By
Rebecca Gibson |
Carnival will homeport Princess Cruises’ 2,760-passenger Sapphire Princess in Singapore from November 2014 to February 2015 and offer a series of itineraries to seven countries and 16 ports.
The 116,000-ton Sapphire Princess will offer 15 roundtrip cruises from Singapore to various destinations across Southeast Asia, including itineraries to the Strait of Malacca, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The roundtrips have been tailored to the Asian cruise market and range from shorter three, four or five-day cruises, to longer seven, ten and eleven-day voyages. Princess will also offer combined cruises to provide passengers with 25 additional itineraries of up to 21 days.
“Princess Cruises will be the first premium cruise line to have ships based in Singapore for an extended period,” said Alan Buckelew, the line’s president and CEO. “Our new Singapore-based deployment features superior itineraries specifically designed for the regional market, which we believe will prove extremely popular and will help to introduce cruise vacations to a growing number of Southeast Asia vacationers.”
Sapphire Princess will have many of the line’s signature features, but dining menus will offer both international and local Asian cuisine, while enrichment programmes, entertainment amenities and spa treatments will be tailored to local preferences. The ship will also have multi-lingual crew members.
Passenger and crew spending, agents’ costs and Carnival’s costs are expected to contribute around SG$50 million to the local Singapore economy.