Norwegian Cruise Line Returns to Asia with New Itineraries

Norwegian Cruise Line is known for offering an impressive assortment of itineraries letting family travelers visit practically every corner of the globe, but one part of the world has been missing for the past few years: Asia. Luckily, that is finally changing as the line returns to the region for the first time in three years.

The Jewel, a 2,376-passenger capacity ship in the cruise line’s Jewel Class, set sail from Tokyo in October, launching six months of itineraries throughout Asia. During the ship’s six-month run, it will take passengers on 10- to 14-day itineraries departing from nine different ports. Itineraries include 11 different ports of call with options to visit countries like Thailand, Singapore, Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and, of course, Japan.

Itineraries have been carefully designed to include lesser-visited ports with nearly 14 hours on shore to allow passengers to spend significant time exploring some iconic bucket list destinations.

The ship was originally built in 2005 but received lots of upgrades when it was refurbished in 2022, making it the perfect choice for these new itineraries.

© Norwegian Cruise Line

While the Jewel is the first of NCL’s ships to return to Asia, it won’t be the last. The line has plans for a total of four ships sailing throughout the region during the 2024/2025 season. These will include Sun, Spirit and Sky, and, in addition to ports of call in Asia, these itineraries will also include destinations in the South Pacific, Australia and New Zealand.

There are several all-new itineraries to NCL planned for these ships, such as an Auckland, New Zealand, to Bali, Indonesia, run for Sun. Sky, which previously sailed itineraries in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and Africa, will feature extensive itineraries departing from ports like Manila, Philippines; Taipei, Taiwan; and Port Louis, Mauritius, giving passengers plenty of time to spend time in exotic destinations during its 10- to 17-day cruises.

Spirit, which previously sailed the waters of Hawai’i and Alaska, is about to embark on its second season sailing itineraries throughout Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. For the 2024/2025 season, it will change course and sail several Asia itineraries expected to include sailings from Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Singapore and Manila.