night Japan sailings out of Otaru on a second ship, the 2,022-passenger Sun Princess. Fares for the most common, nine-night sailings start at $1,009 per person, based on double occupancy. Information: 800-774-6237; princess.com

Also offering a handful of Japan sailings is Celebrity Cruises. The line's Celebrity Millennium will operate three 14-night Northeast Asia cruises between Yokohama and other Asia ports this fall that will include multiple stops in Japan as well as China. In 2015, the ship will sail a 14-night Japan and China cruise out of Yokohama that includes stops at four Japanese ports. Fares start at $1,549 per person. Information: 800-647-2251; celebritycruises.com

Several other cruise lines catering to North American travelers including Cunard, Holland America, Regent Seven Seas and Oceania have ships that visit Japan briefly during segments of annual around-the-world cruises.

For a deck-by-deck tour of the Japan-based Diamond Princess, click through the photo gallery below.