Unique Itinerary Of The Week - 10/18

18-Night Southeast Asia Cruise on Azamara Quest

Illustration courtesy Azamara Cruises

Asia has become a cruise destination that continues to emerge slowly.  Cruise lines like Costa and Royal Caribbean have cautiously deployed a few ships there, in order to test the local market.  At first, there were teething problems catering to the mainly Asian client base, and the lines were caught off guard by one factor in particular: the number of North Americans willing to take a ten-to-fourteen hour flight in order to experience Asia on a cruise.  Starting this December, Azamara Cruises plans to tap into some of that willingness.

From December 9, 2009 to March 6, 2010 (and again from December 2010 to March 2011), Azamara Quest will offer a variety of 12, 14, and 18-night voyages calling at a number of popular Asian destinations, as well as some obscure ones - the December 21, 2010 voyage, for example, calls at Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

This week's Unique Itinerary of the Week is the December 22, 2009 18-Night Southeast Asia Cruise aboard Azamara Quest.

Starting with an overnight in Singapore on December 22nd and December 23, the  Quest then sets sail for a three-night call in Bangkok, Thailand.  After that, it's on to an overnight in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, another overnight in Hue (Danang), Vietnam, a call in Canton (Guangzhou), China, and finally ending in an overnight in Hong Kong.

What makes this cruise so special is the amount of overnight calls in port.  These give passengers the chance to experience multiple sights and excursions that a single-day port call simply could not offer.  In addition, the voyages five sea days are interspersed to allow rest between ports.

Perhaps the best feature about this exotic holiday cruise is its price point: cabins start at just $2,539 CAD - exceptional for an 18-day cruise.

For more information, visit the Azamara Cruises Website.