Royal Caribbean reportedly mulls moving ships stationed in HK to Singapore

Royal Caribbean is reportedly planning to move its cruise ship stationed in Hong Kong to Singapore due to the city's stringent pandemic control measures, according to a report from HK01. The report said Royal Caribbean's cruise ship Spectrum of the Seas will quit the city and move to Singapore, as the business in Hong Kong has been hampered with the pandemic control measures and high operating costs. 

Royal Caribbean suspended Spectrum of the Seas’ Hong Kong sailings as required by local authorities in January. Due to the latest wave of the outbreak, a 14-day suspension of all cruise operations was announced by the government. Although Royal Caribbean said it hoped to welcome back guests onboard Spectrum of the Seas on 4 February, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said the government will be "highly unlikely" to relax many of the current pandemic control measures after Chinese New Year. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Royal Caribbean for more details.  Royal Caribbean launched the "cruise-to-nowhere" itinerary in October 2021. In a previous statement issued right after the current wave of the pandemic in Hong Kong, the company said there have been no positive COVID-19 cases on Spectrum of the Seas since the beginning of the service. 

The cruise ship has encountered service disruption since the launch. In October 2021, one of the crew members was tested positive for COVID-19 and the Department of Health advised a suspension of operations for a minimum of 21 days.

HK01's report also quoted several sources in the industry and lawmaker Yiu Pak-leung who represents the tourism sector. Yiu said he had heard the news and had yet received any "black and white" confirmation from the company. 

Cruise ship operators in Hong Kong have not had a smooth sailing situation in recent times. Genting Hong Kong filed to close down its business as it runs out of cash as of January 2022, although its operations of cruise lines by Dream Cruises Holding will continue. In an announcement uploaded onto HKEXnews, Genting Hong Kong said it had exhausted all reasonable efforts to negotiate with relevant counterparties under its financing arrangements.

However, it failed to reach an agreement with various creditors and other stakeholders. As a result, Genting Hong Kong had no access to any further liquidity under any of the group’s debt documents.

The company is expected to run out of cash by the end of January 2022 at the latest, according to its cash flow forecasts, as it needs to pay ongoing operational expenditure and potentially required payments of certain liabilities that are expected to be made. Looking ahead, the board of Genting Hong Kong believed that the company will imminently be unable to pay its debts as they fall due.

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