Two ships previously operated by Genting Hong Kong’s US-based subsidiary Crystal Cruises will go up for auction next month.
According to a report from cruising media brand Cruise Hive, the Supreme Court Commercial Division in the Bahamas has published an official notice of sale for the ships Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity, with all bids due by 7 June 2022. Winning bidders will be notified a week later.
While uncertainty surrounds how much interest the ships will attract, experts estimate the trading value of Crystal Serenity at around US$87 million, with the older Crystal Symphony said to be worth around US$18 million.
Both ships have been docked at Freeport in the Bahamas since being seized by authorities in February, shortly after parent company Genting Hong Kong defaulted on loan repayments and was placed in the hands of joint provisional liquidators.
Crystal Cruises also boasts a new expedition cruise ship called Crystal Endeavour, five river ships and a luxury charter jet.
Meanwhile, the sale of Genting Hong Kong’s Global Dream cruise ship, which has been under construction at the company’s MV Werften shipyard in Germany, has reportedly fallen through according to a report by The Maritime Executive.
The yard’s insolvency administrator said a deal to acquire and complete construction on Global Dream – said to be the world’s largest cruise ship – had been made with Sweden’s Stena Group, which had also reached agreements on a US$800 million loan to complete the acquisition. However, the loan itself has now fallen through with lenders citing concerns over the short-term future of Asia’s cruise market given China’s ongoing border closures.
The report claims that Stena had also wanted to buy the entire Dream Cruises company, including its three cruise ships, but one of those ships, Genting Dream, has already been chartered by Genting Group Chairman and CEO Lim Kok Thay for his new Singapore-based cruise line, Resorts World Cruises.
As reported by IAG last week, Resorts World Cruises will begin sailings from 15 June and has hired a number of former Dream Cruises executives to oversee the new brand. The company is also looking to acquire the other two ships previously held by Dream Cruises.
Despite this, CEO and Executive Director Colin Au – who was a former Deputy CEO of Genting Hong Kong – had moved to distance the two companies from one another when asked last week.
“The provisional liquidator could not revive the [Dream Cruises] brand so we worked with the Chinese lessors who are the owners of the ship and decided to restart the cruise under the Resorts World brand,” he said.
“This new brand has got nothing to do with Genting Hong Kong, it’s a new cruise brand.”
