Princess Cruises announced that the liner Sapphire Princess will have an extended season in Asia in 2020 following ship's 6th homeporting season in Singapore (December 2019 through March 2020) of which the highlight is Southeast Asia Grand Adventure with Solar Eclipse Cruise over Christmas.
Sapphire Princess will feature a host of new itineraries comprising 8-, 16-, 24-, and 32-day cruises in Spring 2020 that will give passengers the opportunity to sail on a couple of Grand Asia roundtrips from Singapore, Shanghai or Hong Kong to destinations in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia.
In between the Grand Asia voyages, the vessel will undergo a 2-week dry dock in Singapore in April 2020. Sapphire Princess will be homeported in Shanghai for North Asian itineraries (May through October 2020) when will be offered a 21-day relocation voyage (repositioncruises.com) from Shanghai to Melbourne via Singapore.
The latest CLIA report showed increases in Southeast Asia's passenger source markets that saw year-on-year gains in 2918, including Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam.
Sapphire Princess will be based in the port of Melbourne for Australia & New Zealand itineraries from October 2020 through April 2021, marking the vessel's first homeporting season in Australia. More than 40 itineraries will be included covering stops off the beaten track like Arlie Beach, Kangaroo Island, Philip Island, and Yorkeys Knob. Other highlights include New Zealand's Fjordland National Park and South Pacific covering New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu.
For the 2020-2021 season Down Under, Sapphire Princess joins 4 other Princess liners - Majestic, Regal, Sea and Sun - marking company's biggest ever Australian summer program with a total 123 departures on 70+ itineraries, ranging in length from 2 to 35 days.