Our cruise of SE Asia included flights with reputable airlines as well as transfers. This turned out to be the most challenging part of the cruise so first of all I should say the ship was excellent and we tried many of the restaurants on board and found all lovely with some good touches such as the pub lunch as well as the more exotic touches. There were quite a few days at sea and quite a bit of lively seas to cope with but these were handled well by the ship and crew. I particularly liked Singapore, Bangkok, Nha Trang, Hong Kong, Nagasaki and Busan.

The ship has a major problem in getting anywhere near the places of visiting so docks in container ports and buses to and fro often 2 hours each way! China was particularly smoggy and we were stuck on our tour and transfer to hotel for 7 hours from getting on the bus to our first point of call and all in all had 10 hours on the bus without a stop for food.

You also have to watch the flights that Princess book as although they show major airlines the reality is that they book code share flights without declaring it as part IATA rules and we end up on a South China Airlines Flight that was cramped, did not have reclining seats, little to no water or drinks and overall a poor service for 11 hours! It was badged at KLM but at no time did Princess declare the actual operating airline. (Have complained to Princess but they have gone quiet!)