Celebrity Cruises is to sail in the Far East and South Pacific for the first time next year.
The US line is to deploy one of its 10 ships in the region for 2006. The 1,950-passenger ship Summit will offer cruises covering Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam.
The line expects bookings to open by April although itineraries have yet to be confirmed. Celebrity expects to offer a series of round-trip and open-jaw cruises of varying lengths.
President and chief operating officer Jack Williams said: “Our guests and travel partners told us they want to experience Asia with celebrity and now they can.
“This is a natural evolution for Celebrity, coming on the heels of our launch of Celebrity Xpeditions in the Galapagos Islands, our tripling of capacity in Europe over the past two years, and our deployment of new hardware in South America.”
Report by Phil Davies
