Japan by Sea – I Took a Cruise Like No Other (American Ship)

ad – This content was created on a press trip (similar to those travel agents and journalists take). All thoughts and opinions are my own.

When you think of cruising, you probably imagine Caribbean beaches or glaciers in Alaska. My recent cruise was nothing like that – it couldn’t have been more different.

I spent 11 days cruising around Japan on an American cruise ship and there were surprises every single day. Not just on the ship but on land as well.

On paper this cruise was a dream come true but I was nervous, there were so many things that could go wrong and I was travelling 3000 miles to board the ship.

The ship I was sailing on was Norwegian’s oldest and smallest, so I hoped that I would like her as much as the newer, bigger ships.

I had no idea who else would be on this cruise. I wasn’t sure what the food or entertainment would be like, and I hoped that I wasn’t setting myself up for failure because I had planned a very busy schedule. I didn’t want to waste a minute.

For years I’ve wanted to sail on the Norwegian Spirit, she was the first ship I ever cruised on and I had so much fun on that first cruise

When I saw that she was sailing in Japan I knew that I had to get onboard. It was my dream destination and I hoped I’d be able to relive the excitement of my first cruise.

I didn’t know if that was possible of course, because I was 11 and everything is so exciting when you’re that age.

I definitely felt that feeling when I first saw the ship in Tokyo though. When we walked into the terminal to board, it was so cool – and such a relief that I had the ship was really there.

I did go to an event a day early once by mistake, and ever since, I’ve quadruple-checked the date of everything but still never trust it completely until I can see the ship with my own eyes. 

Embarkation was exactly how I expected a Japanese embarkation to be, very efficient, friendly and fast. I hoped that this good service would be a sign of things to come on the ship, but as with any cruise I take, there were plenty of conflicting online reviews.

Our boarding time was 11:30 am, which meant that we were onboard for lunch and there was no doubt in my mind where I wanted to go.

Ever since that first cruise I’ve been a massive fan of what is now called “The Local”. It’s a bar and grill that’s open 24/7. I decided to start my cruise off in style by ordering a cheeseburger and fries – not very Japanese I know but it’s what I wanted.

All of the food there is included in the cruise fare, and there are plenty of options, such as hot dogs, salads, sandwiches, and chicken wings. Looking around the restaurant, I was amazed by how modern it looked.

The ship was launched in 1998 which does make her pretty old by cruise ship standards, but this space didn’t feel it at all. I’ve been on ships 20 years younger that felt much older than this part of the ship did. 

Norwegian had spent a whopping 100 million dollars refurbishing the ship since I was last onboard so it made sense that she felt all shiny and new.

I was looking forward to seeing if the rest of the ship felt like this too. 1998 might not feel that long ago, but things have changed a lot. Back then Google only processed 10,000 questions a day, now it does 3.5 billion…

I remember the ship being so bright and colourful with shells and fish everywhere. It might sound nice and I do personally love it but it’s definitely not what is currently in fashion. 

One of my favourite parts of cruising is when you first get onboard a new ship and you get to run around and explore everything. Our lunch had given us all the fuel we needed so we headed up to the top deck.

This was so easy compared to on some of the biggest cruise ships and the whole ship felt bright and modern, I loved the lights on the ceiling. Norwegian Spirit is under half the size of the biggest cruise ship in Norwegian’s fleet the Norwegian Encore that I sailed on to Alaska earlier in the year. 

Have a look at Norwegian’s biggest ship, Encore, here:

On the top deck we found people enjoying the sunshine and a band playing by the pool, this would be a common occurrence and something I always enjoyed.

The pool deck has a lovely big pool in the middle and there was always a lifeguard on duty, it was a bit chilly on this cruise so I didn’t see many people swimming, but the lifeguard was always there.

There were hot tubs too and a bar on this level and the upper level. 

Wandering upwards we headed towards the back of the ship and it was here I noticed the first big change from when I was onboard before.

Back when I was 11, there was a waterpark here called “Buccaneers Wet and Wild”. I used to love that, but I was so impressed by this space now.

It’s been transformed into an adults-only area called Spice H20, and the sun loungers looked so comfy.

I am a massive fan of a tiered aft like this and it’s nice of Norwegian to make this area more adult as I’ve got more adult. I know they didn’t do it for me of course, but it does suit me nicely. 

By now, it was time for what is called a Muster Drill. It’s the safety drill you have to do by law when boarding a cruise ship, and because we’d already watched the safety video on our phones we could just go to our Muster Station to check in.

Find out everything you need to know about Muster Drills here:

What is a Muster Drill on a Cruise? Everything You Need to Know (REVIEW of Traditional and Virtual Muster Drills)

My Muster station was on the promenade deck by the pub. Those are three words I love to hear when somebody is talking about a cruise ship – promenade deck and pub. They don’t normally go together, but I love it when they do. 

This deck wraps right the way around the ship and you can see out from every side. I love doing laps on a promenade when I can and I love this one, it’s a classic cruise ship feature. Find out more here:

Cruise Ship Promenade Decks – Photos, Uses, and History

Lots of the public spaces and restaurants look out onto the promenade, too, so I’d often sit inside and watch people doing their laps. There is a track for running up on the top deck as well as a gym. 

Our cruise was taking up to a whopping nine ports and this was such a pinch me moment, it felt as though I had come full circle from my first cruise.

I’m just always so grateful and happy that I was born at a time when travel is possible and in a world where I could see Japan. I couldn’t believe I was there, it was incredible. 

I do wonder what 11-year-old me would think of me telling you about this. She’d probably think, “What is YouTube?” and “Who are you talking to?” – but she’d be very happy that I’m still cruising. 

Heading inwards, we found this incredible atrium. It’s right in the middle of the ship and does feel like the ships heart, this is the main focal area.

She used to have big staircases here with a water feature and a piano and I have to admit when I first saw photos of this massive TV screen I didn’t really understand it. I thought it seemed a shame to rip out of those lovely staircases.

As the cruise went on, and I saw how this space was used, it started to make more and more sense. It’s still a very very impressive atrium, don’t get me wrong, I was just very attached to those stairs (not literally of course!) 

On the lower level, there was a cafe serving Starbucks drinks, as well as the Reception and excursions desk. On the level above were the shops and a bar called Magnum’s Champagne and wine bar. 

Up until now the cruise ship all felt very familiar, newer for sure but still familiar. They announced that our cabins were ready, and this is where things got very unfamiliar very fast.

The last time I was onboard I stayed in the cheapest inside cabin, but this time I had the best cabin on the entire ship.

My cabin had a doorbell – and if you can believe it, a bath! I was so happy as soon as I set my eyes on this, I’ve always dreamed of having a bath on a cruise. I never dreamed of having one with such a view though!

A little later in the cruise I actually did a live stream on this YouTube channel from the bath and it was great for that – who knew?

Off to the side were all of our towels and the most amazing robes. This got me thinking about how many towels there must be on the ship and how much washing they must have to do.

A weird thought I know, but for once on this cruise I’d actually be able to find out because I’d booked a behind-the-scenes tour and it was so much better than I ever imagined.

It was probably the favourite cruise ship activity I’ve ever taken part in, but I am definitely a cruise ship nerd and I have no shame around that, I love ships and how they work.

The Norwegian Spirit serves over 9000 meals every single day. Thinking about that just blows my mind.

Believe it or not, it was time for my next meal, and we went to a restaurant called Silk. At the moment, this one is included in the cruise fare, but in future, it is going to be an extra charge speciality restaurant.

There are lots of speciality restaurants onboard Norwegian Spirit, and every person I spoke to onboard said that they had a couple included as part of a booking promotion. 

I also had a couple included for my loyalty status with Norwegian, so that was a nice bonus. I do get a free bag of laundry, too, and I always make sure I use that. I appreciated it more than ever after seeing inside the laundry later in the cruise. 

Silk is an Asian fusion restaurant and the food here was fantastic, I loved it, 10/10 – couldn’t have been better.

The service was great and while we sat here we could hear the Teppanyaki restaurant, if you’ve ever been to Teppanyaki you’ll know why we could hear it, it’s more of a show than just a meal. I had that one booked for later in the cruise.

After dinner on cruises, my favourite thing to do is to go to the theatre, but first I’d heard that there was a show happening outside.

As we sailed away from Tokyo, there were people playing music for us, they were waving, and it was just so lovely. I always find the people in Japan so welcoming of tourists and it made me so excited to be heading off on this cruise. 

They played a medley of all kinds of songs, and I believe that they were from a local university. I wonder how that conversation goes down: “Are you free Wednesday?” “Yeah, why?” “Want to go play some music near a cruise ship?” “Sure!”

We did have lots of our own music inside the ship, of course, and the main venue for evening entertainment was the theatre. 

There were usually two shows in here in the evening and the first night we saw an acrobatic couple, it wasn’t really my thing, but they were very good.

We saw a violinist and a magician too on another night. I’m a big fan of shows that have singing and dancing. I love costumes and set pieces, so I was hoping for more like that as the cruise went on. 

Before Norwegian owned this cruise ship, it was owned by Star Cruises. They used to have a real-life tiger onboard the ship, who would be bought into the theatre.

I’m glad they don’t do that anymore, I can’t imagine a cruise ship is a nice place for a tiger. Norwegian don’t do that, of course. All their performers are human – or at least they look human to me. 

The theatre itself I absolutely love, it felt like a real grand theatre, the seats were comfortable and there are cup holders. I know that’s a small thing, but it makes a difference, otherwise I get a chilly hand from holding my drink. We didn’t have to arrive very early to get a seat and the bar service was always good.

On this cruise, I booked six days of cruise line excursions, and most of them started fairly early, so we decided to have a quick drink and then head to bed.

I of course was being called by my bath too, it was saying to me “Emma… come have a bath”, which I did and it was phenomenal. Life changing, honestly. I’m not sure what I’ll do when I’m back in an inside cabin next time. I might have to bring a little paddling pool. (I am kidding of course, please don’t do that.)

Our first excursion was in the port of Shimizu where we went to see Mount Fuji, we were Incredibly lucky to not have any clouds or fog in the way at all.

You might notice that there was no snow on top of Mount Fuji, and as we visited in November, that is pretty rare. It was the first time in 130 years, apparently. 

After seeing Mount Fuji we went onto a beach and I bought my fortune. One of the pages just seemed to be compliments but there were predictions for absolutely every area of my life.

I’m not sure whose contract I’m signing but you’d better watch out, the fortune has told me what to do.

In Nagoya and Osaka we visited temples and castles, I tried my hand at one of the machines but sadly didn’t win a crying banana – I felt like the crying banana.

There are so many grand incredible things to see and do but if you are in Japan you don’t have to do anything for it to be the most amazing time. Simple things like buying a drink, using a vending machine or going to  a public toilet are all so much fun. 

If you’ve not been to Japan to go to the toilet yet, buy a ticket and do it! 

After our busy days exploring on excursions we would often come back for a buffet lunch. The buffet was open pretty much all of the time and we always found something that suited whatever mood we were in.

I thought the buffet was a pretty good size considering the smaller size of the ship and we were always able to get a seat. We did often eat out the back though, because the weather was lovely. 

They had juices available here all day and I’d usually make my own squash out of the cranberry juice or other fruit juices. They had machines in the buffet as well as out by the pool so we could always get a drink whenever we wanted to.

Looking at the videos I took it seems as though I was in the mood for poppadoms pretty much every single day, regardless of what else I ate. That sounds about right. You can’t beat mango chutney. 

I wasn’t planning on sunbathing by the pool but as the sun came out we did spend a lot of time at this pool at the back. 

It was a popular place to be but the ship never felt busy at all. That is one of the benefits of taking a cruise where there are different nationalities onboard. Everybody is nicely spread out with different interests.

If it’s an all-British cruise, often the pub gets very crowded. Australians seem to like the casino.

In some places could have had ten seats to ourselves in most lounges if we wanted them. The beer garden, for example was a lovely bar that overlooked the pool deck.

On one side was the smoking area, and the other side was smoke-free. I sat up here one day when they had a BBQ on the deck below it was so much fun to watch everybody having a good time.

The music was great and they bought on some local food for everybody to try. 

Coke Zero wasn’t always available at all of the bars but it was consistently available in the beer garden, so we’d usually come here at some point in the day if we wanted to pick up a can or two.

I’m happy to say that Japanese Coke with laxative properties, “Coke Plus” wasn’t ever onboard, which was a relief!

This bar is another area that looks so modern to me. I really don’t think that the age of a ship matters, the things you interact with on a cruise are the carpets, the chairs, the cushions and curtains, it isn’t the actual steel of the ship. 

There are, of course, some areas that are timeless and haven’t had any changes since I was onboard at age 11 – one of those being the pub.

I’m not sure what it is about the pub style, but it is just what it is, you can’t improve on this, even modern pubs aren’t modern.

I knew I’d have to come back to the pub later when it was open one evening, but for now, I was just so excited to have some time to explore the ship. 

We found the casino, which really has a wow factor, and the social club bar at the back. There are some funny photos and quotes in here and they’d often do crafts or karaoke.

I’m convinced some people onboard never found this area at all, but it was well worth finding, especially to find the quote, “Don’t sweat petty things and don’t pet sweaty things”. 

So far I was happy with all of the food onboard, but I was excited to see what extra the speciality restaurants could bring.

The prices on the menus aren’t cheap, but I’m pretty sure that most people use a dining package, so they just pay a fixed price for the meal. These seem to be included in most bookings, but guests can buy a dining package separately if they want to. 

The first on my list was the Italian restaurant Onda, followed by the French restaurant Le Bistro. I’ve been to both of these before on other ships so I knew I had to pace myself, it’s very easy to fill up on the bread because the bread is amazing but so is the rest of the food. 

I did end up skipping starters sometimes, like in Cagney’s, because I wanted to prioritise having room for dessert over having a starter.

I didn’t want to fill up on lettuce and not have room for chocolate cake. I was once again defeated by the seven layer chocolate cake but it was worth a go. 

Norwegian are the most flexible, freestyle cruise line, and there are no formal nights at all. Generally speaking, as long as you’re dressed, you’re good to go.

For the main dining rooms there are no specific dining times, you just show up when you are hungry and that’s it, it’s easy peasy.

For the speciality restaurants you book a time and can do it on the app or by asking the crew.

They are popular, so make sure you book the slots as soon as possible, or you might end up eating at less desirable times. I say that the least popular time to dine is 5:30, so that one is always left, but that is my ideal dinner time. 

The food in Le Bistro, Onda and Cagneys was fantastic, and the service was always great. I always left feeling very full so I’d often walk around the top decks to try and make my food go down. While up there I’d normally stop into the observation lounge.

This is probably my favourite bar on the ship, it has windows on all three sides and so many seats. There would be something happening in here every single evening and it was so nice to see everybody up dancing on the dance floor.

When they did gameshows here, they would be recorded and shown on the cabin TV, which was a nice touch.

Audience participation is my worse nightmare, and watching a gameshow from my cabin seemed like far enough away. I am kidding of course, there were loads of seats where you could sit a little further out from the action and seats around at the back too.

The lounge felt modern and we enjoyed many evenings here, I loved all the cushions too I felt like I could snuggle down here with a drink and catch up with some things just while enjoying the music. 

The observation lounge is right at the front and in all the corridors the fish on the floor point forward which I love, my cabin was forwards the front so if I was ever in doubt I could just follow the fish there.

It’s so simple but it saves time when you don’t keep going the wrong way and having to go back again. 

On this day in Osaka we were actually docked overnight. We had two days in port. When a cruise ship docks overnight, you can come and go whenever you’d like so lots of people went out for their dinner or to experience Japanese nightlife.

Because it was warm outside, I could wander around in a dress and that was perfect. As we had no excursion booked for the next day I decided I’d give it a go.

Japan is very easy to get around by yourself and we decided to walk to the local train station. It’s easy to just press the English button on the machines and to put in coins or notes to buy a ticket.

All the things you need are in English, and I don’t know if I can say every single person in Japan is friendly and helpful, but every person I’ve ever interacted with has been.

The trains are on time, they’re clean, and they even have different handles at different heights, which is so helpful, why don’t we have that on the tube?

We went to do some shopping and I found the most amazing display of socks ever, isn’t this amazing?. 7/11 in Japan is worth a trip by itself, theres one on every corner and they are so interesting.

You could leave me in there for 6 hours and I wouldn’t be bored. I have lost count of how many we went in and how many random things we bought but it was so much fun. We don’t have 7/11 in England actually, so I tend to think of it as an American thing, and now Japanese! 

Compared to England everything felt much cheaper, my train ticket was less than £2 each way.

A can of Coke Zero from a vending machine was 60p, and my ticket on the Ferris wheel was just £4. I’m convinced this would be £20 if it was somewhere else.

There was no queue at all when we went on, and seeing the ship from up high was so much fun. Everybody looked like little ants wandering around the pool deck. It was so cute.

We sailed away in the early afternoon and went to the main dining room for our 5 pm dinner. Some would call that a late lunch, but for me, that’s the perfect dinner time.

At the back of the ship there are amazing huge windows, it is the most grand main dining room and one of the main things I remember about cruising on here when I was 11.

I actually tried to recreate this clip of me at the dinner table. Let me know how you think I did. I think I did okay but I do hope that nobody was watching on CCTV, I’d look rather silly indeed. Waving your arms around in a closed restaurant is definitely not the done thing.

Watch my full ship video here to see me recreating this:

We were in and out within an hour and a half which is pretty good, it definitely helps to eat early because I never had to wait for a table anywhere.

Not that I could imagine waiting for a table here, there are so many tables. There are over 2000 guests though, so it’s needed.

I could have quite happily eaten in here everyday but there were just so many places to fit into our cruise. 

There is another main dining room onboard, too, and I’d see that when we went for our behind-the-scenes tour a little later. We also got to see in the kitchens and my favourite laundry machine. Yes, I have one of those. 

Deal or no Deal is a classic on Norwegian cruises and I think I’ve seen it on every cruise I’ve ever been on with them. It was being held in the atrium and this was when the big TV screen started to make sense to me.

At first, I felt like Norwegian had just replaced my stairs with a TV, but moving the stairs to the other side, changed the way this space was used entirely.

Before it was just a place you’d stop for photos and to wander around. Now it was a place where people could sit, they did trivia here, there would be live music on the level above and the screen would show information about where we were going.

It’s hard to imagine it any other way now that it is like this, and I do agree that this was a good decision, despite my earlier reservations. 

People often say to me Emma if you eat dinner at five aren’t you hungry again? Well sometimes yes, but that’s no problem on a cruise, there was food 24/7 on this ship, literally.

We popped up the buffet and here I found this bright green cake. I’m not sure what the green was about, it was very very green but I can tell you it was pretty addictive.

I had this cake lots of times on this cruise, whenever it would appear I’d get some. There were also lots of nice meringues. 

At this point I hadn’t found any cookies yet… I hoped that I would because Norwegian’s cookies are particularly good. That started my cookie addiction. 

After sailing away from Osaka we visited the Islands of Naha and Naze. We didn’t have cruise line excursions booked here and it was really nice to slow down a little.

The excursions so far had been great fun but doing our own thing meant we could be on our own schedule. For me, that meant waking up late and going to “The Local” for brunch.

The pancakes were my favourite. I’m not a fan of breakfast – but brunch – that is definitely an idea I can get behind!

They had comment cards on every table in the local which I love, the fact a cruise line actually wants feedback is always a good thing in my mind. 

In Naha, I found vending machines just for hot sauce and ice cream, and in Naze, I found a shrine where my Google translate insulted me. Google translate was a fantastic tool for this trip, you can just point your camera, it’ll detect the language and translate it instantly. Occasionally, it does a few weird things, but it’s very helpful. 

Another helpful thing I did pre-cruise was to buy an e-sim.

I’ve never had a phone before that accepted an e-sim but it saved me lots of money on my phones roaming charges. I did have a WiFi package on the ship which is what I used for my live stream but when out and about having data was so helpful. 

Not having an excursions also meant that I had spare time to catch up on things like filming my cabin tour. Watch that here:

One of my favourite things about cruising is waving. I know that sounds weird but I just love how by getting a distance away from somebody it’s now okay to wave, it’s so strange.

There was LOTS of waving on this cruise and even when we were on excursions, we’d have school kids wave at us and say hello. I love how the kids have matching hats for their school classes. It’s just so cute. 

One of the most popular speciality restaurants onboard is Teppanyaki and it’s a great one if you are with friends. It’s very loud with people singing and things clattering around, but you basically watch your chef cook your food for you. It’s funny and very different from any other dining experience. 

At this point I felt as though I was waiting for something I’d like to appear in the theatre. So far we’d only had one or two people at a time doing shows and hadn’t seen the production cast.

My favourite shows are those that are all singing and dancing, I love costume changes and sets. 

Entertainment is of course very subjective but I was happy to see that there was something that sounded right up my street on the daily schedule.

The show was called “Blazing Boots” and the day after we saw a show called Elements. Blazing Boots was a country show, and this kind of show was much more what I was expecting.

Elements had a bit of everything, magic, acrobatics, fire and even a man in little pants spinning around on a wheel. I wish I could have shown you that but filming wasn’t allowed so you’ll just have to use your imagination. 

I was wondering why they kept these amazing singers and dancers hidden for so long, but when I took the behind-the-scenes tour later, I did find out why. 

After the show,crew from all different departments took to the stage and I love that Norwegian do this. It’s of course just a few people from every team but it’s so lovely to recognise them and to be able to see them all there. 

The next night we had a musical singing show which I loved, they even sung a song from the musical Book of Mormon which surprised me.

I love that musical but if you’ve seen it you’ll know that there aren’t many songs that are cruise ship appropriate. Still, they managed to find one, and I enjoyed hearing songs from Broadway. 

In our ports of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we went to the peace parks, which were created after the atomic bombs dropped In 1945.

In Nagasaki, we also visited a museum to learn more about it, and although these definitely weren’t happy excursions like the rest, they were very interesting, and it’s definitely a must-do in these ports.

We were given quite a bit of free time on both excursions so for me the excursion felt more like transport and a bit of commentary rather than the classic sort of walking tour. We’d usually be taken to one place, given an hour of free time, onto the next and given an hour and half, that kind of thing. 

I don’t feel as though we really needed to do the excursions in these two ports and could have visited the museum and park alone, but one benefit of cruise line excursions is that they are very easy.

You just walk off the ship and onto the bus, you don’t have to think beyond that. We also didn’t have to worry about getting back to the ship on time because cruise lines are always in contact with and wait for their own excursions. 

In total, over 200,000 people died when the two bombs dropped, and our tour guides told us the stories of people who lived here. Including the inmates and staff at Nagasaki prison who were all instantly killed by the blast. 

We then returned to the ship to continue our cruise.

There used to be kids clubs onboard Norwegian Spirit but as part of the refit Norwegian replaced these, the kids club is now extra cabins and the teen club is a lounge for playing games or reading a book.

It’s a lovely space up high, and given that I only saw maybe 5 or 10 children on this cruise, I think that was a good choice.

There were still lots of activities for kids though, and the daily schedule was pretty busy and it would be delivered to our cabin everyday of the cruise. 

It would say things like if there was any theme for the night. The most popular one on Norwegian cruises is the glow party which used to be called white night. I have a white dress that I bring just for this on Norwegian cruises. 

I decided to change into it after dinner because otherwise I would 100% drop ketchup down my front, a white dress is a magnet for mess. The white night party was held in the observation lounge and the dancers from the theatre were here to kick things off.

They had free face painting here too so I did get a few dots. I’ve got to be honest I thought that they would glow but they didn’t. Still, it was good fun. 

This cruise had been pretty busy so far so I was happy when I saw the sea day on our schedule. I knew I would be starting the day with a behind-the-scenes tour, but apart from that, I thought I’d just do a bit of shopping and maybe take a mid-day bath. For me that is the ultimate treat. 

The behind the scenes tour cost $99 and it was worth every single penny, or cent I suppose. I do get a shorter behind-the-scenes tour included as a perk of my platinum loyalty status, but this one took us to places I’d never been before, like the engine control room.

Our tour started by us meeting in the second main dining room, Taste. We did eat in here too during the cruise, and had a lovely seat by the window.

It was here that we learnt a little bit about what we would see and the rules, things like don’t touch anything, don’t climb in a pile of warm towels, don’t try to steer the ship. Common sense things. 

We went first to the theatre and got to see in the wings, we saw the dressing rooms and learnt that the ship was waiting for a guitarist – and that’s why we hadn’t seen the band with the production cast on stage for the first few days.

That was good to know because I was wondering. There wasn’t mention of that tiger that used to be onboard but it was so cool to be on the stage.

The last time I was on a cruise ship stage I shaved my head so that felt very strange, I have no desire to be on a stage of any kind but am so glad that other people do.

In the galley we saw how the food is prepared and stored. On the wall were photos of each dish as it should look, and they showed us the special area where they make the food for people with allergies, I thought that was a nice touch. 

In each place we went to we were told more about it by the person in charge who was always happy to answer any questions. We even got to go into the big freezer in the provisions storage, which I loved.

It’s crazy to think about how many bananas or potatoes are needed for 2000 guests and crew. For that much food you need some really big pots and a massive whisk. I hope you like mine here, the tour came with a complimentary photo.

We went next to my favourite place onboard, the laundry. I don’t know why but it just blows my mind to see how many towels and sheets there are on a cruise ship like this.

My favourite machine is a huge one that dries, folds and warms the sheets. It is the people who work in places like this that keep the cruise running and I am so grateful to them, they work so incredibly hard. 

On next we went to the engine control room and bridge, no filming was allowed in here but it was so interesting, all in all the tour took about 2 hours and it was one of the best things I’ve done on a cruise. 

After the tour, we went to trivia in the pub, which was good fun, and I even had a go in the casino.

Norwegian won this time, but one day I’ll win, I’m sure of it. Norwegian do charge a fee to add money to your casino account which I thought was a bit odd, but I just took that out of the money I’d be gambling. 

This itinerary was definitely focused on Japan but we did actually visit South Korea too. I love it when a place has a theme and theme of Jeju island was definitely tangerines.

I Jeju Island I bought this whale because he has a tangerine on his head – and socks with a bear that had a tangerine on his head too! It was definitely the theme of the Island.

We saw a rock that is meant to look like a dragon and went shopping where you could buy… believe it or not… tangerines!

Norwegian did bring onboard some of the local tangerines for people to try at the BBQ on the top deck which I thought was nice.

The majority of food on the cruise was similar to that that you’d find on any Norwegian cruise. There were lots of nationalities onboard so that does make sense. 

All nationalities like cookies though – and I’m happy to say that I did find them in the buffet at afternoon snack time. They were great as they always are, slightly soft and gooey. Fantastic. 

It’s hard to know for sure, but I would guess that the majority of guests were from countries like the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK. I also heard quite a few people speaking German, French and Spanish. It was a real mix. 

English was the main and only language spoken onboard though, so that made it very easy for things like the entertainment. 

If you want to decide if the ship’s $100 million dollar refit was worth it you’ll need to see the “before”.

Check out this video next where I show you not just before and afters of the spaces, but before and afters of me too!

Before You Go

Find out about some top tips if you are going to cruise to Asia below:

7 Asia Cruise Tips, Packing, Visas & More

Find out how I saved money by booking an obstructed-view balcony cabin on my previous Japan trip here:

Obstructed View Balcony Cabin – This Controversial Cabin Surprised Me!