Asian dream for two new cruise lines

//Asian dream for two new cruise lines

The emerging markets of India and the Far East have been targets for the world’s biggest cruise lines for some time, as they seek to expand beyond America and Europe.
It’s now beginning to look like Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean will not have it all their own way.
There are reports of a fledgling company planning to acquire second-hand ships to operate from the Indian sub-continent. At the same time, the Hong Kong-based parent company of Norwegian Cruise Line has placed a £600 million order for a new-build for the Asian market.
Ironically, given the ship-building facilities available in Japan and South Korea, the order from Genting HK subsidiary Chinese Dream has been placed with the Meyer-Werft yard in Papenburg, Germany. The 3,364-passenger vessel is scheduled to be completed in October 2016.
Genting say the ship will “enable the group to take advantage of growing demand for cruise business in the Asia-Pacific market and the port developments in Hong Kong and Asia which enable large cruise ships to dock.”
About 1.5 million Asian customers take cruises each year – compared with 1.7 million Brits – but the region’s share of the market is expected to increase six-fold by 2020. A new cruise terminal opened in Singapore last year and the second berth at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak development will be operational next year
Meyer-Werft this year completed Norwegian Breakaway and is building two more ships for NCL, which is 37.7 per cent owned by Genting.
The Indian development, to be known as Royal Asian Cruise Line, may be further from fruition, but Sri Lankan entrepreneur Sivakumar Elayathamby Sinnarajah is reported to be investing £250 million to obtain at least two vessels.
One is believed to be Gemini; built in 1992 as a twin sister to Fred Olsen’s Braemar, the 800-passenger vessel was chartered last year to provide accommodation for workers at the London Olympics but was laid up in Tilbury over the winter.
Royal Asian principals are reported to be travelling to Barcelona this weekend for crucial talks with investors.
An estimated 80,000 Indian customers take a cruise each year, although previous attempts by Louis Cruise Lines and Star Cruises to operate ships in the region did not meet with commercial success.

By | 2013-10-08T09:42:07+00:00 8 October 2013|Cruise News|2 Comments

About the Author:

John Honeywell is a travel writer specialising in cruise ships and cruise travel. Winner of CLIA UK's Contribution to Cruise award 2017.

2 Comments

  1. Sailaway 8 October 2013 at 2:53 pm - Reply

    I did read the second ship alongside Gemini is supposed to be Crown Majesty. Isn’t this Braemar’s old name?

  2. John Honeywell 9 October 2013 at 12:52 pm - Reply

    Braemar was originally built as Crown Dynasty in 1993. It became Crown Majesty for one season of cruising in 1997 before being re-named Norwegian Dynasty. It reverted to Crown Dynasty in 1999 and joined Fred Olsen in 2001

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