SeaDream plans first cruises to Asia, Australia

SeaDream Yacht Club will send a ship to Asia and Australia in 2013 -- a first for the 11-year-old cruise company.

The small ship line says it'll move the 112-passenger SeaDream II to the region late in the year for more than a dozen voyages that will range from seven to 15 days. Several can be combined back-to-back to create longer sailings where port calls don't repeat.

The ship will remain in Asia from October 2013 through April 2014.

The new Asia and Australia itineraries were prompted by customer demand, the line says. Many will begin or end in Singapore or Phuket, Thailand. Bali, Hong Kong and Cairns, Australia also will be used as embarkation or disembarkation ports.

The voyages will include stops in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar (Burma), East Timor, Northern Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Vietnam, Cambodia and Hong Kong.

Highlights of the itineraries include an overnight stay in Yangon, Myanmar and a visit to the beach in the Phi Phi Islands of Thailand where the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach was filmed. The ship will spend New Year's Eve at Phuket's Patong Bay and also will stop at Vietnam's famed Halong Bay.

More information on the voyages is available at SeaDream's website.