Dream Cruises Has Also Filed Applications to be Wound Up

By
Hannah Koh
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If you have made plans to book your leave and head on a cruise the next long weekend, you might want to check your tickets once again.

Dream Cruises to Shut Down

Cruise operator Dream Cruises has filed to be wound up. This comes just two weeks after its parent company Genting Hong Kong also filed to wind up the company.

Previously, Dream Cruises said it would continue to operate cruises in Singapore despite its parent company being wound up. Unfortunately, they must have spoken too soon.

Currently, there are still Dream Cruises sailings operating in Singapore. Its website also showed that there are cruised departures from Singapore scheduled in the coming days, the earliest being today.

Its parent company, Genting Hong Kong, had failed to secure funding to maintain the company after the insolvency of its German shipbuilding subsidiary.

This basically meant that the German shipbuilding firm owed money to its creditors, more than what it could pay.

Singaporeans would be familiar with these names as there are only two operators running cruises to nowhere in Singapore, namely Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas and Dream Cruises. The latter’s vessel being World Dream.

Sinking in Debt

In a statement last Friday, Genting Hong Kong’s appointed joint provisional liquidators said Dream Cruises filed to wind up the company with the Bermuda courts the day before.

Genting Hong Kong’s petition to appoint joint provisional liquidators for the company had “triggered further insolvency events” for debts under Dream Cruises and its subsidiaries, the statement said.

It also added that it is seeking to appoint joint provisional liquidators to develop and propose any restructuring plans in respect of Dream Cruises’ debts and liabilities.

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Supposedly, restructuring will offer “higher recoveries to all creditors and stakeholders”, compared to liquidation which will destroy the value of Dream Cruises’ subsidiaries.

The joint provisional liquidators are in discussion with both Genting Hong Kong and Dream Cruises to urgently assess the financial condition of both companies’ subsidiaries and to identify potential remediation plans, the statement said.

Upset Cruise-goers

The recent news has no doubt affected those who were planning to go on a cruise with Dream Cruises.

One of them is Eunice Wan, 27, who is set to go on a four-day, three-night sailing in April. She had booked a suite for the cruise and had paid about $2,300 in total.

As the trip was meant to be a birthday celebration for her boyfriend, Wan expressed her disappointment and said, “It’s actually the first time going on a cruise for both my partner and myself. So we’re quite disappointed and uncertain about what’s to come.”

She had not received any news about the cruise being cancelled and the agent she had booked the cruise with told her that the cruise will proceed. As such, she said that she will remain hopeful as she continues to wait.

The Singapore Tourism Board’s director of cruises Annie Chang said it is in contact with Dream Cruises and will continue to monitor the situation closely.

So if you are planning to head on a cruise soon, you might want to hold back on that just yet.

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Featured Image: Dream Cruises

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Hannah Koh
Email: [email protected]