Jump to content

[Dream Cruise Line] Everything Genting Dream PART II


FreestyleNovice
 Share

Recommended Posts

On my last trip, didn't see any queues for dinner. In terms of food, (to me) the free buffet food was probably about the same with RCL. However, the hawker food (not free) was really good... the fried kuey teow and bak kut teh was good. The hainan toast, eggs and coffee at 6th floor bakery was also pretty good and cheap (around HK$35 for the tea set I recall).

 

Actually, the buffet on Ovation was better but the Chinese buffet at Dream Dining wasn't too bad... the roast beef was pretty good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, the buffet on Ovation was better but the Chinese buffet at Dream Dining wasn't too bad... the roast beef was pretty good.

 

There was a Chinese buffet? Never had that option on my trip! :/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I noticed the this thread is rather quiet so like to start a discussion. For the guys who has been on the cruise, did you notice any roulette tables at the casino? I mean real tables with chips not the computer machine. On my last trip didn't recall seeing any roulette tables.

 

Btw, I am going on this weekend's cruise - 23rd. Wondering if anyone else has signed up.. they are having a form party with few guest DJs at Zouk this weekend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I suspect the turnout at zouk will be pretty good this weekend. Zouk is offering a special package includes cabin, dinner party and champagne etc I think. Checked out Dreamcruise website.... they have sold out for this weekend only Dream Suite still available.

 

Going with family so no partying... but will definitely check out Zouk and the pretty DJ (see banner below). The drinks package quite good too. 2 bottles Moet + Gun @ $3500 and 6 bottles + Gun @ $6000

 

18953024_312374132522323_3022686301760054653_n.jpg?oh=2c242563abd504978c7845c5a8e68600&oe=59E3ABB7

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just book my Free 2N weekend cruise (balcony) on GD in Singapore next year.

Condition, just have to book 1 weekend cruise on the Gemini using my cruise credit from last year.

 

There was not a single soul in Zouk when I was there on my 7 night cruise last Feb.

Difference in culture. Night club not big in Asia and not for mostly old folks and gamblers.

Same thing with all the many bars on the Ovation. Always empty.

 

Do they still have the music band playing very load rock and roll music in the casino atrium.

If you don't gamble you cannot stand that noise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just got off Genting Dream an hour ago. It was chaos at Kai Tak cruise terminal... voyager of the seas arrived an hour before Genting Dream so you can imagine 7000+ people disembarking then another 7000+ embarking. Zouk foam party was "happening" and there was a young and vibrant crowd this weekend.... you can see the drunk party crowd at Blue Lagoon for their after party late supper.

 

I was very lucky and grateful RWAS upgraded me to Dream Executive Suite - 12508. Corner suite at FWD area with separate living room and access to Dream Palace. My wife and kid wanted to play the water slides so didn't try the Dream Palace private pool. It was also a first experience for me having a butler... thank you Stan and Xiao Yue.

 

It was full house cruise... went to Lido for lunch and had to wait 15 mins for a table. So for dinner went for Umi Uma Teppanyaki instead which was around one third full only. There was a lot more activities this time.. live bands singing at a few places, children games, 3D movies, special performance by some TVB folks, etc.

 

Also found time for body massage this time... only just found out we can leave the kid at the panda club three times a day for 2 hours each time.

 

Best trip so far.. won some pocket money too.. [emoji4]... see you again Genting Dream - July 21.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMHO, they are not getting enough passengers for the 5N cruises so they are cancelling. I think the people in HK are being spoilt for choices... we have RCL, Princess and Costa coming in this period. Voyager of seas is about 20% cheaper while Costa is around 30%. Sapphire Princess is around 10% cheaper I recall but these ships are older and smaller.

 

Ovation is priced around the same and will be in HK in Oct and Nov. Paying an extra 20% I can get a fly cruise package on Norwegian Joy. Furthermore, my HK friends normally book their cruise holidays a year in advance and the fly cruise packages are pretty good too.

 

The regular gamblers can't afford the 5N cruises which costs 50 CCs for inside and 100 CCs for balcony cabin. Having said that I am saving up my CCs for a 5N hopefully in Oct/Nov before the ship home ports in SG from Dec.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Correction - Sapphire Princess is a fly cruise package from SG or Taiwan. Costa Victoria is offering 5N to Japan in Sept very cheap but I am not a Costa fan.

 

Any news about the World Dream inaugural cruise from SG to HK?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

IMHO, they are not getting enough passengers for the 5N cruises so they are cancelling. I think the people in HK are being spoilt for choices... we have RCL, Princess and Costa coming in this period. Voyager of seas is about 20% cheaper while Costa is around 30%. Sapphire Princess is around 10% cheaper I recall but these ships are older and smaller.

 

Ovation is priced around the same and will be in HK in Oct and Nov. Paying an extra 20% I can get a fly cruise package on Norwegian Joy. Furthermore, my HK friends normally book their cruise holidays a year in advance and the fly cruise packages are pretty good too.

 

The regular gamblers can't afford the 5N cruises which costs 50 CCs for inside and 100 CCs for balcony cabin. Having said that I am saving up my CCs for a 5N hopefully in Oct/Nov before the ship home ports in SG from Dec.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

Wow, you are fast. Thanks for the feed-back.

Cancelling because of not enough pax is a very expensive exercise.

 

More to come? I cannot see HK residents cruising to Japan in the cold winter months of Nov. and Oct.

Agree their pricing is out of whack with their competitors. Being a local company you expect them to know better.

 

Same story with pricing here in Singapore. Book and paid cash for 2 cruises on the Gemini. Not cheap but they are the only ship available here in the next couple of months and I am used to cruising at least once a month.

Next year their GD prices are at least 30% above the competition. So I don't understand that also.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think going out on an empty load is probably a more expensive exercise. But it could be other reasons why they canceled like maybe operation reasons etc.

 

But you can't compare Dream to the other Star Cruise ships... its almost 4 times the size of the Libra in tonnage. Honestly, I think Dream will fit nicely in SG ... there are good mix of regular VIP players and paying passengers to sustain.

 

HK market is a little saturated right now.... we are spoilt for choices. I used to be a Diamond member of Sands Macau (expired now... hard to maintain)... Macau casinos are quite aggressive nowadays offering free return ferry, 5 star hotels and shows too. Not to mention the free food and drinks plus the freebies like iPhones, gold bars etc. People will not go for Dream just for their casinos... its got to have a good mix of family fun and relaxation at least for me. I enjoy the private balcony time with my wife and the other ship activities with the family. I only go to the casinos at night after the family is asleep.

 

Dream is trying to tap into this market of high rollers with their Dream Palace offering. I think they will succeed because a lot of the high rollers does not like to be associated with Macau for obvious reasons. For Dream, they can embark in Nansha, Guangzhou.... don't even need to travel to HK.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You may be right about them saving more by cancelling these cruises. But having a cruise ship for 4000 pax and not sailing is a very dire situation.

 

My sense is that they would not do well in SG. RC is suppose to have a ship in SG year round next year. When I was on the Ovation here and see the prices that it can command and the 4000 pax on board it triggers my thought that RC is eating SC lunch.

 

Everybody wants the high roller. But getting them is no easy task.

 

The Chinese national you are referring to embarking from Nansha is the greatest gamble that SC has made. As you know better than us Macau and HK is only suppose to be a transit link for them to a third country. Giving these CN a visa to go on the cruise ship does not appear to work out for SC. Genting seem to have bet the house on this and the 2 Dream ships were suppose to cater to them.

 

Happy Sailing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Dream is adding cruises in November in Singapore due to the charter for It's The Ship. Heading to Mcleod Island which is interesting and a very exotic destination for Asia cruises.

 

World Dream is due in Singapore on the 14 November.

 

Other than that I have seen the embarkation process for Genting Dream at Kai Tak.... It was Chaos and I cannot understand why Dream Cruises after close to 1 year in operation still cannot figure out how to smoothen the embarkation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dream is heading to Singapore mid Nov... they have a 5D4N HK to SG cruise lined up. "Its the Ship" charter is on Nov 17th... should be fun.

 

For Kai Tak cruise terminal, I don't think the problem is with Dream... its with the cruise terminal itself. Badly designed and managed. Check out the roof top park.... weeds everywhere. The check-in is relatively fast now, it's the embarkation side... they open up the security checks late when few thousand people are already waiting to board so you can imagine the chaos when embarking.

 

It's twice the problem when another ship is arriving/leaving around the same time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The schedule looks awfully tight. HK to SG in 4N, would it be a non stop cruise to SG. Or else they would burn up a lot of fuel running at high speed.

SG to Mcleod Island and back in 4N also looks awfully tight as Mcleod Island is some distance north of Phuket. Even though they schedule the first cruise to Phuket at 23.59 pm on Nov.20.

Agree with Choo the problem is not check in but boarding. When I was there boarding starts at 10.30 am when departure is at noon.

 

On another matter Genting HK will be reporting a loss of USD200M+ for the first 6 months of the year. I am very surprised it is not worst than this as the previous 6 months they reported a loss of USD500M. And nothing really happened in this previous 6 months. Except they started operating the Dream for about 6 weeks.This last half year they operated Dream for 6 months. I understand from senior staff on the Gemini that the Dream 5N cruise occupancy is about 1500 pax with 1 cruise hitting a record low of 800 pax.

Have to examine the financial report when it comes out. Good luck to them with the World Dream coming in Nov.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have boarded at Kai Tak though its with the Voyager Of The Seas. It was smooth and quick, systematic though there is a long walk to your ship from the beginning when you enter the terminal. Maybe it's because RCL ?

 

Dream departs Mcleod Island at 9.30pm and then probably sails at full speed all the way to Singapore with a sea day arriving back at Singapore at 1pm.

 

This is why one of the reason was due to the low loads in Hong Kong, they have moved the Ship to Singapore. The know Singapore is in a regional hub where it's easy to fly in. And because IT's The Ship chartered Dream Cruises, Genting Dream has no choice but to arrive in Singapore early in November.

 

Btw Dream Cruises will be doing Fireworks at Sea on Thursday night for all 5-night cruises leaving from Singapore

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just spoken to reservations, the World Dream is departing from HK for weekend high seas on Nov 17. It's not open for booking yet but that's the planned schedule. For the 6D/5N cruises, understand it will be rotating between Vietnam and Philippines... maybe Japan is cold that time of the year so no point cruising there if you can't enjoy the pool and water slides.

 

If World Dream is in Singapore on Nov 14, it will have to cruise non-stop to get to HK in time for the Nov 17 HK cruise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just checked and World Dream is not showing up in the booking options... maybe they had took it off. I am keen to try out World Dream... wonder any difference to the facilities and interior.... its identical in size to the Dream.

 

I have always wanted to visit Boracay island but was wondering whether it's safe from pirates.... what are chances of pirates boarding a large cruise ship like World Dream?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I have always wanted to visit Boracay island but was wondering whether it's safe from pirates.... what are chances of pirates boarding a large cruise ship like World Dream?

 

lol you are probably the first who is worried about pirates boarding World Dream in the Philippines, though i can understand that.

 

The chances are low to non-existant. Besides World Dream will be there in the day so not likely the pirates will attack as they usually attack in the cover of darkness, and everyone will have seen them coming and the possibility of facing with over 3500 people to deal with. Also, World Dream has very little space for the pirates to come onboard as well.

 

If World Dream is at sea, she will speed up to full speed which the pirates will then not be able to catch her, let alone board her.

 

Cast away your worries and book! I believe you will enjoy the cruise and the Philippines :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...