We chose this cruise for its interesting itinerary, which included calling at Petropavlovsk, Russia, en route from Tokyo to Alaska. We also had a three night pre-cruise package included.

For reasons best known to themselves Regent flew us from London Heathrow to Tokyo Narita via Doha on Qatar Airways. A rather circuitous route, when LHR to Tokyo direct would have been a much shorter flying time. It took us 25 hours from leaving home (20-minutes from LHR) to arriving at the Hilton in Tokyo. As a result we had severe jet-lag and didn’t benefit from two full days in Tokyo due to exhaustion. We managed the first half-day afternoon tour, which was rather boring and involved a lot of time driving through Tokyo traffic. The following day, having been woken in the night by constant emergency service vehicle sirens, we were unable to take the morning tour. According to the other travellers we didn’t miss anything.

Given that we chose this cruise because of time in Tokyo, the word disappointment doesn’t cover how we felt. Our spirits revived on boarding. The suite, 736, was spacious and comfortable and the crew welcoming. The three brief visits to Hitachinaka, Sendai, and Hakodate were interesting. Unfortunately our stop at Petropavlovsk was cancelled due to bad weather. All the passengers were disappointed as this was one place everyone wanted to see...after all it is a remote place that few tourists have been too. As a result we were six days at sea on a small ship with limited activities. The rain, wind and cold prevented anyone from going outside for fresh air. We were all stir-crazy by the time we reached Dutch Harbor, Unalaska. All though there were no tours on offer the local school buses were drafted in to shuttle us into the ‘town’. Not a lot to see but it was very enjoyable to walk around in the fresh air, seeing eagles, and looking around the settlement. Read more