Our guide Taiga was... - Our guide Taiga was absolutely fantastic He took the time to get to know us and made sure the tour was catered to our liking. A very knowledgeable man with a great sense of humour A brilliant day!

Fantastic time exploring highlights of Kyoto - Hugo was a wonderful tour guide who shared with us the historical and cultural significance of the places we visited, showed us the local shops to sample mochi and other snacks along the way, and expertly navigated through the metro, train, and streets from the port of Kobe to Kyoto. I visited Kinkakuji and the Higashiyama areas of Kyoto where we also visited Kiyomizu-dera and the Gion district. Hugo gave us flexibility to plan our itinerary while sharing with us practical tips to map out the distance between stops. On our way back, he also gave us advice on places to see the next day when we planned to explore Kobe.

Making the most in Kyoto with limited time. - Being able to see some of the must-see attractions in Kyoto when doing a shore excursion from Kobe is great and involves expertise in riding trains and subways. Our guide Michelle was fantastic, she made it look easy, was able to make adjustments when needed. She was very friendly and had good knowledge of the sites we visited. She was also expense conscious. We truly made the most of our limited time in Kyoto. We highly recommend Michelle as a guide.

Disappointed - Guide was very friendly and personable. Also, adaptable as the cruise changed our port at last minute. However, he seemed unaware of the form we previously completed listing our preferred activities for the tour. When we arrived at the Bamboo Forest and Monkey Park area, he was unfamiliar with the location which resulted in significant wasted time walking around looking for the entrances. This cut short our ability to see any more of the landmarks we had listed. Overall, we felt this was not worth the money we paid.

A Disappointment - This trip fell far short of its promise. Our guide worked with us via email to plan our trip. We were very impressed by him. However, reality intervened. The day before our trip, he totally changed our itinerary. Instead of taking the bullet train one way and the local train for our return, he announced he’d pick us up in his private car. Therefore, we spent over five hours getting back and forth to Kyoto. Five tedious hours on highways equals vacation time poorly spent. Our guide was ill prepared to discuss the sites he showed us. While the two sites were worth seeing, our guide had few stories to share. He instead would quietly read random facts from his phone. Sorry. This is not guiding. Finally, he committed the cardinal sin of a cruise port guide: he returned us to port thirty minutes later than committed. Japan does not require guides to be licensed. This is dangerous for visitors accustomed to traveling in Europe with top guides. Our Japanese tour guide was inexperienced and the tour company itself holds responsibility for allowing him to be our guide. Nice guy, for sure, but ill suited for this work.