There are many things cruise companies say that they hold to be true: One of these is, if you’ve been on a cruise, you will become a fan for life, I don’t necessarily believe that to be true – I went on my first sea cruise when cruising was just taking off in Singapore in the 80s with the launch of Star Cruises, and it certainly didn’t convert me.

Perhaps it was the wrong ship, wrong time, and the stars didn’t align for me.

Another thing they say is cruises are hard to sell online – it’s a complicated sell, all those cabin types, all those shore excursions, all those activities and facilities onboard and it’s an experience, not a commodity like hotel rooms and airline seats.

I believe this to be partly true, but I also wonder how much of this is due to suppliers not wanting the status quo to be changed or the fact that no one has yet come in to disrupt the business the way Expedia and Booking.com did with hotels 20 years ago, or the way AirAsia did with aviation in Southeast Asia.

I am sure there are other reasons – for example, supply is highly consolidated in the hands of only a few giants and that traditionally cruise customers have been older and therefore more comfortable with the traditional way of buying.

So why, pardon the pun, rock the boat?

I wonder though if the time has come for change, and with that wave of change emanating from Asian waters.

The growth of Asia in cruising has been nothing short of phenomenal in the past decade, both as a source of cruisers with its 4.6b population and rising middle class and as a destination with cruise lines calling Southeast Asia the new Caribbean.

The growth of Asia has had massive influence in the evolution of the cruise product and experience. Destination Asia’s Bob Guy, considered the industry’s cruise guru, says in the past, cruise ships were built for Americans and then made excursions to Asia to see what new customers they could catch.

Read the full story here.