Tag Archives: Asian market

Disney Adventure to Remain in Singapore For 2026-27

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Disney Adventure to Remain in Singapore For 2026-27

The Disney Adventure will continue to offer short cruises from Singapore as part of Disney Cruise Line’s recently announced 2026-27 deployment.

According to the company’s website, the 6,000-guest vessel will operate a series of three- and four-night cruises during this timeframe.

With no ports of call, the itineraries feature two and three days at sea, respectively, before returning to Singapore.

Nearly 30 new sailings are currently scheduled to take place between October 2026 and January 2027.

Currently under construction at MV Werften in Germany, the Disney Adventure is scheduled to enter service later this year.

As the largest ship ever built for Disney Cruise Line, the 208,000-ton vessel was designed to serve the Asian market.

After departing Germany, the ship is scheduled to deadhead to Singapore ahead of welcoming its first paying guests on December 15, 2025.

During the 2025-26 season, the Disney Adventure will sail from its homeport in Southeast Asia for a series of three- and four-night cruises to nowhere.

The itineraries feature only days at sea and will continue to be offered during the summer of 2026 as well.

Originally ordered as Dream Cruises’ Global Dream, the vessel was acquired by Disney Cruise Line after its operator ceased operations in 2022.

In addition to the Disney Adventure in Singapore, Disney’s 2026-27 season will include itineraries in the Caribbean and on the West Coast.

The deployment is highlighted by capacity increases in Texas and California, with the Disney Wonder and the Disney Magic offering more cruises from San Diego.

In Galveston, the Disney Magic is set to offer an extended season, featuring itineraries to the Caribbean and the Bahamas.

Three ships are scheduled to sail from Port Canaveral during the season: the Disney Treasure, the Disney Wish and the Disney Fantasy.

The Disney Destiny and the Disney Dream will offer cruises from Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades.

Star Pisces Beached for Scrapping in India

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The Star Pisces was beached for scrapping in Alang, India, on July 12.

Formerly operated by Star Cruises, the 1991-built vessel will now be dismantled by one of the many local ship-breaking yards.  

During the process, its building materials, fixtures, engines and systems, are set to be sold off for repurposing or recycling.

Ending a 31-year sailing career, the Pisces was originally built for Viking Line as the cruise ferry Kalypso.

After being acquired by Star Cruises in 1993, the 40,000-ton ship spent the last three decades offering cruises catering to the Asian market.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the vessel used to offer one-night cruises to nowhere departing from Hong Kong.

More recently, in December, the 1,090-guest ship started what turned out to be its last operation, kicking off a series of short cruises in Malaysia.

Sailing from Penang, the program marked its return to service after a two-year operational pause.

With Genting filing for liquidation shortly after, however, the ship found itself out of service again in late January.

After spending four months laid-up in Southeast Asia along with other former Star Cruises vessels, the Pisces began its last voyage in early June.

With the Star Pisces now beached, a total of ten cruise ships have been sold to ship-breaking yards in 2022.

The list includes the SuperStar Libra, another cruise ship formerly operated by Star Cruises.

The 1988-built vessel arrived at Aliaga in May, following a four-year stint serving as a floating hotel at a Genting-owned shipyard.

After leaving Southeast Asia along with the Star Pisces, two additional ex-Star Cruises, the SuperStar Gemini and the SuperStar Aquarius were also expected to arrive at scrapyards soon.

The vessels, however, sailed to Sri Lanka, where, according to local news reports, they are set to spend a month in lay-up.

China ‘Stronger Than Last Year’ For Carnival Corp

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Costa Serena

“The bottom line is things are stronger for sure that they were last year at this time,” said Arnold Donald, president and CEO of Carnival Corporation, touching on China on the company’s Monday morning second quarter earnings call.

Donald said he still believes China will eventually be the largest cruise market in the world and putting in new hardware (ships) still made sense.

“The market there is very large in terms of overall travel, both from cities in China and, of course, as a huge potential source market for fly/cruise all over the world,” Donald said.

“In terms of the distribution system itself, yes, we’ve moved from full-ship charters primarily now to group sales and partial ship charters,” he continued. “We’ve added a large number of additional distributors. All of that kind of de-risks things a bit from being overly concentrated and what, in effect, today is still pretty much a B2B market. The direct sales component is slowly growing a bit there. There’s an opportunity to grow that over time. But a timeline in China, we’ll see. It’s a small market.

“I don’t see a dramatic increase in per cent of total capacity in the short term there. And the reason is not so much because of China, but because of the demand everywhere else in the world. And then as I mentioned, there are large addressable markets everywhere in the world that are under-penetrated, including the United States.

“And so it looks positive for the year on a relative basis so far. But China’s China, and we have to see how things play out for the full year,” Donald said.

“But right now, conditionally, things definitely look stronger. In terms of sanctions, we haven’t heard of any sanctions on either side that would directly impact the cruise industry.”

Travel to Korea is still unofficially restricted, and Donald said if that opens up, it could help the situation.