This was my seventh cruise (all over the last ten years) and probably my favourite. I think Princess has "ruined" my husband and me for P&O, because after experiencing what a cruise can be like with Princess, we won't be going back to P&O.

We had a narrow "window" of time to work with, and chose this cruise because we were able to fly in and out of Japan on frequent flyer points. The cruise, being five nights, was not really long enough (an extra couple of days would have been super!), but it was just lovely!

Probably around 75-80% of passengers were Japanese (makes sense given the location), and I found learning a little of the language and culture to be a delight. The rest of the passengers were mainly from the U.S., U.K., Australia and various European countries. This is probably not an ideal cruise for those who want a "party boat", although there were opportunities on board to do that. The demographic was largely people in their fifties and older, with obviously some families and younger couples. It was quiet and relaxing, just what we needed. Read more