Travellers' Checks | Travel: classic cruise from Singapore to Myanmar; business-class deal in Manila

Call me old fashioned, but the sight of Royal Caribbean’s shiny new cruise ship, Ovation of the Seas, heaving through Victoria Harbour recently made me shudder. Being confined to a floating theme park with more than 4,000 others isn’t my idea of a holiday, and I’m not alone, judging by some of the reviews on cruisecritic.com. Ovation will be based in Hong Kong in November for the usual rounds of regional ports. Fortunately, there are more interesting, much more comfortable and rather more expensive small-ship cruises available. Silversea is running 12-day round-trip voyages from Singapore to Yangon, in Myanmar. Departing on October 31 and December 8, the Silver Shadow (left) will “put in at Port Klang (Kuala Lumpur), Penang and Phuket on the way north, then spend three days in Yangon before returning to Singapore via Langkawi and Malacca. Up to 382 passengers share four good restaurants, three bars, a pool and plenty of secluded deck on which to lounge with a Singapore sling and a copy of Somerset Maugham’s Far Eastern Tales. The route is similar to one historically operated by the British India Steam Navigation Company, and offers about 80 shore excursions – 21 of which are free – and optional overnight trips by plane to Mandalay or Bagan. This is classic Asian cruising, with not a climbing wall, skating rink or long buffet queue in sight. Prices start at HK$50,000 per person, with an option to bookend your trip with Silver Shadow cruises to and from Hong Kong. For details, visit www.silversea.com.