Southeast Asia’s luxury boutique cruise operator Heritage Line announces the retirement of the one of its kind and all-time favourite ship “Jasmine” in North Vietnam’s cruise destination Halong Bay. The lay-off is with immediate effect. The ship was launched in December 2007 and operated more than a decade non-stop on a 1- or 2-Night itinerary in Halong Bay. The ship will be removed from Heritage Line luxury ship collection and is not be available for bookings any longer.
Heritage Line ‘Jasmine’ bids farewell to Halong Bay and its sister ships
Heritage Line initially scheduled a re-start of its Halong Bay journeys with ‘Jasmine’ for December 2022. By then, the ship would have been out of operation for almost three years due to the global Coronavirus pandemic (since March 2020). After carefully monitoring the developments in the cruise business and taking into account the future positioning of Halong Bay cruises with ‘Jasmine’, Heritage Line decided not to continue with the operation of this ship. All scheduled departures will be cancelled and existing bookings are offered a complimentary upgrade to one of the available three sister ships Heritage Line Violet (Halong Bay), Heritage Line Ginger or Heritage Line Ylang (both Lan Ha Bay). The original booked length of stay – whether it is 1- or 2-Night – and the cruise date will not be affected with these changes. The fleet is planned to commence its operations by 01 October 2022.
A forced and regrettable decision to make due to the toll of mother nature
At its launch in 2007, ‘Jasmine’ was one of the most iconic and refined luxury cruise ship available in Halong Bay. Since then, it has kept her unique aura to offer a distinctive experience of sailing in the bay. Guests enjoyed the wide-open outdoor spaces, the classic wooden decks, and the reminiscent flair of a traditional Vietnamese junk. Until today she was one of the last wooden-built ships available in the bay. “However, and with a very sad eye to it, the aftermath of the pandemic with this long lay-off and the necessary investments to refurbish it, would have made economically not much sense” said the founder and owner of Heritage Line John Nguyen. “Jasmine was a wonderful ship in all those year, but we have to state that she got a bit long in the tooth in her last years. So the good part to this sad story is, that Heritage Line can strengthen its position as the first address of top luxury cruising in Halong Bay and Lan Ha Bay with our remaining fleet of three high-end, small and boutique cruise ships.
Heritage Line starts with one ship on the Lower Mekong into the next season
Apart from the above, Heritage Line has also decided to operate with one ship ‘The Jahan’ in the post-pandemic season Oct 2022 – April 2023. The “brother ship” Heritage Line ‘Jayavarman’ will start journeying the Lower Mekong between Saigon and Siem Reap vice versa from September 2023. Cruise Schedules are available via the website https://heritage-line.com/rates-departures
Heritage Line, is the leading luxury boutique cruise operator in Southeast Asia, offering refined waterway voyages aboard a fleet of exclusive and luxurious small ships in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. For more information, contact us.
