SuperStar Leo has a hectic schedule, with cruises operating seven days a week. Passengers can disembark in Hong Kong after the cruise to Halong Bay, or stay on board to go on to Haikou in Hainan Island the same evening, extending their cruise to a total of five nights. The ship returns to Hong Kong again and then leaves the same day on a two-night high seas cruise. Cruises to Zhanjiang and Halong Bay leave each Sunday evening, returning to the SAR on Wednesday afternoon. The Haikou cruise can be taken separately, leaving on Wednesday and returning on Friday, as can the 'International' cruise, from Friday to Sunday. The US$360 million (about HK$2.8 billion) SuperStar Leo is just over a year old and relocated to Hong Kong in September from Singapore where during 10 months 150,000 passengers took cruises on her. The present itinerary will continue until next March. From next April, Leo will start a new six-month schedule, sailing to Danang in Vietnam and Xiamen and Sanya in China. Star Cruises is hoping to attract around 150,000 cruise passengers a year to Hong Kong on fly/cruise packages from Australia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China and other countries in Southeast Asia. The Star Pisces, which can also accommodate 2,000 passengers, is also based here, and operates one night cruises five days a week. As an incentive, 'Early Bird' deals offer discounts. The earlier passengers book, the bigger the discount. There are five cabin types on SuperStar Leo, at the top end junior suites and executive suites. The handicapped are also catered for. Launched around six years ago, Star Cruises is now the leading cruise line in the Asia-Pacific where it operates a fleet of eight vessels. It has chartered the SuperStar Taurus, which will start cruising between Japan and Korea next March. Two more cruise ships, Libra and Scorpio, will be launched in 2001 and 2002 respectively, and the fleet will be expanded to 12 vessels by 2005. Star Cruises is one of the five largest cruise lines in the world, and carried more than one million passengers during its first five years.
