Three different Royal Caribbean ships will together make up the longest peak cruise season – eight months – for voyages from Singapore. Over 200,000 travellers are expected to embark on one of 55 different itineraries which will set sail over this period – marking a 30% increase in available cabins compared to last year.

Each of the three ships will spend different lengths of time in the region, with Asia mainstay Mariner of the Seas running 39 of these by itself, beginning from October 2016. The 3,114-passenger ship will run voyages ranging in duration from three to seven nights from Singapore to ports such as Penang, Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; to Phuket and Bangkok (Laem Chabang), Thailand and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Among the highlights of the season will be a three-night weekender to Penang and a four-night Phuket voyage.

The ship will also host specially themed sailings such as a special salsa dancing departure in December, which will feature some of the region’s best movers performing for audiences and running master classes for guests. Christmas and New Year’s Eve party events at sea will follow later that month, with Chinese New Year festivities in late January 2017 and the second Cosfest Sea Cruise, a special festival involving costume parades and treasure hunts.

Also making an appearance in Singapore during the season will be Ovation of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas, both at the end of their 2016-17 stints in Australian waters. Following its final departure from Sydney in late February 2017, Ovation will return to Asia where it will base itself in Singapore in March and April 2017. The 4,180-guest ship will run 10 cruises of between three and five nights to Malaysia and Thailand prior to embarking on a 12-night repositioning to its regular mid-year home in Beijing.

Mariner‘s sister ship Voyager of the Seas will then enter the game in May 2017 after it completes its Australian season, where it will sail a short series of six cruises to the same ports in Malaysia and Thailand. It will then head north to Hong Kong for its Asian summer.