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Asia Africa and Middle East: Japan & South Korea Cruise
Included Extras
AzAmazing Evenings® event (on most cruises of seven nights or longer)
Select standard spirits, international beers and wines
Bottled water, soft drinks, specialty coffees and teas
Self-service laundry
Shuttle service to and from port communities where available
Concierge services for personal guidance and reservations
Gratuities
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Sailing Itinerary
Note: Cruise itineraries are subject to change. Please verify ports and times directly with the cruise line.
Overview
Seoul has been the capital of Korea for about 600 years, since the time of the Joseon Dynasty(1392-1910). Seoul was referred to as “Han Yang” during the Joseon Dynasty, but after the liberation from Japan, in 1945, the newly founded Republic of Korea officially changed its capital city’s name to Seoul. Seoul has developed into a bustling metropolis, acting as the hub for political, economic, social, and cultural matters. The Han River runs through the heart of the city. The river divides the city in two; the northern part of the city is a focal point for culture and history, while the southern part is well known for its business district. Seoul has hosted many international events including the 1986 Asian Games, 1the 988 Olympic Games, and the 2002 Korea/Japan FIFA World Cup. The success of these events has shown people that Korea is truly an international city. In Seoul, you can find ancient palaces and Royal Shrines of the Joseon Dynasty, as well as Seoul World Cup Stadium, 63 CITY building, Lotte World, Han River, Namsan, Bukhansan Mountain National Park, Daehangno, Insa-dong, Itaewon, Myeong-dong, Apgujeong, Namdaemun and Dongdaemun Markets. On the outskirts of Seoul, you can find Seoul Land, Everland, Caribbean Bay, The Korean Folk Village, Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, and Namhansan Mountain Fortress.
Overview
Seoul has been the capital of Korea for about 600 years, since the time of the Joseon Dynasty(1392-1910). Seoul was referred to as “Han Yang” during the Joseon Dynasty, but after the liberation from Japan, in 1945, the newly founded Republic of Korea officially changed its capital city’s name to Seoul. Seoul has developed into a bustling metropolis, acting as the hub for political, economic, social, and cultural matters. The Han River runs through the heart of the city. The river divides the city in two; the northern part of the city is a focal point for culture and history, while the southern part is well known for its business district. Seoul has hosted many international events including the 1986 Asian Games, 1the 988 Olympic Games, and the 2002 Korea/Japan FIFA World Cup. The success of these events has shown people that Korea is truly an international city. In Seoul, you can find ancient palaces and Royal Shrines of the Joseon Dynasty, as well as Seoul World Cup Stadium, 63 CITY building, Lotte World, Han River, Namsan, Bukhansan Mountain National Park, Daehangno, Insa-dong, Itaewon, Myeong-dong, Apgujeong, Namdaemun and Dongdaemun Markets. On the outskirts of Seoul, you can find Seoul Land, Everland, Caribbean Bay, The Korean Folk Village, Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, and Namhansan Mountain Fortress.
Overview
Yeosu is a port city on South Korea’s East China Sea coast. A breakwater links the port to Odongdo Island, home to red camellia blossoms and a lighthouse with an observatory. On Dolsando Island, Dolsan Park has views of the Dolsandaegyo Bridge. It also has the Maritime and Fisheries Science Museum, with an aquarium of turtles. At the island's southern tip is the clifftop Hyangiram Hermitage, an ancient Buddhist temple.
Overview
Busan/Pusan is Korea's second largest city. Tourists often come to this region to hike and to visit the Buddhist Temples located deep within the region's mountains. The Beomeosa Temple, founded in 678 AD, is perhaps one of the most frequented temples in the area and is always packed with worshipers and tourists. For art buffs, Busan offers several museums and historical buildings. If scenery is your thing, try visiting the Dongbaek Island, or bird watch at the Nakdong river estuary.
Overview
Busan/Pusan is Korea's second largest city. Tourists often come to this region to hike and to visit the Buddhist Temples located deep within the region's mountains. The Beomeosa Temple, founded in 678 AD, is perhaps one of the most frequented temples in the area and is always packed with worshipers and tourists. For art buffs, Busan offers several museums and historical buildings. If scenery is your thing, try visiting the Dongbaek Island, or bird watch at the Nakdong river estuary.
Overview
Hakata-ku is a ward of the city of Fukuoka in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Many of Fukuoka Prefecture and Fukuoka City's principal government, commercial, retail, and entertainment establishments are located in the district.
Overview
Kitakyushu is one of two designated cities in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, together with Fukuoka, with a population of about 1 million.
Overview
Hiroshima City facing Hiroshima Bay in the Seto Inland Sea is one of the most prominent cities in the Chugoku region, and a center of the administration and economy of Hiroshima. Six rivers flow through the city, so it is also called the "city of water." It was devastated by an atomic bomb in World War II. All structures vanished, but one miraculously remained standing. It is called the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome, and Hiroshima is internationally known as the city of peace. Hiroshima developed as a castle town after a feudal lord, Mori Terumoto, built Hiroshima Castle in the 16th century. Hiroshima Castle is also called Ri-jo, or Carp Castle because the exterior painted in black resembles a black carp. There are several must-see places, such as the Shukukei-en Garden, or a miniature scenery garden, so named because there is a miniature version of Lake Xiyu (West Lake) in Hangzhou in China and many other miniatures of scenic sights, and the old Mitaki-dera Temple built in 809. The red Taho-to Tower in the Mitaki-dera Temple was transferred from a shrine in Wakayama as a memorial tower for the victims of the atomic bomb attack. Hiroshima also offers gastronomical pleasure, including oysters the culture of which has been going on since 1673, and okonomi-yaki Hiroshima style, unique flour crepes fried with vegetables and noodles that are different at each restaurant.
Overview
Beppu is the leading hot spring resort in Japan with as many as 104 public baths. In an excellent natural setting, 130,000 kiloliters of hot spring water (enough to fill 3,600 2-meter swimming pools) gushes out daily from approximately 2,700 sources scattered over an area of 50 square meters. Since earlier times, Beppu has flourished as a hot spring resort, and in 1950 it was designated as an international spa tourist cultural city. It boasts a large variety of hot springs according to their mineral contents including acid, sulfur, salt, iron, and alum. Beppu has nine out of 11 kinds of hot springs designated by the International Hot Spring Conference. Eight areas with especially large amounts of gushing water, namely Hamawaki, Beppu, Kankaiji, Horita, Myoban, Kannawa, Shibaseki, and Kamegawa, are called the "Eight Major Hot Springs Areas of Beppu", each featuring its characteristics as to the mineral contents and natural surroundings. They serve as places for hot spring treatment, recuperation, and recreation not only for tourists but also for residents.
Overview
Kochi Prefecture, on Japan’s Shikoku Island, is a largely rural area known for its mountains, rivers, and Pacific beaches. Capital Kochi City has one of Japan’s best-preserved feudal castles, Kochi-jo, established in the 1600s. The city's centuries-old Sunday market has hundreds of vendors selling food and other wares. Summer's Yosakoi Matsuri is a festival in which colorfully attired dance teams fill the streets.
Overview
Kobe lies on the south coast of southwestern Honshu Island, on Osaka Bay, near the city of Osaka. Behind the narrow coastal site of the city are mountains on which suburban residences and hotels have been built. Hyogo, which is now part of Kobe, had for centuries been a major Japanese port trading with China and Korea and benefited in the 1860s when Japan was re-opened to foreign trade. Since the 1890s several adjoining cities, including Hyogo, have been absorbed by Kobe. Following the 1995 earthquake tragedy, Kobe Phoenix Plaza became a help center and now features a collection of photographs that reveal the devastating force of the earthquake. Kitano-cho is Kobe’s former foreign quarter and features restored buildings now used as museums. Boutiques and restaurants. The district has a synagogue, a mosque, and a Russian Orthodox cathedral. Meriken Park houses the Maritime Museum and nearby Kobe Tower. The city has Christian churches, Shinto and Buddhist temples and shrines, two famous statues of Buddha, a fine arts museum, and a municipal museum with a collection on Western cultural contact. Nearby is the city of Himeji and the stunning Himeji Castle (Shirasagi-jo), begun in the 14th century and now designated a National Treasure of Japan and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From here tourists can also visit Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and Sorakuen Garden.
Overview
Kobe lies on the south coast of southwestern Honshu Island, on Osaka Bay, near the city of Osaka. Behind the narrow coastal site of the city are mountains on which suburban residences and hotels have been built. Hyogo, which is now part of Kobe, had for centuries been a major Japanese port trading with China and Korea and benefited in the 1860s when Japan was re-opened to foreign trade. Since the 1890s several adjoining cities, including Hyogo, have been absorbed by Kobe. Following the 1995 earthquake tragedy, Kobe Phoenix Plaza became a help center and now features a collection of photographs that reveal the devastating force of the earthquake. Kitano-cho is Kobe’s former foreign quarter and features restored buildings now used as museums. Boutiques and restaurants. The district has a synagogue, a mosque, and a Russian Orthodox cathedral. Meriken Park houses the Maritime Museum and nearby Kobe Tower. The city has Christian churches, Shinto and Buddhist temples and shrines, two famous statues of Buddha, a fine arts museum, and a municipal museum with a collection on Western cultural contact. Nearby is the city of Himeji and the stunning Himeji Castle (Shirasagi-jo), begun in the 14th century and now designated a National Treasure of Japan and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From here tourists can also visit Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and Sorakuen Garden.
Overview
Blessed with a mild climate throughout the year, Shimizu is known for producing mandarin oranges, tea, and strawberries. On the coast, there is a pine-tree grove on a sand spit called Miho no Matsubara which is often mentioned in legends. From the small mountain called Nihondaira tourists can enjoy a superb view of Mt. Fuji and the light-filled city at night. Picking strawberries during the winter and spring months is a popular pastime.
Overview
Describing Tokyo to someone who has never been here is a formidable task. After all, how do you describe a city that--as one of my friends visiting Tokyo for the first time put it--seems like it's part of another planet? To be sure, Tokyo is very different from Western capitals, but what sets it apart is its people. Approximately 12 million people reside within Tokyo's 1,200,000,000 sq. km (800 sq. miles), and almost one-fourth of Japan's total population lives within commuting distance of the city. This translates into a crush of humanity that packs the subways, crowds the sidewalks, and fills the department stores beyond belief. In some parts of the city, the streets are as crowded at 3 am as they are at 3 pm. With its high-energy, visual overload, Tokyo makes even New York seem like a sleepy, laid-back town. And yet, despite its limited space for harmonious living, Tokyo remains one of the safest cities in the world, with remarkably little crime or violence. No matter how lost I may become, I know that people will go out of their way to help me. Hardworking, honest, and helpful to strangers, the Japanese are their country's greatest asset. With Tokyo so densely packed, it comes as no shock to learn that land here is more valuable than gold and that buildings are built practically on top of each other, shaped like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle to fit the existing plots of real estate. More than perhaps any other city in the world, Japan's capital is a concrete jungle, with a few parks but not many trees to break the monotony, and it stretches on and on as far as the eye can see. Fires, earthquakes, wars, the zeal for modernization, and the price of land have taken their toll on the city, eradicating almost all evidence of previous centuries. It's as though Tokyo was born only this morning, with all the messy aftermath of a city conceived without t plan and interested only in the future. Thus, first-time visitors to Tokyo are almost invariably disappointed. They come expecting an exotic Asian city, but instead find a megalopolis Westernized to the point of drabness. Used to the grand edifices and monuments of Western cities, they look in vain for Tokyo's monuments to its past--ancient temples, exquisite gardens, imperial palaces, or whatever else they've imagined. Instead, they find what may be, quite arguably, one of the ugliest cities in the world. So, while Tokyo is one of my favorite cities, it's an appreciation that came only with time. When I first moved here, I was tormented by the unsettling feeling that I was somehow missing out on the "real" Tokyo. Even though I was living and working here, Tokyo seemed beyond my grasp, elusive, vague, and undefined. I felt that the meaning of the city was out there somewhere if only I knew where to look. With time, I finally learned that I needn't look farther than my front window. Tokyo has no center but rather is made up of a series of small towns and neighborhoods clustered together, each with its history, flavor, and atmosphere. There are narrow residential streets, ma-and-pa shops, fruit stands, and stores. There's the neighborhood tofu factory, the lunch-box stand, the grocery shop, and the tiny police station, where the cops know the residents by name and patrol the area by bicycle. There are carefully pruned bonsai trees gracing sidewalks, women in kimonos bowing and shuffling down streets, and wooden homes on impossibly narrow streets. Walk in the old downtown neighborhoods of Asakusa or Yanaka and you're worlds apart from the trendy quarters of Harajuku or the high-rises of Shinjuku. Neighborhoods like these make Tokyo lovable and livable. What's more, once visitors get to know Tokyo better, they learn that you can't judge Tokyo by what it looks like on the outside, for this is a city of interiors. Even those concrete monsters may house interiors that are fascinating in design and innovation. In the basement of that drab building could well be a restaurant with wooden beams, mud walls, and thatched ceiling, imported intact from a farmhouse in the Japan Alps; on its roof could be a small Shinto shrine, while the top floor could house a high-tech bar or a sophisticated French restaurant. And beneath Tokyo's concrete shell is a thriving cultural life left very much intact. If,f you're interested in Japan's performing arts as well as such diverse activities as the tea ceremony or sumo, Tokyo is your best bet for offering the most at any one time. Tokyo is also rich in museums and claims the largest repository of Japanese art in the world. It also gets my vote as the pop-art capital of the world; if you're into kitsch, you'll be in high heaven. I can't imagine being bored here, even for just a minute.
Overview
Describing Tokyo to someone who has never been here is a formidable task. After all, how do you describe a city that--as one of my friends visiting Tokyo for the first time put it--seems like it's part of another planet? To be sure, Tokyo is very different from Western capitals, but what sets it apart is its people. Approximately 12 million people reside within Tokyo's 1,200,000,000 sq. km (800 sq. miles), and almost one-fourth of Japan's total population lives within commuting distance of the city. This translates into a crush of humanity that packs the subways, crowds the sidewalks, and fills the department stores beyond belief. In some parts of the city, the streets are as crowded at 3 am as they are at 3 pm. With its high-energy, visual overload, Tokyo makes even New York seem like a sleepy, laid-back town. And yet, despite its limited space for harmonious living, Tokyo remains one of the safest cities in the world, with remarkably little crime or violence. No matter how lost I may become, I know that people will go out of their way to help me. Hardworking, honest, and helpful to strangers, the Japanese are their country's greatest asset. With Tokyo so densely packed, it comes as no shock to learn that land here is more valuable than gold and that buildings are built practically on top of each other, shaped like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle to fit the existing plots of real estate. More than perhaps any other city in the world, Japan's capital is a concrete jungle, with a few parks but not many trees to break the monotony, and it stretches on and on as far as the eye can see. Fires, earthquakes, wars, the zeal for modernization, and the price of land have taken their toll on the city, eradicating almost all evidence of previous centuries. It's as though Tokyo was born only this morning, with all the messy aftermath of a city conceived without t plan and interested only in the future. Thus, first-time visitors to Tokyo are almost invariably disappointed. They come expecting an exotic Asian city, but instead find a megalopolis Westernized to the point of drabness. Used to the grand edifices and monuments of Western cities, they look in vain for Tokyo's monuments to its past--ancient temples, exquisite gardens, imperial palaces, or whatever else they've imagined. Instead, they find what may be, quite arguably, one of the ugliest cities in the world. So, while Tokyo is one of my favorite cities, it's an appreciation that came only with time. When I first moved here, I was tormented by the unsettling feeling that I was somehow missing out on the "real" Tokyo. Even though I was living and working here, Tokyo seemed beyond my grasp, elusive, vague, and undefined. I felt that the meaning of the city was out there somewhere if only I knew where to look. With time, I finally learned that I needn't look farther than my front window. Tokyo has no center but rather is made up of a series of small towns and neighborhoods clustered together, each with its history, flavor, and atmosphere. There are narrow residential streets, ma-and-pa shops, fruit stands, and stores. There's the neighborhood tofu factory, the lunch-box stand, the grocery shop, and the tiny police station, where the cops know the residents by name and patrol the area by bicycle. There are carefully pruned bonsai trees gracing sidewalks, women in kimonos bowing and shuffling down streets, and wooden homes on impossibly narrow streets. Walk in the old downtown neighborhoods of Asakusa or Yanaka and you're worlds apart from the trendy quarters of Harajuku or the high-rises of Shinjuku. Neighborhoods like these make Tokyo lovable and livable. What's more, once visitors get to know Tokyo better, they learn that you can't judge Tokyo by what it looks like on the outside, for this is a city of interiors. Even those concrete monsters may house interiors that are fascinating in design and innovation. In the basement of that drab building could well be a restaurant with wooden beams, mud walls, and thatched ceiling, imported intact from a farmhouse in the Japan Alps; on its roof could be a small Shinto shrine, while the top floor could house a high-tech bar or a sophisticated French restaurant. And beneath Tokyo's concrete shell is a thriving cultural life left very much intact. If,f you're interested in Japan's performing arts as well as such diverse activities as the tea ceremony or sumo, Tokyo is your best bet for offering the most at any one time. Tokyo is also rich in museums and claims the largest repository of Japanese art in the world. It also gets my vote as the pop-art capital of the world; if you're into kitsch, you'll be in high heaven. I can't imagine being bored here, even for just a minute.
Available Dates and Prices
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*Price shown is per person based on double occupancy and is valid for select stateroom categories only. Click on the Terms & Conditions link below for details.
†One Digital Costco Shop Card per room/stateroom, per stay. The exact amount of the Digital Costco Shop Card will be calculated during the booking process. The Digital Costco Shop Card promotion is nontransferable and may not be combined with any other promotion. A Digital Costco Shop Card will arrive by email approximately 10 days after the start of your cruise. Click on the Terms & Conditions link below for additional information.
Ship's registry: The Marshall Islands
Package ID: AZAQUEASI20270416
