It’s cherry blossom time! We visited 3 ports in Japan at the perfect time; we had beautiful weather and the cherry trees were in full bloom. We are spending 4 days in Yokohama and Tokyo and so will post separately about our experiences there. Below are my posts about the cruise ports we visited:
Japan
travelswithheather 
Hi Heather, this is Maria from the ill-fated Star cruise Dubai to Hong Kong. I have enjoyed reading your blog, great trip. I just had to comment that I agree with your idea of seeing South America on your own. We went on a 31 day cruise in December and honestly it was the worst, and expensive too(Princess). It would have been better to actually see the places instead of just being so rushed. We were almost done with cruising too after that. But we do have a cruise in a few weeks from Tokyo. We are going to Beijing first for 144 hr visa free visit for 4 days and then to Tokyo for 4 days and boarding the Jewel back to Seattle. We decided after the SA cruise, never again, but this was such a good deal.:) Oh well. Just wanted to say that canceling SA cruise is a good idea. I would not do it again that’s for sure. I also do a short blog so if you get a chance and want to read it, contact me to see what I mean about SA cruise. Have fun.
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I would love to read your blog, Maria. I met another person on the Dubai to Singapore leg that just finished the SA cruise and wasn’t too thrilled with many of the ports. We are really enjoying Tokyo and loved the Jewel. The crew was great and the food seemed a step above the typical.
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Oh good to know about the Jewel. There have been bad reviews lately and I was a bit nervous about it. If this cruise is as bad as the SA cruise, we are done cruising for sure. Haha, Safe travels.
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