What a trip! Japan is a beautiful place, with a long rich culture & history. Complicated, sometimes tortured, but immensely interesting - especially to a history buff like me. Only thing I would do differently is I would try to avoid the November school field trip season. The museums were particularly crowded due to the children. Having said that, they were all extremely polite, respectful & well behaved.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Smooth, quick & flawless. Our private tour dropped us at the terminal at the end of check in period, the terminal was basically empty
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Ate in the MDR every night. Good variety, excellent quality - I just wish there had been more Japanese/Asian cuisine choices
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Not a ton of activities on the ship. It wasn't an issue with this itinerary as we were in port every day
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Wonderful band from the Phillipines - B12. We caught their sets whenever we could. Also caught most of the productions in the main theatre, good quality
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Freestyle dining makes it harder to develop rapport with waiter but we found one we liked on the first day & sat in his section every night afterwards. Saurabh was the star of our cruise!
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Having one of the MDR in mid-ship always creates some logistics issues, but once you figure out which decks go all the way through, it was an easy ship to navigate
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The room as a little small for 3 adults, but we chose it for its affordability, not it's spaciousness. Port heavy itinerary, we spent little time in our cabin
Ship tip
Spend as much time as you can in the Spinnaker Lounge - Deck 12 Forward. Great views from this repurposed Observation Deck
On my last few NCL cruises, I would hang out in the spinnaker lounge every evening, enjoying a drink with the view. The servers working there after a couple of days would see me come in and ask if I wanted my usual drink.
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