Cruises to other countries in Asean may set sail later this year: STB
Singaporeans may be able to take a cruise to other countries later this year, with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) commencing discussions with the authorities in Asean.
Speaking at the STB's year-in-review media conference on Tuesday (Jan 25), Ms Jeannie Lim, assistant chief executive of policy and planning group, said Singapore is in a good position, having developed the first set of safe cruising standards.
"We are in talks with the different governments in terms of harmonising some of these cruise safe standards, so that at least there is agreement on what are the safety protocols and processes that we will follow.
"And this will take some time. But we do hope to be able to restart some ports of calls hopefully later this year," she said.
Only cruises-to-nowhere with no ports of calls are currently allowed in Singapore. Such cruises started in November 2020.
Only two cruise lines here have been given the green light to offer these sailings. They are Genting Cruise Lines' Dream Cruises and Royal Caribbean International.
STB said consumers can look forward to Royal Caribbean's cruise ship Spectrum of the Seas, which will have new experiences onboard.
Royal Caribbean said earlier that Spectrum of the Seas will offer three- to nine-night sailings that will visit Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, starting from Oct 21 this year.
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