Cruising Japan Princess Style

By Ellen L. Weingart

Cruises generally have an international flavor. Fellow passengers on our sailings of the Caribbean, the Mexican Riviera or to Alaska have been mostly American, but we have enjoyed — and learned a lot about the world — conversing with crew whose homes span the globe. On a Mediterranean cruise we met many Europeans.

Our cruise around South America, with its many Latino crew members and passengers, included Latin touches, such as tango demonstrations and a display of mastery with a whip.

From the moment we boarded the ship in Singapore for our cruise of the South China Sea, the shouts of “Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi” ringing forth at the least provocation testified to the many Australians onboard. We enjoyed their enthusiasm for discussing their hometowns and for just about everything else.

But our recent cruise of Japan aboard the Diamond Princess brought the international experience to an entirely new level. We estimate that more than three-quarters of our fellow cruisers were Japanese, making us feel that we were in Japan on the ship as well as in port.

Japanese was the dominant language, and had we worked at it, the dubbed movies, on-demand Japanese TV, crew-led Japanese classes (there were also English classes for Japanese speakers) and general conversation might have taken us beyond the handful of Japanese words we did learn — ohayou-gozaimas (good morning), konnichiwa (hello) and arigatou-gozaimas (thank you).

But not to worry, we English speakers were not forgotten. No indecipherable menus — there were English- and Japanese-language versions. No wondering what crew members were telling passengers — everything from announcements to trivia questions was presented in both Japanese and English.

Delightful Japanese Entertainment Director Mikoko seemed to be everywhere during our cruise, generally translating into Japanese what English-speaking crew and entertainment staff had said, always energetic and convivial. She also translated the Japanese narration of the Diamond’s scenic passage through the Japanese Inland Sea and the Kanmon Straits into English.

We were far from the only passengers to notice the entire crew’s exceptionally good spirits. Just about all crew members with whom we came in contact — from the cabin steward to the dining room staff to the hotel desk to the cruise director’s team — seemed to especially enjoy his or her job.

The Diamond has had a number of updates since we were last aboard in October 2013. While some were general in nature — new carpeting in public areas, upgrades to the Horizon Court buffet, a variety of new luxury goods shops — with the ship destined to spend about half the year based in Japan, much of the work focused on making the ship even more appealing to the Japanese market.

The centerpiece of the $30 million renovation is the Japanese bath area. Izumi, Japanese for fountain or spring, includes an open-air hydrotherapy pool surrounded by lounge chairs amid refreshing sea breezes and views of the ocean. Indoors, a variety of therapeutic baths provide panoramic ocean views and relaxation. There is also a traditional Japanese utaseyu bath with its cascades of hot water, a dry sauna with floor-to-ceiling windows and a mist sauna. Cordial staff is on hand to explain the facilities and how to use them.

Outdoor areas are coed with swimsuit required; indoor areas are segregated by gender and nude only. There is a nominal fee for Izumi — $15 for up to 90 minutes when we visited — and worth every penny.

Also adding to the Japanese atmosphere is the Diamond’s newest specialty restaurant, Kai Sushi, serving sushi, sashimi, seafood cocktails and a variety of regional sakes. Unlike the ship’s other specialty restaurants — the Sterling Steakhouse and the Italian-themed Sabatini’s with set cover charges — Kai Sushi is priced by the order. We confess to not being sushi eaters and never tried Kai Sushi, but the restaurant was beautiful and popular.

Even without a visit to Kai Sushi, there was ample opportunity to indulge a taste for food with a Japanese flair, chopsticks optional. Miso soup at breakfast may not be to everyone’s taste, but it and various Japanese noodles were available at the breakfast buffet, along with a wide array of what we Americans think of as more typical breakfast foods.

The lunch buffet featured a noodle bar with different types of noodles each day, along with tubular fish cakes, bamboo shoots and wakeme (a dried seaweed). A “make-your-own-sushi” station included sheets of nori (a dried seaweed) for a wrap, fried sliced bean curd, shredded dried fish cakes, omelet strips and vinegared rice.

Along with plentiful salad, sandwich and hot-meal options, there were Japanese-influenced dishes, such as teriyaki chicken or steak, a miso-sesame salad dressing that I opted for just about every day, tofu, the ever-present miso soup and what rapidly became my favorite item, Japanese pickles. Not just cucumber pickles, which seemed to come in almost every color of the rainbow, but eggplant, peppers and plums. I still miss them. Running a close second to the pickles was the soft-serve green-tea ice cream available at the ship’s ice cream stand.

At dinner in the dining room an appetizer of yaki (grilled) eggplant and mushroom served with a balsamic-based sauce was something I ordered each time it appeared on the menu. The always-available dinner option of grilled salmon was given a Japanese flair with a miso-based sauce, miso soup, rice and those incredible Japanese pickles.

Beyond the Japanese indulgences, Princess has partnered with celebrity chef Curtis Stone and featured three of his dishes on a rotating basis in the dining room. The chicken and leek pot pie I had one evening was rich and delicious.

Also new to the Princess dining experience since our previous sailing were desserts by chocolatier Norman Love, whose Chocolate Journey creations are too tempting to turn away. I was convinced with my first taste of his Chocolate Souffle with White Chocolate Sauce.

Providing Princess’s topnotch entertainment would seem challenging but was accomplished, for the most part, through acts that didn’t rely on language and entertainers who, without word-for-word translations, used both Japanese and English in their acts in ways that everyone could follow. Who wouldn’t enjoy the incredible talent on display in the production show “Bravo”? Soloist Monique Dehaney used her beautiful voice to sing in both English and Japanese while violinist Chris Watkins needed no words to demonstrate his artistry.

Instead of a comedian, comedy juggler-magician Dave Rave provided laughs, and no translations were needed for illusionist Daniel Craven.

Other evenings sparkled with Japanese flair. A Kobe “folkloric show” featured the amazing taiko drumming of Yuchi Kimura and Special Sauce. And Diane Kichijitsu entertained with rakugo, a sit-down comedy routine with the performer using only a paper fan and a small cloth as props, telling a complicated comical story involving dialogue between two or more characters depicted only through pitch, tone and slight turns of the head. The British born Kichijitsu did one show in Japanese and another mostly in English, both to highly appreciative audiences.

Combined with our port stops, this was by far the most internationally immersive cruise experience we ever had — all the exoticism we could have wanted with all the pleasures of Princess.

WHEN YOU GO

Princess Cruises: www.princess.com or 877-577-6087

(SET CAPTION) Japanese Entertainment Director Mikoko translates Executive Chef Nilo Palma’s (center) Culinary Show into Japanese for passengers aboard the Diamond Princess. Photo courtesy of Steven W. Weingart. (END CAPTION)

Ellen L. Weingart is the editor of thefiftypluslife.com and a free-lance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.