I thought Japan would be exotic beauty with Japanese gardens manicured and admired by all. The itenerary is weak. Cities visited are basically uninteresting and there is no particular beauty in anything that we visited. We went to Sapporo and spent the day wandering around looking for something to do. May have been my fault, but it was pretty uninteresting overall.

Russia is a horrible stop. The Diamond Princess is geared toward Japanese cruisers which is okay, but needs to be considered if you plan to take this cruise. The entertainment staff onboard was really good the production numbers were exceptional. Especially the Bravo show. Awesome performance. The other production numbers are really older Princess shows that have been replaced on most other cruises. The Piazza is small and there is no International Cafe. So, after eleven each night, there is nowhere to get anything to eat. Nowhere! Amazing...cruises are know for food normally...but I was told that Japanese people do not like to eat late at night. O well...better for my health, but not so much fun.