Asia is the hot new destination with Princess Cruises extending its Japan itineraries for the 2025-26 season.
The expansion comes on the back of a record -breaking surge in the number of American travellers heading to Japan and Asia last year – helped no doubt of the weak Japanese Yen.
Princess is not the only cruise line expanding its presence in Asia. Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean have also increased the number of ships in Southeast and Northern Asia as the region has become the hot travel destination.
The Japanese-built Diamond Princess returns with an expanded Japan season for 2025-26 focusing on the country’s favourite destinations, Mount Fuji and Kyoto.
Why Asia has become a hot destination
Cruisers will be able to explore Japan’s ancient temples and castles, magnificent gardens in 2025 fall season with offerings of 11 new voyages ranging from nine to 22 days. The cruise will also include stops in Korea and Taiwan.
NCL will have three ships in the region with Norwegian Spirit debuting in Asia Pacific and joining Norwegian Sky and Norwegian Sun. This marks NCL’s largest deployment in the region. NCL will visit 30 new ports across the hot destinations of Asia, Australia and New Zealand from September this year to March 2026. Asia Pacific is the main driver of growth for American travellers – up 20 per cent from last year.
Royal Caribbean sent its largest and most innovative ship, Spectrum of the Seas to China in April sailing from the popular port of Shanghai on four-to-five night cruises. There will be extended voyages to include Fukuoka, Okinawa, Nagasaki, Osaka and Tokyo – the hot destinations of northern Asia.
Anthem of the Seas heading to Singapore, a hot destination
Spectrum will then head of Hong Kong in December this year and offer itineraries to Ishigaki and Miyazaki in Japan, Taipei and Nha Trang in Vietnam. Passengers can look forward to chill out at bars after sunset, listen to live music at Latin-themed club Boleros and Brass & Bock – a favourite English pub with a live guitarist and pints of all kinds of ale. They can experience a range of adventure activities such as skydiving and RipCord by iFly.
Royal will deploy Anthem of the Seas for the first time in Singapore late this year to offer favourite signature voyages to locals visiting Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
For the 2025 fall season, Princess will have 11 new voyages visiting 25 destinations throughout the Land of the Rising Sun with stops in Korea and Taiwan.
Highlights of Asia’s hot cruise destinations include:
13-day Circle Japan Fall Foliage sailing during autumn.
9-day Circle Japan, a circumnavigation of the country with stops at Nagasaki, Akita and Sakaiminato.
9-day Southern Islands heading to southern Japanm and ythe lush islands of Okinawa and Ishigaki.
10-day Kyushu and Korea cruise visiting Hiroshima, Osaka and Shimizu.
Diamond Princess will then sail to Singapore on a 12-day Southeast Asia & Japan with visits to Taipei and Hong Kong.
Highlights of Asia’s hot itineraries
There will be three roundtrip sailings from Singapore. They include:
14-day Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam cruise calling at Phuket, Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City.
16-day Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam cruise visiting Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and gateway to Hanoi.
14-day Southeast Asia & Japan cruise visiting Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shimizu.
The 2670-guest Diamond Princess has the authentic and popular Japanese restaurant Kai Sushi. Passengers can sip Japanese cocktails created by Rob Floyd. They can also soak in the traditional and popular Izumi bath onboard the ship.
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