On a trip guaranteed to kick 2021 off in spectacular style, cruise to some of South East Asia’s most intriguing destinations before embarking on an iconic rail journey across Australia’s outback heartland on ecruising’s spectacular 20-night RAIL & SAIL: Explore Asia & the Aussie Outback tour.
This epic itinerary from one of Australia’s leading cruise travel specialists commences in Singapore on 21 January 2021 with 2 nights at The Fullerton Hotel. With its stately Doric columns, cornices and coffered ceilings, this iconic hotel stands like a mighty fortress against a shining cityscape at the mouth of the Singapore River, its high-ceiling suites, Italian marble floors and a lobby museum melding ultra-luxury with the building’s revered history. Beyond the hotel, spend time exploring one of Asia’s most lively and ethnically diverse cities at your leisure. And make sure to leave a little extra room in your suitcase for the bargains you are bound to discover in the city’s many shopping malls and markets.
On 23 January say farewell to Singapore as you embark Princess Cruises’ elegant Sea Princess for a 14-night voyage to Perth, visiting Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Bali, along the way. With spacious suites and staterooms, classical Art Deco-inspired décor and gracious lines, Sea Princess harks back to cruising’s golden era. Add in attentive service from friendly staff, tantalizing dining options, a Vegas-style casino and a variety of incredible entertainment choices, including Movies Under the Stars, and the ship offers up a relaxing retreat that is truly a home away from home.
Cruise highlights include stopovers in the dynamic Vietnamese metropolis of Ho Chi Minh, formerly Saigon, on the edge of the Mekong Delta, renowned for its mix of French colonial architecture and modern Asian influences, and its many motorbikes, scooters, pagodas, and vibrant street markets. From Vietnam, your voyage continues on to the pristine resort of Sihanoukville in Cambodia, home to ancient temples including Wat Krom and Wat Leu, the spectacular Ream National Park, and excellent offshore dive sites.
Next stop is Bangkok in Thailand. A city of contradictions, high-rise buildings and popular clubs abut golden temples and lively street fairs, where you can immerse yourself in fabulous golden temples and cultural sites including the massive Royal Palace complex of carved and gilded buildings still used by the Thai royal family. Banglamphu district is the perfect place to indulge in a little retail therapy, or check out the market at Klong Toey in central Bangkok and soak up the smells, sights, and sounds of the frenetic waterfront-pier area.
Calling at Kho Samui, Thailand’s third largest island, admire powdery white beaches, Buddhist temples and crystalline waters, while a day in Bali’s upscale fishing village of Benoa is a chance to visit Ubud’s Sacred Monkey Forest and explore the many temples, shrines, and monasteries that dot the area including the 17th-century royal temple complex of Pura Taman Ayun in nearby Mengwi.
Disembarking in Perth on 6 February, spend a night at uber-luxurious COMO The Treasury, one of the city’s leading hotels, before boarding The Indian Pacific for a truly unforgettable transcontinental rail journey. Settle into the comfort of your cabin, home for the next 3 nights, as you travel across outback Australia and absorb the dramatically changing landscapes from Perth’s verdant Avon Valley and the neatly patterned hamlets of the Adelaide Hills, to the vast sweeping plains of the Nullarbor, to the remotest regions of South Australia and western NSW, to the spectacular scenery of the Blue Mountains, before disembarking in Sydney on 10 February 2021.
Stopovers along the way include WA’s original wild west town – Kalgoorlie-Boulder, home to the staggering 3.6km wide Super Pit gold mine, and the once bustling railway community of Cook, now a ghost town in the heart of the Nullarbor. In South Australia’s picturesque capital, you can tempt your taste buds at the extraordinary Adelaide Central Market, take in a view of the world-renowned Adelaide Oval from Montefiore Hill and sample award-winning chocolate at the popular Haigh’s chocolate factory, while a visit to Broken Hill is chance to visit the late Pro Hart’s art studio or head to the Miners’ Memorial where the stark reality of working in Broken Hill’s mines is writ large.
ecruising’s 20-night RAIL & SAIL: Explore Asia & the Aussie Outback journey departs from Singapore on 21 January 2021 and is priced from A$6,369* per person twin share including one-way economy airfares to Singapore, all accommodation, all meals on board Sea Princess, all dining, beverages and a range of Off Train Excursions aboard The Indian Pacific and all transfers in Singapore and Perth.
*Subject to availability. Terms and conditions apply.
