Princess Cruises to expand Japan offering

Carnival Japan and Princess Cruises have announced the expansion of deployment of Japanese cruises.  

The Japanese-built Diamond Princess will join Sun Princess in 2014 on an extended deployment from April to October, featuring three Japanese homeports of Tokyo, Kobe and, as an industry first, Otaru, on the northern island of Hokkaido, near Sapporo. In total, the line’s Japan programme will increase capacity to nearly 100,000 passengers in 2014.  

Diamond Princess will homeport in Tokyo (Yokohama) for an extended season of nine-day cruises from April to October sailing to Taiwan, South Korea, Russia and to 15 Japanese ports on five new itineraries specifically crafted for Diamond Princess.  During the holiday period of Golden Week, Diamond Princess will also feature a special 10-day itinerary including several festivals and a visit to Nagasaki, where the ship was built at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to celebrate her 10-year anniversary.

Sun Princess will debut industry firsts for the Japanese market when she offers eight cruises from the homeport of Kobe offering two unique itineraries designed to appeal to the Japanese market.

The eight-day Ryukyu Islands & Taiwan itinerary will include maiden calls for Sun Princess in the Japanese islands of Ishigaki, Amami Oshima and Okinawa as well as a maiden call to Hualien, Taiwan. The new eight-day Circle Kyushu will include ports in south Japan including Beppu, Miyazaki, Nagasaki and more.  During the peak summer, when many Japanese travel to Hokkaido to enjoy the northern summer climate, the Sun Princess will position to the northern coastal town of Otaru, nearby the metropolis of Sapporo, to offer seven-day round Hokkaido voyages. Ports include Hakodate, Kushiro, Muroran, Shiretoko Peninsula scenic cruising and a maiden call to Abashiri.  These itineraries will appeal to a different segment in the Japanese market – those passengers longing for a week-long cruise vacation.

Overall, this new cruise series offers nine unique itineraries on 42 departures, visiting destinations in South Korea, Taiwan and Russia – and over 20 ports in Japan.  In addition, Sun and Diamond Princess will offer positioning voyages between Japan and either Singapore or Sydney that include Vietnam, Hong Kong, Indonesia and more.