I desperately needed to de-stress. This ship helped me do it

“Take in a deep, full breath, and exhale through the nostrils”. I’m finally in the air, flying to Bangkok to embark on a 14-day Oceania Cruises itinerary through Asia’s gulfs and deltas to Hong Kong. Getting to this point has been a hot mess of 5am starts, late-night meetings and multiple chiropractic visits, and I’m stressed.

Finding “Meditation” on the in-flight entertainment, I put on the headphones and settle back in my seat. “Soften your jaw, and the muscles of your face” says the hypnotic voice. “Give in, and let go.” I do, and immediately fall asleep. Or pass out with exhaustion, maybe.

Relax deckside.

It’s the perfect introduction to a fortnight in which I am determined to find my Zen. To leave frayed, and come back calm and tranquil.

It seems I’m not the only one seeking my best self. In 2023, research and wellness industry non-profit, The Global Wellness Institute, predicted a 21 per cent increase in wellness tourism in the next two years, reaching a massive $US6.3 billion ($A9.9 billion) in 2025. That’s a lot of people willing to spend time and money on recovering their natural rhythms and realigning their inner lives.

But can luxury cruising be a way of getting away from it all, as well as getting away to it all? The choice of South-East Asia is strategic. It’s closer than Europe, the flight is shorter and more affordable, and the time you’d normally spend getting over jet-lag can be spent in the first and last cities.

Like its sister ship Marina, Riviera is the perfect size for a longer cruise; big enough to have a substantial walking track, enormous gym, spa and eight dining venues, yet small enough to be able to pop up or down stairs to reception without waiting for a lift.

The Riviera takes us from Bangkok to Koh Samui, with a day at sea before and after a day in Singapore, then on to Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Hue, and Hanoi (more correctly, the wonders of Ha Long Bay), finishing in Hong Kong. It’s a great mix of big-city excitement and unhurried, unpressured travel.

Concierge-level veranda stateroom.

Comfort levels are high, without being intimidatingly luxurious. At 27 square metres, the Concierge Level Veranda is the largest standard stateroom afloat. No turning sideways to walk between the end of the bed and the wall, here. Even the shower recess is big enough for two, although it’s probably not advised.

Concierge guests also get keycard access to a deck-wide private sundeck and pool at the stern, as well as a peaceful Concierge lounge with 24-hour tea and coffee.

In a 2022 rejuvenation, staterooms were restyled in soothing tones, soft carpet and gleaming silver accents. It looks and feels fresh, yet has the nostalgic elegance of yesteryear.

Seeking Zen on board is made easier by the ratio of 800 officers and crew for 1250 guests – and importantly, one chef in the kitchen for every 10 guests. They all appear to have been to charm school, remembering names and regular orders, and our kind-hearted cabin steward, Vijay, fills our stateroom with helium balloons as a surprise for my husband’s birthday.

Martini anyone?

Hands-on treatments in the Aquamar Spa ease away the last of the tension, and new habits form. Every day, I take a book from the library (bless the ships that have libraries), and every night, sit up in bed with a cup of tea reading about the power of oceans or the intricacies of space.

The first few days are spent cruising the Gulf of Thailand, acclimatising to life at sea, or leaping on coaches to get to ancient temples, floating markets in the Mekong Delta, and exploring life on the river at Nha Trang. Frankly, it’s far too busy.

By contrast, the approach to the World Natural Heritage Site of Ha Long Bay is a calming, stealthily slow glide past the iconic limestone karsts that stand like silent ghosts, formed more than 500 million years ago. Once berthed, I’m on a mission: to learn how to meditate from the monks of a famous Buddhist temple.

Rocks and canoes on Halong Bay.Credit: Getty Images

We travel almost two hours north in a comfortable bus to Quang Ninh, where the Cai Bau temple was built on the foundations of a 700-year-old shrine. Tumbling out onto the stone rubble of the car park, the sun is searingly hot, with no breeze. Above us, stone steps rise high into the sky, as the imposing pagoda towers above us like a mystical Shangri-La. Yep, we have to get ourselves up there. Seeking inner peace is not without its challenges.

The temple is small, the monks nowhere to be seen. What about our promised meditation class? Our kindly Vietnamese tour guide leaps in to conduct the class for us, in his own simple, sincere way. We remove our shoes, take a cushion and sit on the floor in the audience hall, facing a stage laden with offerings of paper money, oranges and biscuits. He teaches us how to breathe to the count. Inhale, exhale. The only sound is our breath, and outside, the gentle ping of wind chimes. Creaky bones forgotten, we all breathe as one.

By now, a sense of rhythm has been established, and the novelty of dining virtually 24 hours a day diminishes, replaced by a dawning realisation that much of our desire for food is a need for distraction and novelty, rather than sustenance.

Cai Bau pagoda in Quang Ninh province, Vietnam.Credit: iStock

Breakfasts become time spent with a bowl of chicken congee – slow food – rather than racing around with plates piled high. Lunches are taken out on the sunny deck of The Terrace with a cold beer. Dinners are occasions, and the two of us make a point of dressing up. The evening Negroni in the Martinis Bar becomes a sacred ritual. The inaugural Asian Market night in The Terrace is marked by the pride on the faces of kitchen and waitstaff as we learn about their cultures through their food, while on other nights, a clothed and silver-clad table for two in the Grand Dining Room is home.

Plenty of restaurants and bars to choose from.

Regular Oceania cruisers will already know the choose-your-chopstick ritual at the fun modern Asian restaurant, Red Ginger, and its close rival at Toscana, where a trolley of olive oils is wheeled to your table for a guided tasting. Dipping soft, fluffy focaccia into the swampy green Ardoino extra virgin olive oil transports me to Liguria’s ancient olive groves.

For the late Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, to be mindful is to be fully present with whatever we are doing. “If you are drinking tea, just drink your tea,” he wrote. “Do not drink your worries, your projects, your regrets.″⁣

I feel him with me during a day trip in the southern coastal resort city of Nha Trang. After a market tour in a nearby village, we collapse, hot and sweaty, at an ancient wooden table in a lush tropical garden at the famous 200-year-old house of Nha Cong in the “old village″⁣ of Phu Vinh. An entire coconut is brought, and the lid lifted to reveal a porcelain teapot nestled inside.

Tea is ceremoniously poured into tiny cups as we sample guava and longans from the orchard around us. It’s Tu Quy, a light forest-green oolong from the northern province of Lam Dong, that tastes sweet and light, and smells of freshly baked cinnamon biscuits.

Suddenly, bird song fills the air, and butterflies appear as if on cue. Amid the sensory overload, my mind conjures visions of misty mountain sides covered with tea shrubs, a thousand metres above sea-level, with pickers gently placing the finest leaves into bamboo carriers. Somehow, this tiny cup in my hand has connected me to the world.

I’m smiling as I write this because the feeling of that moment hasn’t faded. And the more I stop and breathe in the fragrance of my morning cup of tea, the more connected I feel. They don’t mention this potential side benefit of heightened contentment in the promotional material for Oceania Cruises, but perhaps they should.

There has been wonder, inspiration, deliciousness, indulgence, learning and contemplation. By the time we disembark at Ocean Terminal amid the glittery neon that fringes Hong Kong Harbour, I feel like the “after” portrait in a “before and after makeover″⁣. Even so, I’m ready to hit up the yum cha palaces, jump on the Star Ferry, and work the designer shopping malls – in a very mindful manner, of course.

Oceania Riviera.

THE DETAILS

CRUISE
Oceania Cruises Paper Lantern Luminaries 15-day voyage onboard Riviera departs from Hong Kong on October, 22, visiting Haikou and Sanya (China), Ha Long Bay, Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Singapore, and Koh Samui (Thailand), arriving in Bangkok on November 6. From $8613 a person in a Veranda Stateroom. The disembarkation port is Laem Chabang, a 90-minute drive from Bangkok. See oceaniacruises.com

FLY
Qantas and Cathay Pacific fly direct to Hong Kong daily, and Qantas and Thai Airways fly direct from Bangkok daily. See qantas.com cathaypacific.com thaiairways.com

The writer travelled as a guest of Oceania Cruises.