Star cruises Thailand with greater capacity

By Ben Moore KUALA LUMPUR As part of a wider regional redeployment of its vessels, Star Cruises has positioned Star Aquarius at Bangkok's Laem Chabang Port to target the meetings and incentive market in Thailand. In addition to offering increased passenger capacity, the cruise line said Star Aquarius features better business and meeting facilities than its Bangkok-based predecessor, SuperStar Aries. "We are planning to develop the meeting and incentive market in Thailand extensively. We anticipate this market will form 30% of our business mix," said Star Cruises vice-president sales Mr Michael Goh. "Star Aquarius has ten meeting rooms on board and the biggest has a capacity for 210 people theatre-style. The benefit of holding meetings and incentives on board a cruise ship is everything is included in the cruise fare, including dining, activities and entertainment." Star Aquarius would be promoted through advertising and working with preferred regional sales agents. The company's in-house sales staff would also contact multi-national companies directly to promote meeting and incentive packages. These include a three-day "Incentive at Sea" package. The programme starts with welcome cocktails for 200 passengers, followed by an on-deck Hawaiian-barbecue theme night on day two and then a final day tour of Koh Samui.