7-Night Spice of Southeast Asia

[CruiseNTheWorld91]

My wife and I have cruised 10 times, most of which have been with Royal. We are going again on Liberty out of Galveston in just under a week. We are wanting to book our next cruise on board and are looking for something different. We have done the Caribbean every time and sailed out of nearly every North American port that sails to the Caribbean. We have looked into the 7-Night Spice of Southeast Asia cruise in January of 2018 on Mariner. Does anyone have any insight into what cruising in Asia is like? Does anyone have any other suggestions of good itineraries besides this that we might try elsewhere. We are looking for 7-9 nights and pretty well the whole world is an option. We would like to go between August 2017-January 2018 if possible. Thanks!

[Tin can]

Hi

 

We are booked on the 5 night Spice of Asia in 2018. There is a fantastic full cruise review from the member 'gapearl' in the ports section (I think thats where it is) of this website. If you read it I think you will come to the same conclusion as us that its something a bit different but thats what we like.

 

Another idea for something a bit different is Dubai. It has been our best cruise to date, fantastic sights and experiences. Yes, I was a bit wary travelling to the region with the sometimes crazy world we live in but it was a true experience.

 

Happy travels :)

[CruiseNTheWorld91]

Hi

 

We are booked on the 5 night Spice of Asia in 2018. There is a fantastic full cruise review from the member 'gapearl' in the ports section (I think thats where it is) of this website. If you read it I think you will come to the same conclusion as us that its something a bit different but thats what we like.

 

Another idea for something a bit different is Dubai. It has been our best cruise to date, fantastic sights and experiences. Yes, I was a bit wary travelling to the region with the sometimes crazy world we live in but it was a true experience.

 

Happy travels :)

 

Thanks for the tips! Much appreciated!

[Tin can]

Thanks for the tips! Much appreciated!

 

Your very welcome :)

[CanobieFan]

I've also booked myself onto Mariner for Feb of 2018. The Cruise will actually be over my birthday (woo) but I was surprised how little info there was for the Singapore based sailings on this site. I too, read the GAPearl review (after booking) but it gave me the best idea of what I was getting myself into.

 

FYI, here's a link to her post - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2278154&highlight=mariner

Edited December 20, 2016 by CanobieFan

[4774Papa]

We primarily cruise on Celebrity, but have two Royal Caribbean cruises booked for 2018 out of Sydney, Australia.

 

We love traveling to Asia. I don't know much about your SE Asia cruise, but Celebrity has a popular SE Asia cruise between Hong Kong and Singapore that goes to Vietnam and Thailand, possibly Malaysia.

 

China is the really interesting place to visit in Asia, but a land tour would be your best choice there.

 

We did a wonderful cruise on Celebrity Millennium from Japan to Hong Kong with stops in four main Japanese ports, Shanghai, Okinawa, Taiwan, ending in HK.

Fantastic cruise. It is 14 days.

 

Flying to HK or Singapore is to the opposite side of the World and expensive. If you are spending that kind of money to get there, I strongly suggest a longer cruise than 7 days.

 

Australia is a great option, we did a cruise there in 2013. Also. South America, is wonderful, suggest an Around the Horn cruise.

 

Here are my reviews of our Asian, Australian and South American cruises.

Japan and a little bit of China

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=518503&et_cid=2531924&et_rid=17221689&et_referrer=Boards

 

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Singapore to Dubai

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http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=501167

 

 

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South America

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=248878

 

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http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=94024

Australia

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=216863

[xpcdoojk]

I agree with 4774Papa, if you are going to Asia, you need to stay longer than 7 days. That doesn't mean you have to cruise longer, but I wouldn't consider it less than 2 weeks. My next trip will be the shortest trip where we flew that far, and we will be In Japan, Singapore, On a 12 night cruise and 3 nights in China at the end. 3 Weeks.

 

JC

[LXA350]

If I am not mistaken Mariner will get a extended dry dock in 2017 with additions such as the Flowrider, hence the cabins and whole ship should be in very good condition.

 

For Asia you need more time. But a seven day cruise gives you a first feeling. Compared to the US and also Europe the cruises on Mariner out of Singapore usually get mainly chinese guests hence the crowd and Rythm on the ship is different but there are exceptions. I remember being on Mariner on a cruise from Singapore and on the sea day with beautiful warm weather we had the pool decks to ourselves, which was a very positive difference :)

[PCWalton1]

We agree that staying longer is a good idea so we are booked on Ovation for a 12 day cruise from Singapore to Tianjin in April 2018. It was a terrific buy at only $2800 total for the both of us in a Deck 8 balcony cabin.

[WaveSplasher]

The differences are listed below:

 

No Port Talks of each port

 

Limited MDR menu (apprently they scale down the menu from the normal RCL MDR dinning menu to a limited one.)

 

No Lobsters on Formal Nights (chargeable)

 

Escargots only on one night (you can request for every night)

 

Food is generally Asian Based (though western dishes are available. Windjammer remains the same.

 

Entertainment: You will still get the usual production shows from RCL/ Ice Show and guest entertainers including one show that is geared for Asians.

 

Bars might be empty and not much people hanging around.

 

Don't expect a lot of Trivia, Bingo this and that... But you will get a Poolside BBQ.

 

The dress code is rather relax on sailings in Asia if you get what I mean.

 

Avoid November- December sailings (School Holidays) unless you don't mind

 

PS: Asia Ports are usually at the container terminal due to lack in port facillites for cruise ships, examples are Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh, Port Klang for Kuala Lumpur. So be prepared for a 2hr drive each way.

Edited December 21, 2016 by WaveSplasher