Genting Dream to Homeport in Singapore
Asian luxury cruise line Dream Cruises said it will homeport its inaugural vessel, Genting Dream, year-round in Singapore from December 3, 2017.
Christened in November 2017, Genting Dream currently sails from Hong Kong or Guangzhou. With the move, the 151,300-metric-ton cruise ship will tap new markets, calling at more than 10 ports in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Significant growth in the Asian cruise industry over the recent years has presented new opportunities for the region, and Dream Cruises said it aims to be a pacesetter in Singapore.
Domestically, the number of Singapore citizens departing by sea in 2015 was 1,753,954, up 12 percent compared to 2012, which accounts for 19.2 percent of total outbound travelers in Singapore, according to the Annual Report on Tourism Statistics 2015 Singapore. With an absolute increase of 35 percent in port calls over the 2013-2016 period, Singapore had a combined annual growth rate of 10.6 percent.
Poised to cater to domestic cruise travelers as well as the inbound fly-cruise market, Genting Dream will increase available cruise days in Singapore by over 20 percent in 2018, Dream Cruises said.
Beginning December 3 to the end of March, Dream Cruises will offer a range of two-night weekend cruises and alternating five-night Sunday cruises from Singapore to destinations in the Straits of Malacca and in the Java Seas. The five-night Straits of Malacca Cruise will feature the Kuala Lumpur-Penang-Phuket itinerary to the launch of a brand new and highly anticipated five-night cruise in the Java Sea to Surabaya and North Bali. Passengers can combine the Straits of Malacca and Java Sea cruises for a 12-night cruise, with the option of spending the weekend in between either onboard the ship or in a hotel in Singapore.
And from April to October 2018, new itineraries will offer new destinations in the South China Sea and the Java Sea.
“We are truly excited to deploy Genting Dream in Singapore, a popular and well developed travel hub for the Asian region with an excellent cruise and tourism infrastructure. Singapore’s prime geographic location also makes it the ideal homeport Genting Dream to cruise to popular as well as new ASEAN destinations,” said Thatcher Brown, President of Dream Cruises. “We are pleased to support Singapore’s steadfast commitment to the tourism industry, as we cater to a growing number of sophisticated Singaporean and broader Asian Pacific fly-cruise vacationers.”
Lionel Yeo, Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board, said, “We warmly welcome year-round homeporting of the Genting Dream in Singapore. This historic deployment underscores the potential of Southeast Asia as one of the world’s prime cruising destinations. As the ASEAN lead coordinator for cruise development, Singapore will continue working closely with our neighbors to grow the cruise industry in this region.”
Genting Dream sets the pace for the advent of Dream Cruises’ second 151,300-metric-ton cruise ship, World Dream, currently being built at Meyer Wert shipyard and scheduled for its inaugural sailing in November 2017 from Singapore to Hong Kong.