AirAsia Rewards is stepping into new waters—literally. The loyalty arm of Capital A has teamed up with travel loyalty and booking tech provider arrivia to launch a dedicated cruise booking platform powered by iCruise. For a program that started with flights and gradually expanded into hotels, lifestyle perks, and everyday rewards, this is a major signal of where the brand wants to go next: becoming a multi-vertical travel ecosystem.

And if you’re one of the millions of Asian travellers who have been quietly (or loudly) falling in love with cruising, this partnership lands at the perfect moment.

A New Way for AirAsia Members To Book Cruises

The new platform lets AirAsia Rewards members browse and book cruises from many of the world’s biggest cruise lines. We’re talking household names: Royal Caribbean, Disney Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, and dozens more.

Members can access it either through a dedicated web platform or directly inside the AirAsia MOVE app, under the Rewards section. What makes this smart is how fully integrated it feels — there’s no “leaving the ecosystem.” AirAsia is leaning into the idea that people want simplicity, speed, and all their travel tools under one roof.

And yes, you get rewarded for it. Significantly.

A 25% Bonus Earning Window Until November 2025

To celebrate the launch, AirAsia Rewards is rolling out a generous bonus earning period. Until 30 November 2025, members will earn 5 AirAsia Points for every USD 1 spent on a cruise booking—effectively a 25% bonus compared to the regular earn structure.

For a cruise that might cost USD 1,000? That’s 5,000 points just for booking your holiday. For bigger family sailings or bucket-list itineraries, the returns can be substantial.

This is a clever strategy: cruises are high-value purchases, and loyalty members love stacking rewards. AirAsia is tapping into that behaviour at exactly the right time.

Why AirAsia Is Betting on Cruises Right Now

Nicole Tan, Chief Business Officer of AirAsia Rewards, framed the move clearly: cruising is booming in Asia, and AirAsia wants to be where its members are going next.

“As more Asian travelers embrace cruising, this partnership is perfectly timed to meet growing demand,” she said. “We want to offer value-packed, convenient, and memorable holiday options—whether members are flying, staying at a hotel, or cruising the seas.”

She’s not exaggerating the demand. According to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), Asia’s cruise market is one of the world’s fastest-growing. The 2024 Asia Source Passenger Market Report shows:

• 2.6 million Asians cruised in 2024
• That’s a 13% increase compared to 2023
• Post-pandemic, demand has rebounded faster than many analysts predicted

This surge isn’t just about popularity; it’s also about accessibility. Cruise lines are increasing capacity and expanding routes across Southeast Asia, Japan, and China. There’s more choice, shorter itineraries, and family-friendly options—all of which fit well with AirAsia’s massive base of regional travellers.

On arrivia’s side, Managing Director (Asia Pacific, India, UK) John Williams confirmed that AirAsia members will gain access to thousands of itineraries worldwide, supported by arrivia’s multilingual cruise specialists and global call centres. In short, if you’re new to cruising, there’s plenty of hand-holding available.

A Platform with Serious Scale

The dedicated iCruise-powered platform isn’t a small catalog of curated sailings. It is impressively large:

• Over 30,000 cruise itineraries
• Across 40+ cruise lines
• Covering destinations from Alaska to the Mediterranean to Southeast Asia

AirAsia Rewards members can match cruises not only to budget and route but also to theme — family holidays, adventure cruises, luxury escapes, short weekend sailings, you name it.

This level of scale is something only a few loyalty programs have managed to pull off convincingly.

How AirAsia’s Play Compares With Market Trends

AirAsia isn’t the first to extend loyalty perks to cruises—big Western players like American Express Travel and Chase Travel have been offering cruise bookings tied to reward programs for years. But within Asia, this kind of integration is still emerging.

Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer and Cathay Membership both allow cruise bookings, but usually through third-party partners or intermittent promotions. AirAsia is taking a more aggressive approach by building a dedicated, always-on marketplace. That’s closer to what Expedia Group or Booking.com have been doing globally, but with the advantage of loyalty-first incentives.

And the timing aligns with macro trends: CLIA, Skift, and ForwardKeys all report strong demand for cruise travel among Gen Z and millennials — demographics that AirAsia already dominates.

Conclusion: AirAsia Rewards Just Opened a New Chapter in Regional Travel Loyalty

AirAsia’s cruise expansion isn’t just another feature add-on. It’s a strategic evolution in how the brand positions itself in the travel ecosystem. While other loyalty programs in Asia dabble in cruise partnerships, AirAsia is creating a fully integrated, high-reward, high-choice platform with long-term relevance — similar to the loyalty-super-app strategies we’ve seen from global leaders like United’s MileagePlus and Marriott Bonvoy.

With Asia’s cruise market projected to hit record highs over the next few years (CLIA’s projections suggest continued double-digit growth), this is exactly the right moment for a loyalty program to step in with scale, rewards, and better discovery tools.

For travelers, this means more choice, more value, and a smoother way to book one of travel’s fastest-growing holiday categories — all without leaving the AirAsia world.