P&O Cruises Launches Singapore Cruise Program

Australia’s leading cruise line P&O Cruises today announced a series of cruises from Singapore following its expansion to a five-ship fleet.

The cruise line’s Singapore season will include five cruises to destinations in some of the most picturesque parts of Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia and will feature maiden calls to Krabi, Sabang (Palau Weh), Ko Chang, and Sihanoukville.

The cruises will be operated by one of P&O Cruises’ latest ships, Pacific Eden, which will join the cruise line’s fleet in November next year. Pacific Eden will arrive in Singapore in July 2016 and sail on four round-trip cruises before returning to Australia.

“This is a very exciting time for P&O Cruises and our guests because our fleet expansion has allowed us to broaden our cruising horizons to include a cruise program from Asia to some of the world’s most fascinating destinations,” said Ann Sherry, CEO of P&O Cruises.

“None of this would have been possible without the expansion of our fleet which has allowed us to offer many more cruise holiday options over a wider geographic range.”

P&O Cruises last offered round-trip cruises from Singapore in 2006.

The Singapore season will include:
? a seven-night South East Asia western itinerary visiting the Malaysian and Thailand towns of Sabang, Phuket, Krabi and Langkawi
? a seven-night South East Asia eastern itinerary offering calls to stunning Sihanoukville in Cambodia as well as Ko Chang, Bangkok (Laem Chabang) and Ko Samui in Thailand
? a 13-night itinerary from Singapore to Cairns with a call to Dili in Timor L’este as well as visits to Indonesia and Darwin.

Passengers can also combine the east and west itineraries into a 14-night cruise. Fares begin from $949 per person quad share for the seven-night cruises.

The Singapore season is a major highlight of P&O Cruises’ record-breaking 2015-16 program which features 250 cruises from eight different homeports across its five-ship fleet.

Singapore Tourism Board Assistant Chief Executive Neeta Lachmandas said the board was thrilled that P&O Cruises was expanding its presence in Asia and Singapore, and would warmly welcome Pacific Eden to the region.

“Singapore’s strong air connectivity and seamless transport network supports P&O Cruises’ new itineraries in enabling more travelers, especially Australian cruisers, to use Singapore as a hub to discover the amazing diversity of Southeast Asia,” Ms Lachmandas said.

Ms Sherry said P&O Cruises’ Singapore-based itineraries were a further sign of the maturing of
the Australian market and its runaway success as the world’s fastest growing cruise market.

“Last year, nearly 834,000 Australians took a cruise holiday, 20 per cent more than in 2012, and
many of these are people who have cruised before and are now keen for new destinations and
new cultural experiences,” Ms Sherry said.

“As growth in the fly-cruise segment shows, an increasing number of passengers are prepared to
travel internationally to begin their cruise and P&O Cruises is responding to this market
opportunity.”