Dream Cruises, Asia’s first luxury line, is targeting Australians with a Singapore based ship and an alliance with a $28 million budget.
“We are targeting Australian families especially for the fly-cruise market,” Thatcher Brown, President of Dream Cruises, told Cruise Passenger in Singapore.
He was speaking as the line celebrated basing its first ship, Genting Dream, in Singapore this week. At the same time, Singapore Tourism Board and Changi Airport announced they were teaming up with Dream Cruises to attract Australia’s burgeoning luxury cruisers.
“Now that Genting Dream is homeported in Singapore, we are able to offer better and more diverse products to attract Australian’s with our 2 and 5 night itineraries to ASEAN destinations,” Mr Brown said. The company, which this week launches a second ship, the World Dream, in Hong Kong, picked Singapore because of its “excellent cruise and tourism infrastructure.”
Singapore also has “great air connectivity” and is pivotal to the ten ASEAN nations.
Seen as a Singapore and ASEAN icon, the luxurious, floating, integrated resort at sea, Genting Dream will call at more 10 ports in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia in new itineraries for 2018.
Genting Dream, often described as Asian at heart and international in spirit was launched a year ago. She was homeported in Guangzhou before her move to Singapore. The 18-deck, 150,695-tonne ship can accommodate 3352 passengers and 2016 crew.
The ship has been designed to enable guests to enjoy an “integrated resort” experience at sea with luxurious comforts and thrilling shows. They will be spoilt for choice with up to 35 restaurants, bars, lounges and clubs – including Bistro by Australian celebrity chef, Mark Best.
Genting Dream also has the high-energy Zouk nightclub, swimming pools, four whirlpools, bowling alley, rock climbing wall, six waterslides, private karaoke rooms, Crystal Life offering the largest Asian reflexology spa at sea, a helipad and jogging track.
The ship’s exclusive Dream Palace, has European-style butler service with the duplex Garden Penthouse described as the epitome of elegance and among the biggest at sea.
After the celebrations this week at the Zodiac Theatre, guests were entertained by Dream Cruises’ original production Voyage of a Lover’s Dream, a love story between a mermaid and an astronaut. Both characters are painted on the ships’ hull.
They were then taken on a ship tour.
Singapore known as the gateway to Southeast Asia, has seen a surge in cruise passengers last year with 1.2 million people going through its two cruise terminals.
There was also a seven per cent hike in ship calls which rose from 385 to 411, ten of which were maiden calls. Overall visitors grew by 7.7 per cent to 16.4 million people and tourism receipts rose by 13.9 per cent to S$24.9 billion with Chinese tourists, Indonesians and Indian visitors spending the most.
Meanwhile, Dream Cruises received a Star Performer Top Ten rating in the Large Resort category of the highly-revered Berlitz Cruising and Cruise Guide 2018.
In the rankings, based on ratings awarded by Douglas Ward, the Guide’s eminent expert author, Genting Dream was placed sixth in the Large Resort category, earning 1585 out of a possible 2000 points.
This latest acknowledgment comes on the heels of two earlier honours for Dream Cruises at the Travel Weekly Asia Reader’s Choice Awards 2017 where Genting Dream was voted as the ‘Best New Ship’ and Dream Cruises rising to the top in the ‘Best Cruise Line – Entertainment’ category.
“These accolades from industry experts and the public are especially heartening for a new brand like Dream Cruises which was created to cater specifically to high-end consumers in China and the Asia Pacific,” said Mr Brown said.
Prancing lion dancers and loud drum beating greeted VIP guests at Marina Bay Cruise Centre for this week’s ceremony launching Genting Dream’s season in Singapore.
Among guests were Singapore Tourism Board chief executive Lionel Yeo; Changi Airport Group Air Hub Development’s managing director Lim Ching Kiat; SATS-Creuers Cruise Services CEO Lionel Wong; Genting Hong Kong Group President Colin Au; Genting Cruise Lines President Kent Zhu; Dream Cruises President Thatcher Brown and Genting Cruise Lines senior VP international sales Michael Goh.
Later this week, the line will launch World Dream, it’s second vessel, which will be based in Hong Kong.
