Samurai Shrines & Straits – Hakodate, Busan & Kobe

About this cruise

You won't run out of things to do on a trip this long, but you also won't feel like you have to do any of them. 11 nights from Tokyo on June 3, 2028, visiting Hakodate, Niigata and Busan, with additional stops along the Japan, Korea, China & Taiwan. There's a stretch of back-to-back port days, so those days are busy, but the sea days around them give you time to recharge. Karaoke bars, hot springs, and temples draped in moss. East Asia does culture and chaos in equal measure. Most ports give you about 9 hours, so you can do more than just tick off the main sights. As for the ship itself, You won't go hungry on Sapphire Princess. 7 restaurants come with the fare, plus 7 more when you feel like treating yourself. By night three you start recognising faces; by night ten you're swapping numbers. That's the magic of a longer sailing. It's peak season, so the weather is at its best and the ship will be full. That's part of the fun. Whether you've cruised before or not, this 11-night itinerary is a genuinely good one.