The strengths: Clean ship with competent and courteous personnel, Cruise itinerary that is interesting and difficult to find with competitors, excellent lectures when "at sea", the cuisine was good as was the service . The on-board entertainment was quite good.

The downsides: the pre-cruise 2-night package was outrageously expensive and did not include a transfer from the airport to the supposedly premium hotel - very poor value for money. The excursions were very high priced and the majority were of poor quality - several tour guides were very challenged in English and had very marginal knowledge of the subjects being covered; some itineraries were very weak, one well subscribed tour was cancelled because of a scheduling error and another took us to see an operating ceramic factory on Sunday - when it was closed! (Several passengers who have travelled with them many times said they never purchase a shore excursion because they can do it much better by themselves and at a much lower cost). The ship is not comfortable in rougher weather

One port stop, Ishigaki, was aborted because of an electrical problem on the ship that delayed the departure from the previous port.