In Cruising, The Short Sail Is The New 'In' Thing

In the Golden Age of Cruising in the 1950s, people could literally spend weeks on a boat.

- SCOTT & THERESE GARCEAU

Therese's grandfather, traveling from San Francisco back to Manila on the S.S. President Wilson in 1950, ran into storms and other delays that extended his journey from a couple of weeks to a month.

Seventy-five years hence, cruising has become a much speedier proposition. While weeklong cruises are popular, the in thing now is the "short sail," ranging from three to five nights with fewer ports of call.

Royal Caribbean recently debuted its cruise ship Anthem of the Seas, actually one of its first Quantum category ships, in Singapore, offering a mix of short getaways and longer-haul itineraries for travelers to explore the top destinations in Southeast Asia and beyond.

As cruising grows in popularity among families and young travelers, Anthem has tailored its holiday itineraries to those demographics, packing them with world-class entertainment, global cuisines, adrenaline-filled adventures and immersive shore excursions. And it's decidedly less formal: instead of mandatory bowties for males at dinnertime, it's "Tonight's Dress Code: Casual."

We went on Royal Caribbean's four-night sail to Penang and Phuket, hoping to de-stress and get away from it all for a few days without completely abandoning our duties back home.

Embarking on an Adventure

After booking, you catch your Royal Caribbean cruise at Marina Bay Cruise Centre: an easy drop-off straight to immigration and the ship. With over 4,800 people booked for this cruise, you'd think there'd be long lines and waiting. But short cruises are more streamlined. It's fairly breezy, and you can opt to wheel your own luggage with you or drop it at the entrance with tags to have it delivered to your shiproom.

When passing through immigration at the Marina Bay terminal, at the electronic gates where you scan your passport, the second language onscreen is Tagalog, which underscores the volume and importance of Filipinos working in the cruise industry.