Donal O’Sullivan of Cruise Traveller, the GSA for Mitsui Ocean Cruises in Australia (Cruise World is GSA in New Zealand) says the way for cruisers to really get to know and understand Japan at a deeper level is to be on a Japanese ship.
Mitsui operates two former Seabourn ships, now named Mitsui Ocean Fuji and Mitsui Ocean Sakura. O’Sullivan cruised on Fuji earlier this year with a group of ANZ agents and says the vessels felt like completely new ships. The real point of difference is that 70% of passengers are Japanese with a limit of 30% on foreign guests.
However the majority of crew speak English, international passengers travel as a group on shore excursions, and there are translators on board to ensure nothing is missed during presentations.
‘The cruises are all inclusive with drinks and the food is impressive – you can eat completely Japanese if you like but western food is available too,’ says O’Sullivan.
He says the line offers seven, eight, nine and 12 night-cruises with prices starting at about $7,900 for the shorter version.
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