Genting Cruise Lines will resume domestic cruise operations out of Malaysia from 22 December after being granted approval from the government.
According to details released by Genting over the weekend, the company’s Star Cruises brand will initially launch a single ship, Star Pisces, for sailings from Penang, with five sailings planned per week.
All cruises will be for one or two nights with ship capacity limited to 50%, although Genting Cruise Lines is planning to launch more ships in the near future with a short-term goal of allowing cruises to travel to nearby destinations such as Singapore and Thailand.
“As part of Genting Cruise Lines, Star Cruises is excited to pioneer safe cruises in Malaysia and to work hand-in-hand with the ministries under the Malaysian government … to support the country’s National Recovery Plan,” said Genting Cruise Lines President, Kent Zhu.
“We hope to call on to more Malaysian destinations and to expand our itineraries with the inclusion of regional destinations like Phuket in the near future to spur the cruise tourism industry. We are also actively pursuing with the various port authorities to create a ‘Harmonize Cruising Standards’ for the region in the hope of gradually re-opening international cruising in a controlled and safe manner, which will also bring inbound tourists to Malaysia, especially from our ship in Singapore.”
The reopening of cruise ship sailings from Malaysia comes just over a year after Genting Cruise Lines relaunched cruising from Singapore. The company also increased capacity on sailing out of Hong Kong from 50% to 75% last week.