In September of 2025, I undertook a cruise around Japan starting in South Korea on board Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Spirit. The cruise departed from Incheon, Korea, and concluded in Yokohama, Japan. One of the key things about this cruise was that it also included two overnights, one at Kobe and one at Yokohama, allowing us to experience Japan after dark.

I undertook this with two friends, one who had cruised twice, on U By Uniworld’s The A and Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady. The other had taken a leap of faith, and this was his first cruise. It was also actually my longest cruise. We were all booked as solo passengers through PassionForCruises, a UK specialist in solo cruises. This gave us the benefit of all having our own cabin. We all chose balcony cabins and you can see my review of the ship in my previous post – My Norwegian Spirit Cruise : Ship Review

We landed at Incheon, which is the main Airport for Seoul and took a taxi to the ship, the travel agent had organised transfers for us but that was going to be another 45 minutes and after two flights and a six-hour connection in Istanbul, we decided to just get to the ship. Our flight was delayed, and we basically had to board the ship and within a few hours, we were on our way. So we did not take the chance to explore the local area or go into Seoul which is something we would have liked to have done.

The first stop was Yeosu, South Korea. The people at this port were so welcoming, we were originally unsure of what to do, there was a free bus organised taking you into the main city square, so we took that and had a look around, seeing historic buildings and the history of the area.

Next stop was Sasebo, Japan. This was our first Japanese port of call, and the cruise terminal was a short walk from the town. Our main, and only, aim here was to have a Sasebo Burger. This local burger gained prominence with a US Navy base in the area. It is a hamburger which has cheese, bacon and egg on. We got ours right on the waterfront, and it was excellent. We had a look around the shops and bought some things we had forgotten, namely sunglasses.

The next day we woke up in Fukuoka, Japan. Fukuoka is home to a few shrines and temples that we wanted to visit and a shopping centre with musical fountains. We hopped into a taxi and headed into the town and looked at a few temples, and visited the shopping centre. Here we did what every millennial does when on holiday and went to McDonald’s.

A highlight of the cruise was the next stop, Hiroshima, Japan. This was one of the reasons we had booked a cruise to go around Japan, the flights, hotel and travel of a land-based holiday just couldn’t compare on cost. We wouldn’t have been able to fit Hiroshima into our travels. On this day, we booked a tour on GetYourGuide, around the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Park. The Tour guide himself wasn’t the best, but he did take us to places we would have missed if we were just exploring ourselves. After the tour, we walked over directly to the Atomic Dome, a sight I never thought I would see in person. We then headed to Hiroshima Castle to have a look, we decided to not go inside but to admire it from the outside.

Moving on from Hiroshima we stopped at Kochi, Japan. We had no real plans for Kochi but were welcomed by a wonderful greeting of flag-wavers. We knew the next few days were going to be busy, so we decided to take the day to just wander around the town, we made good use of the souvenir shops, went to a locally famous bridge and visited the castle before returning to the cruise terminal, where a makers market had been set up.

Our first overnight the ship docked in Kobe, Japan which is well located for Kobe itself, Kyoto and Osaka. Upon arrival we hopped the Bullet Train (so cool) to Kyoto and headed towards the historical districts, while full of tourists, this was great to see and we enjoyed ramen in a restaurant in this area. In the afternoon, we took the train across to Nara to visit the famous Nara deer. The deer here will bow to you for food and walk amongst the city streets.

After we headed back to the ship, got changed and went out in Kobe for an evening meal, we had picked a restuarant but when we got there it was closed. Fate however decided that the lift would take us to another restaurant in the same building and the staff were able to find a place for us. Only one staff member could speak basic English (better than my Japanese) but they were more than helpful and we had an amazing meal where we cooked Kobe beef at the table. After this, we went to a few different bars around the area and returned to the ship.

The next day we were up early to head to Universal Studios Japan, one thing we were very keen for was that this trip should not be just historical monuments, castles and shrines, we had to get out and do fun things too. There were two rides I was keen on in Universal Studios – Jaws, a long-lost favourite in the Florida park, and Jurassic Park the Ride, as I love the film. We also wanted to make it to Super Nintendo Land, however arranging tickets was complex and the park was busy. We decided with our limited time to head across to Osaka itself and head to the Umeda Sky Building to get a view over the city. The Umeda Sky Building is two forty-story towers connected at the top. After this, a food break and some retail therapy, we headed back to the ship in time for our departure.

After two days in Kobe our next stop was Nagoya, Japan. After two busy days, we decided this should be a relaxing visit, we had looked at visiting the Toyota museum but decided against it and went to the aquarium that the ship docked next to. Which also gave you access to an Ice Breaker and the Nagoya Maritime Museum. These were all along the quayside which made it the perfect activity after a busy few days.

The next stop was Shimizu, Japan, which is the stop for Mount Fuji. Mount Fuji is famously hard to see with low cloud coverage on most days. So we awoke at 5am to head up on deck and make sure we could see it. Upon arrival at the port this is where we took one of the cruise line’s tours, a coach trip to see the best sites for Mount Fuji. This tour had an excellent guide and got us some spectacular views.

Our final stop was Yokohama, Japan, which was another overnight. Unfortunatly due to port congestion, we were a little further out than we expected. Upon arrival we went over to visit the Historic Ocean Liner Hikawa Maru which was a Pacific Ocean liner for NYK Lines and had its maiden voyage in 1930 from Kobe to Seattle. She has been a museum ship since 1961 in Yokohama. I will cover Hikawa Maru in more detail in a future post.

After this, we headed into Tokyo itself, it can be quite overwhelming with the size of the city and we even wanted to spend some time in Yokohama but hadn’t had the chance. We went straight to Shibuya crossing, the famous junction in Japan and walked straight across and through the neighbouring area, we stopped at an excellent restaurant for Gyozas, before heading to a rooftop to have a beer and watch the view. After this, we headed back to the ship, which took a lot longer than expected, to get changed and return to Tokyo for an evening meal and drinks. We headed to Memory Lane, which is a traditional area, of dense buildings with restaurants and bars. Here we had some food and beers before later heading to Shinjuku for a rooftop bar. The lights of Tokyo were truly amazing. We did miss the last train back to the ship, enjoying the rooftop views and drinks too much and had to get a very expensive but very comfortable taxi.

The next day was check-out day, and we had a late flight that evening, so we booked a hotel in Tokyo by the main station as a base for the day. With all our belongings, we hopped a taxi to the hotel which allowed early check-in, great for storing our belongings. Then we went to McDonalds and the Tokyo Skytree, the tallest structure in Tokyo this gives an excellent view over the city and the scale of it. A quick nap and shower later and we were ready to head to the airport. The hotel was conveniently next to a train station with direct airport access, so we jumped the train and made our way back to the UK via Doha, Qatar, flying first on Japan Airlines 787 and then Qatar’s A380.

We chose to do a cruise in Japan as it was all our first time visiting, by travelling at night while we were asleep, we got to see more in a shorter time period. This particular cruise also had two overnights, allowing us to experience more of Japan. The total cost of the cruise was £2600, and I had around £800 of expenses from Taxi rides, excursions, eating and drinking out and the night in a hotel. We could not have achieved food, drink, hotel room each, flights and travel at this cost doing a land-based holiday.

I have previously covered Norwegian Spirit here, a ship I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thanks,

Liam