Star Cruises will position its luxury cruise ship, the SuperStar Gemini, to Singapore for a four-month stint beginning November 2005…
Star Cruises will position its luxury cruise ship, the SuperStar Gemini, to Singapore for a four-month stint beginning November 2005. This move has been taken to meet strong demand for fly/cruise holidays to Singapore in a number of overseas markets including Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Europe.
The 19,093-tonne SuperStar Gemini will offer regular seven-night South-east Asia cruise itineraries along the Straits of Malacca and Andaman Sea from 20 November 2005 until 2 April 2006. The weekly departures from Singapore will call at Port Klang (Kuala Lumpur), Langkawi Island and Penang in Malaysia and Krabi and Phuket in Thailand.
In addition, three special seven-night South China Sea cruises to Ko Samui and Ho Chi Minh City will depart from Singapore on 2, 9 and 16 April 2006. Both the regular and special itineraries have been designed to provide more relaxed cruises, including overnight stopovers in Phuket and Ho Chi Minh City to give guests more time to enjoy and explore the sights of these destinations. Please refer to the Annex for detailed itineraries.
Presently, SuperStar Virgo sails out of Singapore three times a week on cruises lasting two or three nights. The return of SuperStar Gemini to Singapore will not only increase Star Cruises` passenger capacity out of Singapore by more than 40 percent, but will also enable the company to offer longer cruises and to new destinations.
Currently based in Taiwan and offering cruises to Japan, SuperStar Gemini will be in dry-dock in Singapore for about two weeks prior to the start of her new itinerary.
SuperStar Gemini entered service in 1992 and her return to the original homeport in coincides with the tenth year since it joined the Star Cruises fleet in 1995 pioneering the South-east Asia fly/cruise market particularly from Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom.
Meeting the needs of more sophisticated travellers
Mr Chong Chee-Tut, Chief Operating Officer of Star Cruises, said, Fly/cruise packages have always been popular with tourists to Singapore. Over the years, we have worked successfully with both premium and lower cost airlines to develop Singapore as a major cruise hub for inbound tourists. In fact, almost half of the passengers onboard SuperStar Virgo each week are non-Singapore residents who visit Singapore for its sights and shopping and to cruise with us. They total more than 130,000 a year.
Mr Chong added, Star Cruises passengers are increasingly more sophisticated and they want longer cruises to different destinations. This is especially true for seasoned cruise vacationers from outside Asia who would be interested in weeklong cruise holidays on more relaxing and exotic itineraries, such as cruising up the Saigon River to historic Ho Chi Minh City. Our extended cruises onboard SuperStar Gemini will meet the needs of this group of passengers.
Star Cruises has run early bird promotions in Australia and New Zealand, markets where the SuperStar Gemini has a large loyal following, and forward bookings for the SuperStar Gemini cruises have been strong and unprecedented. Reservations for these cruises are now open.
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