My choice of cruise is determined by destination and as I wanted to visit Japan without packing and unpacking I chose a cruise on the Diamond Princess. This was the only cruise that offered lots of ports even though it would not be my first choice of time of year owing to heat and humidity. Because we had previously cruised with Cunard and P&O (amongst others) we qualified for ruby level although it was our first time with the Princess line.

I got off to a bad start with Princess when I enquired what trips were available for the second stop at Yokohama. I was told that there wasn’t even a shuttle available. When I followed this up and asked to put through to someone more senior suddenly there was a choice of excursions. Surely I should be informed of them automatically. We received no information about the availability of a land tour prior to the cruise.

I had read reviews that made reference to the number of Japanese passengers which I thought would add to the richness of the experience. Little did I realise that this would have a considerable impact on our trip. For example the “western” breakfast menu in the dining room was the most limited of any cruise I had taken. We were happy with second sitting for dinner but first sitting was not an option in order to cater for the Japanese passenger preferences. Previous cruises on the Diamond Princess offered some open dining but not on the cruise. At lunch and dinner the choice was good until it was repeated. Read more