My customers review of our Japan and the Snow Monkeys Bucket List Tour

My customers Christine and Norman Dunn have just returned from our Bucket List Tour Japan and the Snow Monkeys , a 16 day holiday featuring an 8 night cruise on the Diamond Princess and followed by a fully escorted land tour of Japan which was hosted by Wendy Wu. All of the photos published on here are from Mr and Mrs Dunn and would like to thank them for allowing me to share their experience. Here is also what they had to say:-

“Thank you, we had an amazing holiday, the cruise was fantastic and very different to how I imagined, we were upgraded from an inside cabin and got a window on the lifeboat deck but we didn’t have a lifeboat outside so had a great view. The ship was 75% Japanese I think, then Chinese, British, European, American, Canadian, strange when you expect someone to speak Chinese or Japanese and they come out with an American accent too.”

The tour started with flights to Osaka airport where a one night stay is included in Kobe before embarking on the Diamond Princess the following day.

The Diamond Princess carries 2,670 passengers , built in Japan in 2004, and underwent a huge transformation when she was in dry dock in 2014. She carries passengers through exotic destinations year round. I have sailed on Princess many many times although not this particular ship and have always been impressed with the service, dining options and the sumptuous decor onboard.

Nice upgrade from an inside cabin to an obstructed oceanview on deck 8 cabin number E419 , with no obstruction. Even better.

When it comes to Atrium’s Princess really are one of the best

The Diamond Princess left Kobe and called at Okinawa, Taipei, Kaohsiung Taiwan, Hualien Taiwan and back to Kobe

“These were in Okinawa, looking for coffee, we don’t read Japanese so had fruitjuice!”

On to Taipai and Taiwan………………………….

Arrived in Kyoto to the Station Hotel, kept seeing lots of schoolchildren gathering.

“It’s normal practice for young ladies to hire kimonos for a day, lots about and so pretty.”

“Our travel guide Mai, we visited the Imperial Palace in Kyoto, some of it is still used by the Emperor originally it was owned the she Shoguns but in the 1900s they lost power and the Emperor took over ruling the country.”

“Visit to a Shinto shrine, along with hundreds of other people, particularly schoolchildren.”

“An amazing ride on the bullet train, no big suitcases allowed, 1 minute to let people off, 1 minute to board – woohoo.”

“Lake Ashi and Mount Fuji, weather a bit grim, couldn’t see anything on the cable car but hey ho, great journey through forested mountains and the volcano did peak out from the behind the clouds for a while.”

“We’ve never seen to many vending machines, on all street corners anywhere we went. Also, in the service stations you use one to pick a meal, get a ticket, your numbers called out and you collect the food, see above, 10 minutes maximum.”

“I admit it, fascinated by the loos, nearly everywhere as these sophisticated toilets, warm seat option, shower, bidet and a lovely button to press to mask your ‘natural sounds’, how polite is that? Also, there were usually small versions for little ones to use.”

“Traditional Ryokan (japanese inn), these clothes called Yukata are left for you to wear around the hotel for the dinner, we used futons in this hotel, a long way down and up!”

“Traditional Japonese dinner, lots of interesting things, fish, mushrooms to cook on a small burner, smoked meat in the little pots, and saki”

“Wandering in the town after breakfast and this lady came out of her house, insisted on dressing us up and taking our photos, free she said, no charge, wow, why would you do that? She must have an album full of westerners, lovely lady.”

“Hotel staff waiting to wave us off.”

“After quite a wait the snow monkeys showed up and surprised us all, they weren’t bothered about us at all, wandering between our feet and getting on with their day.”

“Meiji Shrine in Tokyo, there were two weddings being held and several christenings, all very formal. As usual, hundreds of people about but everyone so respecful.”

“Wandering through the streets of Tokyo and then on a river trip.”

“This 17th century park is in the heart of the city, originally a playground for the Shogun.”

“We thought japan was amazing, so very different from anything we’ve experienced before, so clean, the people were very polite and couldn’t do enough for you. The scenery was lovely, lots more forests than I ever imagined. In the small hotels in the countryside they all came out and waved us off when we left. Tokyo was fantastic, 27 million population and I think we saw a lot of them on Sunday afternoon in the station near out hotel, we were right in the centre of the city. We did a private tour on Sunday, on public transport, with some others from the cruise/tour (12 of us), all the others were Asian from the uK who adopted us –  lovely people”.

Once again I would like to thank Mrs and Mrs Dunn for some fabulous pictures , what an amazing experience , we do have many dates for 2017 for this trip so please click on this link for more information or call me on 08004086114

Japan and Snow Monkeys 2017 departures