Fall Foliage Cruise Around Japan

Item: Norwegian Spirit
Rating: 4.5
Author: RaymondoCoombo

Norwegian Spirit Cruise Review

RaymondoCoombo

Contributor Level: Second Mate

71 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 3

Helpful Votes: 12

Overall rating:

4.5 out of 5

12 Night Japan: Fall Foliage (Yokohama Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 23, 2024

Ship: Norwegian Spirit

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 6566

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 month ago

Review summary

This 12 night cruise around Japan is an excellent way to see the best of Japan. However some would be disappointed to miss Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and an overnight in Osaka in order to include Kyoto etc. Because of a hot summer, autumn colours were not experienced in the south which peek approx two weeks later. Some passengers were confused by the Tokyo base, when many other cruise lines operate out of Yokohama. The afternoon visit to Busan (South Korea) and night-time sail-out is pure magic!

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Norwegian Spirit is a beautiful ship that has been recently refurbished ( at great cost) but has a few design problems. Having both the Stardust Theatre and the Main Windows Dining Room at the aft with no through access along deck 6 creates a traffic flow problem. The walkways through deck 7 become too congested. There are insufficient lounge areas as previous lounges have been turned into specialty restaurants. Although the Spinnaker Lounge is a beautiful forward area, it was sometimes booked for private functions leaving no real alternative. Areas were always clean.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Our Oceanview stateroom was quite adequate and well serviced. However the TV menu lacked any news channels. I believe this is a problem unique to Japan due to NCL’s current communication contract. But to have no BBC, CNN, Sky, Fox or Discovery channel is appalling!

Ship tip

NCL’s Shore Tours ( although well organised and usually relevant to best tourism interests) are very expensive and in most destinations you can organise your own activities at a third of the cost and based on local advise and maps provided when you disembark. Taxis are always available. Local bus or tram services are cheap and efficient.

Thumbs up

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

5 Comments

CruiseFan5 1 month ago

Thanks for your review. We will board the ship on 26th November

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Gwbigdog 1 month ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us

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javawoody 1 month ago

Appreciate the post

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bubbles60 1 month ago

Glad you had a good vacation. We are always pleased with NCL.

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cruising2004 1 month ago

Thank you for your review. Glad you had a wonderful cruise.

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Other reviews of this sailing

awful from the beginning--the wrong embarkation information