My family of 4 chose this cruise mainly because we wanted to visit Japan, next thing was because we wanted to experience a 5 star cruise.
Embarkation at Baoshan port, Shanghai was a true nightmare. It took us nearly 3 hours to get on the ship. Chinese shore staff didn't speak English or pay attention to who we were. Since we were also Asians, they kept pointing us to the long queue line of Chinese people while Western people were allowed to the International Passengers Queue Line. I tried to talk to them but they ignored me. We were pushed by so many Chinese people and went deeper into the crowd. The customs procedure had many unnecessary steps.
However, embarkation and disembarkation at Japan ports were so much smoother and faster.
Perfect.
Embarkation and disembarkation at Shanghai were terrible. It took nearly 3 hours to embark and 1.5 hours to disembark. None of that was the cruise's fault.