The cruise docked on Kowloon a couple hundred meters from the ferry terminal there. For those that have been to Hong Kong before, there is not possibly a more attractive place to be docked. You could sit on the back of the ship in the evening and view Hong Kong's spectacular skyline. We had been there before, so we chose the 9 Dragons tour to see a bit of the New Territories. We saw a temple, which was interesting, and eschewed a second temple in favor of a very nice garden in the city. If we hadn't been there before, you easily could have just done the city on your own.

Hong Kong

We had been to Shanghai before. We choose to do it independently. The ship docks half a kilometer from the Bund and we awoke the morning of arrival to see the spectacular Pudong skyline out our window. Excursions included tours of the city, a ride on the Maglev train, and other things. We did 90% of what were offered on several of these excursions on our first day there on our own at a far lesser cost. Shanghai has an impressive subway system, and the ticket machines have English language options, which made getting from place to place easy (and insanely cheap). Cabs are plentiful and cheap as well (if not a bit harrowing). A ride from the Bund to the Maglev station cost about $5 equivalent, and took 20 minutes. Shanghai is walkable, and best experienced that way. It's one of the world's great cities, and in my opinion, was the highlight of the cruise.

Shanghai

The ship docks in Kobe, which is a modern city with decent access to other cities like Osaka and Kyoto. We booked a tour of Osaka through Oceania, which went to the Osaka castle, as well as a Buddhist/Shinto temple. It was not the best excursion, as our group was quite large, and a significant amount of time was spent going back and forth on the bus. To no fault of Oceania, unfortunately Osaka was obliterated during WWII, so the sites on the tour are reconstructions. We booked a Kyoto tour independently which was fantastic. One interesting aside was the immigration was a huge headache. Immigration officials boarded the ship and set up in the lounge. They did an infrared temperature check, followed by a face to face passport inspection. Priority was given to those on excursions, then those with independent arrangements, and finally, by floor number. We stood in a massive line. In other ports, where the passport inspection took place in a customs facility, things went much more smoothly.

Our cruise arrived in Hiroshima in the morning, and left early in the afternoon. We went to the A bomb dome as well as the Peace Memorial Park and museum. I could have used more time in the museum, but we were on a limited schedule. We also visited the Shukkeien Garden. I could have sacrificed that to instead have more time at the museum, but it honestly was a very beautiful spot, especially with the plum blossoms out, so I didn't mind too much. It does highlight the fact that Hiroshima is not just about August of 1945, and is a thriving city.

The cruise docks at Incheon, which is rather interesting. Incheon has some of the world's highest tides, and the ship must pass through a lock to get to the pier (the lock appears to be half the size of the ship, but they make it work). We went to the north, and made a brief stop at the Freedom Bridge, then moved on to the observatory where you can look across the DMZ into North Korea. They then took us to the third tunnel, a tunnel the North Koreans constructed for a possible invasion. The only issue here was that we apparently missed our appointment time and had to stand around waiting to descend on the train into the tunnel. The excursion then took as to lunch in Seoul, and concluded with 45 minutes of free time in a shopping district in Seoul that was unimpressive. I am not sure if there was more to see in Seoul or not.

The cruise is billed as Hong Kong to Beijing, but it actually docks in Tianjin. Tianjin is the closest port to Beijing, but it would be akin to docking at Virginia Beach to visit Richmond. It's a good 100 miles away, and in Beijing traffic that is not all that close. In addition, there is a ton of reclaimed land along the Yellow Sea Coast here, and the port is not all that close to the city center of Tianjin either. None of this is the fault of the cruise line, just geographic reality. We had, however visited Beijing before, and chose the Huangyaguan Great Wall excursion. It was about a 2 hour drive up there, with a stop for lunch. The restaurant was kind of typical China - fine, but not necessarily nice. The drive up was fascinating. Once we got to the wall, we were given an hour and a half of free time, which was perfect. We certainly had enough time, which is perhaps the only excursion we took where I felt we got enough time at the most interesting destination. The wall here is spectacular (more so than Badaling, I think), and it's a physically challenging walk that is well worth it. We were transported back to the ship after another long drive. This excursion was fantastic.

Some fellow family members from Chicago were sent to LA (2 days before the first day of the cruise, which is admittedly a bit complicated in light of the long flights and time zone issues) despite there being a couple of daily direct flights available to Hong Kong from Chicago.From Oceania, you will get reasonably priced luxury, excellent food, and intriguing destinations that offer you an opportunity to "travel" and not just cruise.

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