We had not been to Japan. The date & itinerary were what we were looking for. There was a terrible problem with whether we needed a visa for China. Every time I called, which had to be at least a dozen times, I got a different answer. I called my travel agent 4 times. She told me we didn't need a visa but knew I must be concerned for a reason. She called visa central and was told we needed a visa. I called visa central & got different answers. We decided that we better to be safe. It cost us about $300. On board they after about 3 days they said we could get a group visa for $10/person if we booked a shore excursion with them.

The ship was fine. The cabin was good. There was no place to ballroom dance in the evening before 10PM, a big disappointment. The food was disappointing. The shows were very good except for a terrible comedian. Only time I have seen so many people walk out. The service was slow at the late seating. Our room steward was nice & good but had a hard time getting Ice. He couldn't have cleaned very well because we found a purse and tote left behind from previous cruisers. Loved Taiwan, Okinawa, Shanghai, Kobe (Nara) & Tokyo. Didn't make Nagasaki because we ran into fog in Shanghai & the pilot couldn't get off the boat. We were over 9 hours stuck in port. We had to go through immigration in Osaka because we didn't in Nagasaki. It was a nightmare. Didn't have enough time in Kyota. Lunch a hotel was mediocre.