Things good and things needing improvement.

The cruise was around the perimeter of Japan, stopping off at 13 ports over 18 days.

At this time of the year, Japan is very hot and humid, requiring careful planning and lots of water. We went on about half of the excursions offered, and if you are interested in historical events, were quite acceptable. On occasions the guides were mediocre, other times, brilliant. We traveled to Mt Fuji, and were rewarded with a glimpse of the peak, which we now understand to be rare during the summer. Our worst experiences were on board where all drinks were in US dollars, plus 15%, which for Australians is a killer. The wines were sold at grossly over inflated prices. We drank Korbel Brut, shop price $13 AUD, on board at $32.40 US = $42.60 AUD. That is an unnecessarily >200% hike.Talk about a rip off!

The ship itself was a wonder and brilliantly sailed by the invisible crew.

Embarkation and disembarkation was impeccably smooth, as is usual with Princess.

We found the compulsory emergency procedure, boring, too long and really an accident waiting to happen, if there was ever a real emergency.

Waiting for late passengers, in excursion buses, was another annoyance, which needs to be attended to by Princess.

I believe that Princess are too interested in selling their goods and services to passengers in order the cream the most they can out of them.

Beware of the art auctions on board. Most of us are not connoisseurs of art and are easily attracted to pictures, which are mostly Giclee on canvas prints and overpriced. Google the word it will amaze you.

One surprisingly good effort by Princess, is that there was no occurence of the Noro virus on board, well done.