The government of Hong Kong is not allowing cruises to sail from the city until mid-February at least. This is due to COVID measures in place locally. Dream Cruises announced further cancelations this week onboard Genting Dream, affecting six cruises between February 4 and February 16.
At the same time, Royal Caribbean, which operates Spectrum of the Seas from the city, also announced more cancelations, affecting five cruises.
Further Cancelations for Dream Cruises in Hong Kong
Whether Dream Cruises will sail again from Hong Kong hangs in the balance, not just because of the recent financial problems that parent company Genting Hong Kong is experiencing. Local regulations to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the city effectively ban cruises from taking place.
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government announced strict COVID-19 measures on January 6, causing all voyages to be canceled. At first, Dream Cruises announced it would resume operations on February 4, but this has been pushed back to February 17. The cruises that have been canceled were supposed to depart on February 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, and 16, 2022. The statement said:
“In accordance with the latest social-distancing measures as stipulated by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Dream Cruises has unfortunately had to cancel Genting Dream’s Super Seacation departures on 4, 6, 9, 11, 13, 16 February 2022.
Dream Cruises are assessing the impact of this announcement and will keep the affected guests informed in due course.”
No Certainty on New Cruises from Hong Kong
These are challenging times for Dream Cruises, and its guests booked onboard Genting Dream sailing from Hong Kong. While the cruise line is adamant it will resume sailings again, financial problems at parent company Genting Hong Kong make this all but a certainty.
The company is still operational with its vessel World Dream sailing from Singapore, and Genting announced that certain company assets would continue to operate despite the threat of bankruptcy and liquidation of assets in the air.
Dream Cruises is currently also not taking new bookings. The booking engine on the website has been down since last week, and in the announcement made by dream cruises on its Facebook page, the company instructs guests that had been booked to dial a hotline set up for them. There has not been any mention of possibilities for refunds or Future Cruise Credit, something the company did offer in previous cancelation messages.
To make matters worse, the Chinese government has put forward strict measures to combat COVID-19. Even if Dream Cruises can sail despite the financial problems, it could still be stopped by the government.
Royal Caribbean Cancels Five Voyages
Royal Caribbean also announced further cancelations for its vessel, Spectrum of the Seas. Citing the same reasons as Dream Cruises, voyages sailing on February 4, 7, 10, 12, and 14 have been canceled.
Royal Caribbean International: “Following an extension of Hong Kong’s COVID-19 prevention policies by local authorities on January 27, which requires a suspension of all cruise operations, Spectrum of the Seas will cancel the following Hong Kong sailings: February 04, 07, 10, 12 and 14, 2022. Royal Caribbean will continue to monitor the evolving situation and work closely with relevant local authorities on our return to service. “
Guests that have been affected by these new cancelations will receive a full refund of their cruise fare and any pre-cruise purchases, including taxes and fees, within 30 working days.
Royal Caribbean already decided to release Spectrum of the Seas from its scheduled cruises in Hong Kong six months earlier than expected. While there has not been any mention of why that decision was made, it seems more than likely this is because of the strict measures in place in Hong Kong. From early April of 2022, the ship will be operating from Singapore.
For now, cruises between February 14 and the start of April onboard Spectrum of the Seas are still scheduled to continue as planned.
