Former Star Cruises ship to join Dream Cruises fleet to enable it to sail outside of Asia for the first time
By
Rebecca Gibson |
Genting Cruise Lines is to carry out a US$30 million refit to convert SuperStar Virgo into Explorer Dream when she transfers from its Star Cruises brand to its Dream Cruises fleet in March 2019.
The 1,870-guest ship will be equipped with many of Dream Cruises’ signature venues and onboard offerings. They will include a Crystal Life Spa, an ‘East meets West’ food and beverage offering, entertainment designed to appeal to Asian passengers and The Palace, a luxury private enclave featuring 50 suites and butler service. The crew will be multilingual and speak English, Putonghua and other Asian languages.
“We will be accelerating this vision to develop Dream Cruises into ‘Asia’s Global Cruise Line’ by utilising one of Asia’s favourite ships, SuperStar Virgo, and converting her into a brand new sibling alongside Genting Dream and World Dream,” said Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay. “With her strong heritage in the Asian cruise landscape and history in the region along with her world-renowned German engineering, SuperStar Virgo’s transformation into Explorer Dream will combine the best-in-class design and construction of her sister ships with acclaimed service that is Asian at heart and international in spirit.”
When she launches, Explorer Dream will initially homeport in the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Tianjin, offering itineraries of various durations to Japan, Russia, Hong Kong and the Philippines. In the autumn, the ship will become the first in the Dream Cruises fleet to sail outside of Asian waters by homeporting in Sydney, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand. She will offer 21 seven-night itineraries to various ports and destinations around the two countries.
“Dream Cruises would like to thank all of our travel and business partners and our guests for making this new cruise brand such a success in only two years,” said Thatcher Brown, President of Dream Cruises. “We have received very positive feedback from the Chinese travel community to bring the Dream Cruises brand to the more populous North China market with the repositioning of Explorer Dream and we have also experienced overwhelming support from the Asian travel community with news of the ship’s homeport in Australia and New Zealand this winter. With Explorer Dream as our pathfinder vessel, this truly marks the first giant step for Dream Cruises to become Asia’s Global Cruise Line.”