it boils down to how seasoned of an international traveler you are as well as how much research you're willing to do in advance. Too many people aren't willing to do the legwork and wanna have everything planned out on advance. Cruise food gets old after 2nd day.

Best trip I've had was to SE Asia booking everything myself between Singapore, Thailand, and Bali Indonesia. Totally different culture and religion in each spot. Airflights between locations was less than $100 per leg on Tiger Air (division of Singapore Air). Highly recommended