Planning your next conference, brainstorming session or staff incentive program? Maybe you just want to get away with a loved one.
Planning your next conference, brainstorming session or staff incentive program? Maybe you just want to get away with a loved one.
Then why not consider cruising?
There is something magical about waking up to the sight of a glassy ink-blue sea, dotted with tiny tropical islands and then walking the timber deck before a morning cup of tea.
And a great way to start the cruising experience is on the SuperStar Virgo, based in Singapore.
While the Virgo is a huge ship it was designed from the outset to provide for individual choice, although it also caters for large groups. Dining is freestyle, which means no set table assignments or times, and if you prefer you can pay extra for a more intimate Italian, Japanese, Indian or Chinese meal.
In port, the decision-making takes on a very different spin with a multitude of options to suit couples or larger groups.
You could try a scenic tour into the jungles of Penang or maybe a dive excursion off Langkawi, or what about some team building or couple bonding with kayaking off Phuket?
Kayaking is always fun, but kayaking with a Thai guide among the islands of the Phang Gna Bay National Park, 100 kilometres north-east of Phuket, is much more.
It is breathtaking adventure in some of the most incredible aquatic scenery imaginable. This area was first put on the tourist map as the site of the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun.
Sheer limestone-cast mountains of unusual shapes and sizes rise dramatically out of the luminescent green water, reaching heights of up to 300 metres.
Their precipitous sides are covered in tropical vegetation, some of the tallest trees stretching skywards with barely a handful of soil supporting them.
Palms and ferns and draping creepers festoon the islands and provide protection for the monkeys, birds and iguanas that have inhabited this area for centuries.
The outer shells of some of the islands hide from the casual observer the real treasure within.
Accessible only via hidden tidal caves, the inner sanctum has remained a well-kept local secret until relatively recently. Paddling through the caves before they are covered by the high tide can require lying down flat in order to clear the overhanging rock, but the effort is rewarded amply by the scene that unfolds at the other end.
Stunning lagoons and grottoes are contained within perpendicular jungle-enmeshed cliffs, with the silence broken only occasionally by the twitter of birds.
The slightest whisper echoes and is magnified, so be careful what you are saying about colleagues dragging their paddles in the boats behind.
The water is mirror flat and the sky appears so far away as to seem almost irrelevant. Only by craning your neck and peering through the overhanging vegetation to a small blue patch above convinces you it still exists.
Monitor lizards stare at you from their well-camouflaged rocks, and you might catch sight of a mudskipper trying to bury itself into a sandbank left exposed by the falling tide.
The caves themselves are fascinating.
Some are havens for fruit bats, which cling to the rocky overhangs for their daytime nap, while others contain beautiful crystalline stalactites exposed by the torchlight.
Back on board the SuperStar Virgo, dining is a dilemma.
Top of the list is the stunning five-star plush Palazzo with its fine Italian cuisine and magnificent interior. And the food and its presentation are among the finest you will find, with the chefs members of the Chaine De Rotisseurs.
Then again, you might like the authentic Japanese Samurai restaurant or perhaps the Noble House for a la carte Chinese dining.
Charges apply to these restaurants if you are travelling balcony class but you get a credit per cabin, which can be used on beverages or dining.
The free-dining options are the 650-seat Bella Vista restaurant, with giant windows at the stern, and the Mediterranean Buffet and Terrace, both of which are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with a seemingly endless variety of Western and Asian dishes.
The ship has conference facilities and meeting rooms and the cruise line will work with you to ensure that your needs are met.
Special shore excursions can also be arranged for any size group.
In fact, if you have enough staff you can charter the Super Star Virgo or one of her sister ships.
