With many cruise lines focusing on Europe to reel in passengers, Princess Cruise will be sending its Sapphire to Singapore to tour the Far East.
Princess said "the ship would offer a variety of cruise options during a four-month season from Fall 2014 to Spring 2015...Calling it the largest deployment ever by a premium cruise line in the region," according to a press release.
The decision was made due to a rising interest in the region and Princess said "that its ship would offer more destinations from Singapore than any other cruise line," reported USA Today.
As far as the itineraries being offer by The Sapphire Princess: "15 round-trip sailings calling at seven countries and 16 ports. Cruises will range from three, four, five, seven, 10 and 11 nights, visiting major cities such as Bangkok; Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; as well as smaller destinations like Penang, Malaysia; Ko Samui, Thailand; and the islands of Langkawi," according to USA Today.
Alan Buckelew, Princess CEO and president said, "the ship's itineraries were designed for the regional market, and will help to introduce cruise vacations to a growing number of Southeast Asia vacationers." It for this reason that he feels that Princess will not only be able to attract clients from the international market, like Australia, United Kingdom and the United States, but also grab a few locals.
To make sure his ship caters to everyone, Buckelew said that "the shipboard experience would mostly be the same as on other Princess cruises around the world, but that changes would be made to appeal to the local market, such as having multi-lingual crewmembers and menus offering both international and local cuisine," according to USA Today.
The first sailing out of Singapore for the 2,670- passenger Sapphire Princess will depart Nov. 27, on an 11-day cruise.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
