Kyoto’s biggest festival, from the ship
14 to 26 July 2027 · Celebrity Millennium · 12 nights round trip from Tokyo
Gion Matsuri takes over Kyoto for the whole of July. The street evenings run on the 14th, 15th and 16th, and the Yamaboko Junko grand parade is the morning of the 17th, when thirty foot wooden floats are hauled through the middle of the city by hand.
We are docked in Osaka overnight across the 16th and 17th. Kyoto is half an hour away on the train. So you get the lantern evening and the parade, and you sleep on the ship instead of paying Kyoto festival week hotel rates.
All five of us are going.
Where you go
Wed 14 July · Tokyo. Board and sail.
Thu 15 July · At sea.
Fri 16 July · Osaka, in at 8am. Kyoto for the Yoiyama evening, when the floats are lit and the streets close.
Sat 17 July · Osaka, out at 6pm. The grand parade runs in the morning. Nara and its deer are also half an hour out if the parade is not your thing.
Sun 18 July · Kochi. Castle, market, and bonito seared over burning straw in front of you.
Mon 19 July · At sea.
Tue 20 July · Busan, South Korea. Fish market, beaches, and a temple built out over the sea.
Wed 21 July · Nagasaki. The Peace Park and the museum, and one of the prettiest harbours in the country.
Thu 22 July · Kagoshima. Sakurajima is an active volcano across the bay and it smokes most days.
Fri 23 July · At sea.
Sat 24 July · Shimizu. This is the Mount Fuji day, weather permitting, and it is the closest most people get.
Sun 25 July · Tokyo, in at 8am and docked overnight.
Mon 26 July · Tokyo. Off the ship.
Three sea days across twelve nights, which on a Japan itinerary is exactly right. Port days here are long and hot and full, and you need the ones in between.
What it costs
Starting at $3,000 per person, cruise only. Flights are not included.
Three cabin types are open. Ocean View is a real room with a window, and on an itinerary with nine port days it is a sensible place to save. Veranda gives you a balcony and is where most families end up. Concierge adds a better spot on the ship, priority boarding and a few extras that matter more on a long sailing than a short one.
Here is the part worth knowing. Four people in a veranda works out to roughly the same per person as two people in an ocean view. A family of four gets a balcony for what a couple pays for a window. Ask me and I will run your exact configuration, because cruise fares move and I would rather quote you today’s number than last month’s.
There is no planning fee on this one. You are booking a cabin next to mine, not a custom trip.
A deposit holds your cabin now and you have more than 100 days to pay the rest off before final payment. Nobody pays for the whole thing at once.
Who this suits
Families who want Japan and have been putting it off because the planning looks enormous. This is the version where you unpack once and the country comes to you.
Couples and grandparents too. There is nothing about this sailing that requires you to bring children, and the sea days are restful in a way a land trip through Japan never is.
It suits first timers best of all. You see nine places without moving hotels, work out which parts of Japan you love, and then come back and go deep on those. Plenty of my clients do exactly that.
One honest note on the weather. Late July in southern Japan is hot and humid, around 32C in Kagoshima and Nagasaki with rain likely. That is the trade for catching Gion. Pack for it and plan your port days around the mornings.
Want to add the beaches?
Okinawa is not on this itinerary and no summer sailing goes there, because June to October is typhoon season in those islands and the cruise lines route around it.
If you want the water, do it on land afterwards. Tokyo to Naha is under three hours and the flights are cheap. Four or five days on Okinawa or out in the Kerama Islands is a completely different trip from the ship, and I can build it onto the back of this for you.
Tokyo before the cruise is worth doing too. Most people fly in a couple of days early anyway to sleep off the time change, and that is two days of Tokyo you may as well use properly.
How to come with us
Space is limited and a deposit is what holds a cabin, so the sooner you tell me the better the choice you get.
Tell me how many of you there are, which cabin type you are thinking about and which airport you would fly from, and I will come back with your number and the deposit link.
See the full itinerary and reserve here, or reply to any email I have sent you and just say Japan.
