My wife and I are inveterate travelers but had never .been to Japan, high on our list of places to go. We also love to take cruises and had heard a lot about Crystal Cruises (phone 866/446-6625 or visit www.crystalcruises.com) and its good reputation. Crystal's 11-day cruise, starting in China and ending in Japan, was the ideal itinerary for us. We could visit Japan and check out this luxury line.

The ship

In early May '04 we flew to Beijing and boarded our ship, the Crystal Harmony. Many of our fellow passengers had flown in three days earlier to take a pre-cruise tour of a number of Chinese historical sites, including the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. This was part of the 14-day "Treasures of Ancient Empires" cruise-tour, which starts at $3,495. We had been to China before, so we had decided to forgo this part.

Our first two days were at sea, giving us a much-welcomed chance to relax and get over our jet lag as well as time to become acquainted with the ship.

The thing that distinguishes Crystal Cruises ships is the elegance of the interior, from lush carpets to the mirrors on the corridor walls. Overall, there is a feeling of spaciousness.

Our stateroom was very comfortable, with a king-size bed, a sitting area that included a love seat and vanity, and large closets. But what made the cabin above average was its spacious veranda. (On this ship, 85% of the cabins had verandas.) The public areas on board were large and comfortable and contained several high-end shops. There was an auditorium for movies and speaker presentations and a large theater for after-dinner musical productions and entertainment.

For dinner, we chose the 8:30 serving in the main dining room. There were six at our table, couples from Manchester, England, and Banning in Southern California. We looked forward to visiting with them and sharing the day's experiences during our excellent 4-course dinners.

We weren't restricted to the main dining room, however. Two alternative restaurants were available: Prego for Italian food and Kyoto for Japanese. The food was so good in both, we opted to eat twice in each.

Shanghai

After two days at sea, our first stop was Shanghai. We had been to Shanghai in 1987 but were not prepared for the amazing changes in the city. Before, it was a dingy, crowded place with streets congested with bicycles and pedestrians. This time, it was still crowded (more than 16 million people), but there were a lot of cars among the bikes.