Thoroughly enjoyed this cruise and would do it again. Very convenient way to get a taste of the ports visited. My previous cruises in Europe have been very busy with port visits almost every day. This one with its good ratio of port to sea days (appx 1:1) was much more relaxing, and the ports being exotic were of course very interesting. One did get a bit Buddha/temple saturated towards the end, although it was interesting to compare the different cultures and way of life in these ports. I have only done three cruises in total now, all on Princess vessels, so i am not in a position to compare the way they do things to other lines. However, if I hadn't been satisfied I wouldn't go back on their ships. Other companies may well be better though. This cruise sounded like excellent value for money, and had interesting ports of call at a convenient time for me. Being out of summer holiday periods on either hemisphere and of a duration of more than 2 weeks militated more towards an older cruise age range than I have been accustomed to, but with it, more old-fashioned manners and mutual consideration although I have to say the few honeymooners, and relative youngsters were all charming and the 25 or so minors on board were without exception delightful in the opinion of this author.

Near 75% of the passengers in approximately equal numbers were domiciled in the US, UK, Australia and Canada, some of whom had joined in North America as the ship repositioned from its North West American season to South East Asia with the former's impending Winter.

The weather was excellent, especially in the more temperate cities (Beijing, Busan, Nagasaki, Shanghai and Hong Kong). It rained heavily in Nha Trang, and again on the day of our arrival in Singapore, and there was a brief heavy shower or two on two of the sea days, but even I who tans with difficulty arrived back acceptably bronzed. Read more