8 cruise itineraries around Asia perfect for celebrations

Whatever occasion you’re celebrating, there’s a perfect cruise to help you do it.

Travel is inherently a celebration, but aligning it with a major milestone enriches the experience tenfold. In these moments, travel should be stress-free and joyful, free from coordination headaches. Cruising has long been the ultimate celebratory getaway, and a voyage in Asia affords an effortless blend of cultural immersion, seamless travel and time dedicated to honouring life’s sweeter moments.

Discover the best cruise itinerary for your next celebrations.

Best for celebrating new love

Phi Phi Islands, Krabi, Thailand — Lean into the romance on a Phi Phi Islands boat ride. (Credit: Miltiadis Fragkidis)

Newly in love? They say you can’t really know until you travel together, and joining a cruise will be one of the gentlest ways to test that theory (goodbye fighting over missed flights, and hello quality time onboard and in port).

A great cruise to start with is Royal Caribbean’s five-night Penang, Phuket & Langkawi itinerary, on Navigator of the Seas®. Lean into the romance during a boat ride around the Phi Phi Islands of Phuket. Chase waterfalls together at Telaga Tujuh in Langkawi. Book a romantic dinner of Tuscan-inspired cuisine on board at Jamie’s Italian by Jamie Oliver. And be sure to book a couple’s massage at Vitality℠ Spa.

Best for celebrating birthdays

Izumi Sashimi — Kick off the birthday celebrations at Izumi Teppanyaki

Milestone birthdays (or any birthdays, we won’t judge) beg to be commemorated by something a little more than drinks at home with friends. Travel makes it unforgettable, and Royal Caribbean’s six-night Seoul, Jeju & Busan itinerary means you can tick off bucket list items as you welcome in a new year of living. The journey takes place onboard Spectrum of the Seas®, a Quantum-Ultra Class ship, making it the biggest in the region.

Kick off the birthday celebrations with dinner at Izumi Teppanyaki℠, where an expert chef brings your meal to life right before your eyes. Follow dinner up with Showgirl, a dazzling tribute to an iconic stage siren, and a late-night boogie at the ultimate 70s disco party. For a change of pace, take in the vibrancy of Seoul as you stroll along Cheonggyecheon Stream, or take the cable car to N Seoul Tower for sweeping city views.

Best for celebrating family

royal caribbean bumper cars celebrations — All ages will love the bumper cars.

As families get older, the chances to spend quality time appreciating and celebrating each other seem to disappear. Buck that trend on Royal Caribbean’s 10-night Bangkok and Vietnam Cruise on Quantum of the Seas®.

This may be the best ship for multi-gen travel you’ll ever find. Get the blood pumping and create family moments with onboard activities like the Ripcord® by iFly® skydiving simulator, bumper cars in Seaplex® or the surf simulator Flowrider®. Relax by one of several pools around the ship. And find a restaurant for every taste.

Port days offer perfect experiences for active families with kids or teens, blending adventure with enriching cultural experiences. From a traditional Vietnamese bamboo dance in Ho Chi Minh City to the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Hue Imperial City.

Best for celebrating anniversaries

Royal caribbean couple bar — Spend special moments together.

Unlike a new couple, anniversaries are for celebrating a love that has already lasted far beyond your first travel experience together. Make it the start of a beautiful new chapter on Royal Caribbean’s nine-night Japan itinerary.

The carefully curated port stops allow guests to explore parts of Japan and South Korea that many haven’t visited, or are harder to reach. Take it slow in Kagoshima, where Sengan-en Garden – a traditional samurai estate – offers dramatic views, with rolling ocean and a smouldering volcano forming the backdrop. Dive into the hot springs of Kumamoto for a little yutori.

On board, gaze over the ship and ocean from on high inside the North Star® – Royal Caribbean’s iconic glass capsule observation pod. Or book an unforgettable anniversary dinner at the Chef’s Table, an exclusive, multi-course culinary journey led by the ship’s own Chef de Cuisine.

Best for celebrating work achievements

Quantum of the Seas spa — Lounge onboard Quantum of the Seas.

Work achievements call for a moment of treating yourself, and often push us to finally take that well-earned break. Lean into slow travel and return completely reset with Royal Caribbean’s Transpacific Cruise options. Spend 14 nights journeying into Singapore from Seattle to Tokyo, or the epic 17-night adventure from Tokyo to LA.

Either way, spend plenty of time between ports with no alarm clocks, no schedules and no commute on Quantum of the Seas or Navigator of the Seas. Work your way around the multitude of dining options. Book a seat for world-class late-night entertainment. Spend the afternoon getting pampered at the spa. And enjoy nights of star-gazing from your room’s private balcony.

Best for celebrating the girls

Aerial top-down view of Patong Beach with tourists, umbrellas — Enjoy beach days with the girls. (Credit: Getty/ Jitti Narksompong)

Friendships can change our worlds, in the best of ways, and deserve to be celebrated. Take your group on Royal Caribbean’s four-night Penang and Phuket itinerary on Navigator of the Seas.

Grab a pre-game drink on board at R Bar. Dress up for fresh lobster rolls and indulgent seafood platters at Hooked Seafood. And sip cocktails by the pool in tranquil, adults-only spaces like the Solarium. In port, relax on the white sand beaches of Kata Noi, or continue the party on famous Patong Beach. And be sure to search for the best street eats in Penang’s UNESCO-listed George Town – famous for its street art and vibrant hawker lanes.

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Best for celebrating Mum

woman getting a massage — Thank Mum with a massage at Vitality Spa.

Show Mum how much she means to you on Royal Caribbean’s eight-night Osaka & Tokyo overnight cruise onboard Spectrum of the Seas. This is an especially perfect trip for mums who appreciate a blend of culture, history, gardens, food and unique experiences to share with their kids.

Wander historic temples and perfectly manicured gardens, then relax at local hot springs. Indulge in Japan’s best food offerings, from sushi to wagyu steaks to tastings of locally brewed sake. On board, let Mum unwind with a massage and facial at Vitality Spa. And give her a well-earned rest from kids at the adults-only Solarium.

Best for celebrating a reunion

spectrum of the seas for celebrations — Get the gang back together.

Unfortunately, life can often get in the way of seeing our nearest and dearest, so reunions have to be intentional. Whoever you’re meeting, the Royal Caribbean three-night Jeju itinerary on Spectrum of the Seas is the best way to do it. The perfect length for a low-commitment catch-up that is high on fun – celebrate, reconnect and make new memories between reminiscing on the old.

Bond over a group hike up the dormant Mount Hallasan volcano. Catch your collective breath in an herb sauna or jjimjilbang (Korean bathhouse). Book a meal onboard at Chops Grille℠, perfect for the type of long lunches that reconfirm friendly bonds.

Start planning the celebration of a lifetime at royalcaribbean.com.

After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?

In 1986, Nepal changed its clock. It had used India Standard Time since 1920 so, to differentiate, it wound its clock 15 minutes ahead of, not behind, its big-brother neighbour. Boss move. “Nepal is strongly opposed to the idea that our identity is connected to India,” says Community Homestay Network (CHN) guide Bikal Khanal.

Tharu dance is traditionally set to hand drums. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

Today, Nepal is the only independent country with a 45-minute deviation to universal time; an oddity that’s become a symbol of national pride. The quirk is nearly as endearing as Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport where carved varnished wood and shiny red bricks rule. One sign points to a ‘Travelator’ and another to a ‘Grievance Handling Desk’ while visas are noisily stamped at customs for US dollars, cash only. When am I?

Spot the endemic Nepal gray langur. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The 15 or 45 minute anomaly sees me tap out completely on timezone calculations. Why bend my brain calculating if it’s quarter to or quarter past elsewhere when I’m in the honking here and now of Kathmandu where the air is high-altitude crisp, the prayer flags flutter and the street dogs howl?

How tourism is changing in Nepal

Bardiya National Park is rich with wildlife. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

India is not the only association many Nepalis would like to shake. With eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest and Annapurna, Nepal has long attracted mountaineers and trekkers, and expedition numbers are continuing to rise.

Tourism is one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign currency, so this growth is not negative, per se. But according to Ang Tshering Lama, who co-founded Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, being reduced to a mere trekking destination is limiting.

“Trekking is just one layer of our identity,” says Ang. “When it becomes the dominant narrative, it limits how we’re seen and how we see ourselves.” Nepal’s recent success, however, in diverting trekkers to less-trafficked areas such as Manaslu mofuntain, where visitor numbers rose by 117 per cent last year, offers hope that tourism can diversify even more radically.

Local men in Bhada village. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The founder of CHN, Shiva Dhakal, wants that change. “The whole idea of the Community Homestay Network is to promote experiences outside of trekking,” he says. “Community tourism changes lives and helps kids stay home instead of coming to the city or migrating to the Middle East.”

Ang grew up seeing people leave, “not because they wanted to but because there weren’t enough opportunities to stay”, he states. Yet from remote villages to living traditions; food, art, music and emerging subcultures, “there’s so much that’s not being seen.”

CHN is opening some of those doors. It doesn’t own, or fund, any homes. Rather, it promotes homestays to travellers on a single, slick platform, while fostering entrepreneurship in places where women, marginalised castes, Indigenous people and the youth stand to benefit the most.

A new generation demanding more

Dalla Town Hall, where volunteers discuss anti-poaching tactics. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The future prospects of next-gen Nepalis can no longer be ignored. On a Kathmandu tour with 33-year-old guide Monica K.C, we pass buildings torched in the September 2025 ‘Gen Z protests’, including the Supreme Court and Parliament House. Seventy-two people died. “They were anti-corruption protests,” says Monica. “Politicians’ children are living a lavish life but the airports are crowded with youngsters leaving to find work.”

We stop in ‘little Tibet’ at the wondrous sixth-century Boudha Stupa. “The wheel of life is Buddhism in a nutshell,” says Monica. “Things such as hate, ignorance and anger keep you rotating around the wheel, so you must follow the principles of Buddhism to detach. If you can’t, there’s no nirvana for you.”

Boudha Stupa's prayer wheels — Boudha Stupa’s prayer wheels are used to recite Buddhist prayers. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

In a sun-drenched twist to the usual temple visit, we ascend the stupa’s sloping plinth and roam its whitewashed dome. Tendrils of diaphanous prayer flags stream from a steeple-like structure where the Buddha’s unblinking eyes stare out. No nirvana for you…

bouda stupa prayer flags — Tibetan-style prayer flags embellish the whitewashed dome of Bouda Stupa, a Buddhist temple. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

The dome is delightfully free of guard rails or chiding from security. There is, however, a stern ‘No TikTok’ sign, perhaps in response to the youth’s newly flexed power. The booted-out Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, was replaced in a resounding election victory in March by 35-year-old Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – a former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu. The RSP’s manifesto indicates tourism is a priority, and that Nepal’s cultural identity in areas such as gastronomy will be strengthened.

Boudha Stupa vendors — Vibrant souvenir shops and cafes around Boudha Stupa. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

A more confronting stop awaits at Pashupatinath Temple. Today is Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival where thousands of devotees gather to honour their dead ancestors. Vendors hauling foam mattresses do a lucrative trade as people set up for a night of vigil. This includes burning the bodies of recently deceased relatives on bamboo pyres in the Bagmati River, which flows into the sacred Ganges.

A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi, in Kathmandu. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Wrapped in a shroud, the bodies are positioned with their heads facing north to the Himalayas where Lord Shiva resides. They’re covered with flowers and straw and set alight by male family members.

Hours later, the ashes are swept into the river where devotees will take a holy dip the next day. As much as Monica assures us it’s not voyeuristic to watch, I struggle to do so. “Here you see the reality of life because everyone ends up there,” she says, gesturing to the river.

Life unfiltered in the Terai region

tharu woman — Tharu woman and master weaver Parbati Chaudhary in Bhada Village. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The reality of life needs processing time, which the western Terai region delivers in spades. The Terai is largely separated from India by the Karnali River and Bardiya National Park, where elephants, rhinos and the elusive Bengal tiger roam.

Once a nomadic tribe, the Indigenous Tharu people are now the largest ethnic group here. “They didn’t know their daily life was interesting for international travellers but they’re starting to understand now,” says CHN founder Shiva.

Take a Jeep safari through Bardiya National Park. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

We fly Buddha Air to Dhangadhi airport and drive five hours to stay in Tharu homes. The journey to Bhada village is a blur of roadside fruit stalls, traffic-stopping sacred cows and fields sown with wheat, rice, mustard, spinach, cauliflower and potatoes. Nepal’s agriculture feeds only Nepal.

Marigolds are an important part of Hindu rituals. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

“The only thing we export is young people,” says our guide Bikal. As the light dims and we plunge evermore rural, mysterious mounds of compacted hay – some house-sized – loom like the creatures from Where The Wild Things Are. Even our trusty driver gets flummoxed by a dirt road that abruptly ends and we find ourselves hurtling across a paddock.

On arrival, some are ferried to mud-walled cottages greened by gourd creepers, with thatched roofs and rustic-chic mosquito nets. Myself and two others are ushered to the home of corner store owner, mechanic and mushroom farmer Man Kumar Chilaruwa and his wife Rajkumari.

community homestay entrance — A warm welcome at a community homestay. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

They escort us to a bunker-esque back building with steel doors and a folding security gate, behind which is gleaming linoleum, dolphin-printed tiles and a shower cavity that must be gingerly stepped through to reach the toilet.

The ceiling lights emit a rainbow of colours (the bathroom light gets stuck in, frankly, a quite frightening red). We’re nevertheless touched that our hosts invested in all this bling when the average salary is around $275 a month.

In the coming days, we participate in Tharu traditions such as making moonshine, dancing, weaving straw handicrafts and gold-panning. We’re fed well with staples of rice, mustard greens, lentil pancakes, daal, curried chicken and tomato chutney served on antibacterial saal leaves.

food at community homestay — Dig in. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Sonara community homestay president Indradevi Tharu tells us river snails are often served, and the boiled and pickled flesh of rats hunted in the rice fields. “Perhaps next time?” we say and all have a laugh.

The power of community homestays

community homestay owners in Nepal — Barda community homestay owners Parbati Chaudhary and Ram Krishni Devi Chaudhary. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

Immersing Western visitors in foreign cultural practices is not new. But with the Tharu, I never get that uneasy sensation that I’m being performed for. Despite being the only tourists, there’s no ‘othering’; just warm, composed and ultra-dignified welcomes. Like we’ve always been here.

“I love to have travellers in my village so I can see the world,” says local woman Parbati Chaudhary. “Why would I travel the world when the world comes to me?”

The graceful acceptance the Tharu offer, as well as the slow pace, works miracles on my frazzled nervous system. One day I even take a nap on a vacant homestay bed.

Sonara community room — An authentic stay in the Sonara community. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Roosters strut and goats bray as we sit on the ground in al fresco kitchens, rolling rice flour into cylinders steamed to make dhikri (dumplings). When water is needed, we fetch it using a hand-operated pump as a family of ducks strolls by, side-eying us like curious neighbours.

Animal lovers will delight in Tharu villages. Kind and resourceful inventions are everywhere, such as snacking stations where two posts lean together, with leafy boughs dangling on rope for baby goats to forage from.

CHN’s CEO, Aayusha Prasain, nods knowingly when one in our group says she cried when she left her host, Shayam Chaudhary, in Bhada. Shayam’s 17-year-old son, Prashant, had translated, which deepened the connection.

“Community tourism turns travel into a relationship, not a transaction,” says Aayusha. “It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, especially women and youth.” Since 2018, CHN has hosted more than 4000 travellers from 52 countries in 408 households, and estimates women’s participation has increased by 381 per cent.

In the Bardiya community, where vexing human-animal conflict has been a balancing act for decades due to elephants raiding crops, long-time homestay operator Salik Ram Chaudhary says young people keep the older ones on their toes.

“We can’t keep homestays stagnant,” he says. “We have to upgrade our service and redefine our product or young people won’t see it as an attractive business. If we can keep evolving with this travelling trend we’re confident the youths will stay and continue it.”

Back in Kathmandu, Monica explains that after the deaths of young protestors in September, a determination had spread to not let their sacrifice be in vain. “We want to keep holding the government accountable,” she says. “We don’t know what situation we’re facing, but we’re ready to face it.”

Interested in Nepal but prefer to experience it in total comfort? Read our guide to luxury travel in Nepal.

8 cruise itineraries around Asia perfect for celebrating any milestone