Royal Carribean's "Legend of the Seas" to Visit the Philippines In October 2012

Royal Caribbean International, one of the largest and most popular cruise line companies in the world, will be making their presence felt in the Philippines as one of their ships, the MS Legend of the Seas, will be in the Philippines from October 26-27.

This stopover in the Philippines will be part of an 8-night "Exotic Southeast Asia Cruise" from Hong Kong to Singapore, leaving Hong Kong on October 23 and arriving at Singapore on October 31, with stopovers at Xiamen (October 24), Manila (October 26), Boracay (October 27), and Kota Kinabalu (October 29).

The massive cruise liner will be docking at Manila from 8am until 6pm the same day. During this period, the 2000+ passengers on-board will be given a chance to tour Manila's famous tourist spots. Passengers will also be given the same amount of time to explore the island of Boracay the next day.

Foreign luxury cruise liners are a rare sight in the Philippines, due to a variety of factors such as the lack of ports capable of handling large ships, high taxes imposed by government officials on cruise operators, and corruption. The arrival of the MS Legend of the Seas would hopefully mark the start of the arrival of more foreign cruise liners in the Philippines, bringing along with them more tourists which would help give the country's tourism industry a boost.

The MS Legend of the Seas, which had its maiden voyage in 1995, has a total capacity of 2,074 passengers.  It has a wide range of facilities which its passengers can enjoy, such as a shopping center, a golf course, a rock-climbing wall, four themed bars, a casino, a cinema, and a theater.