Genting Dream is all set to be home ported year-round in Singapore from December 3, 2017. This 18 deck cruise can accommodate upto 3,400 guests and is specifically customised for the Asian market. India has emerged as one of the focus source market for this vessel. Last year, on a relocation journey the cruise was docked in Mumbai and had welcomed around 2000 guests from this market.
Speaking about the development of India market, Thatcher Brown, President, Dream Cruises said, “India has always been a key focus market for us. We do a lot of callings to Mumbai. Right now there is no plan to homeport in Mumbai. But in our major plans, we want to develop the fly cruising segment from India to Singapore.”
Speaking about the deployment in Singapore, GB Srithar, Regional Director, South Asia, Middle East and Africa (SAMEA), Singapore Tourism Board said, “We are extremely happy about the development. We along with Genting are committed to development of the cruising sector in the South East Asian region. As of now our key priority is to make cruising a popular product as a holiday option. In the cruise tourism segment we witnessed a 16 per cent growth in 2016.”
Dream Cruises, Genting Dream has recently launched a two night weekend sailing from Hong Kong. Weekend cruising is a new concept which has now started picking up in the India market. The year 2016 and 2017 has witnessed a lot of long weekends which is further giving a boost to this segment.
Speaking about the growth of weekend cruising from India Naresh Rawal, VP Sales – India, South Asia, Russia, Middle East and South Africa, Star Cruises said, “At Genting Cruise Lines we are optimistic of this steady growth as cruising today is fast reaching the wider leisure market in India, especially with the emergence of new visible trends in the local cruise tourism market. Indian vacationers no longer take long annual holidays they prefer two or three short holidays throughout the year and when the short holidays is clubbed with a two Nights weekend cruise, the vacation package is an absolute value for money deal. Year on year we are finding an increase in the number of guest travelling on weekend cruise and feel that the segment already made its Niche.”
He further added, “Genting Dream, the first –ever Asian luxury cruise lines has been considered as a very successful and positive deployment. The feedback has been very assertive. We have received great support from travel trade. Look forward to the continuous support with more and more guest coming onboard the cruise experiencing a perfect blend of the premium luxury with our warm hospitality.”
Recently Genting Cruise Lines, hosted its first ‘Travel Agent and Media Partner Forum’ onboard Genting Dream. Genting Cruise Lines welcomed more than 350 senior executives, travel agents and media partners from 11 countries around the world including Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. During the three-day event, participants learned about Genting Cruise Lines’ latest cruise product updates, such as SuperStar Virgo’s inaugural homeport deployment in Shanghai – the “Golden Sea Route” cruises to Osaka, Tokyo, Mt. Fuji and Kagoshima; SuperStar Gemini’s inaugural homeport deployment in Bangkok to Sihanoukville, Koh Kong Island and Ko Samui; as well as the Okinawa Festival to take place on Genting Dream, throughout her summer deployment from dual homeports of Hong Kong and Nansha to Okinawa.
Michael Goh, Senior Vice President- Sales, Star Cruises said, “India is a great market for us. We see double digit growth from this market year on year. Consumers from India are looking for more and more events on the cruises. Also we have seen a growth in the family and friends holiday. We are familiar with what the Indian travellers want.”
Speaking about the current trends from the India market Rawal said, “Cruising is one of the most developing forms of holiday from the Asian Subcontinent. More and more Indians are adopting themselves to take a cruise holiday. Today a cruise ship can cater to all kinds of holiday maker which may be from Families with children, Senior citizens, honeymooners and the MICE market which is the most evolving segment. More and more people are choosing cruises because it is an all-inclusive package which not only takes care of the stay but also includes meals, entertainment and covering various destinations at the same price. It is hard to plan a land based holiday which has a mixture of all of these at an affordable price. I see a paradigm shift today cruise passengers have evolved from the regular 2 Nights itinerary to longer 7 nights itinerary and are now with high demand for Balconies and Suites cabins.”
