One cruise line’s loss is Mickey Mouse’s gain. Disney Cruise Line has announced it will acquire the unfinished Global Dream cruise ship under construction in Germany.
The 208,000-gross-ton ship was being built for Genting Hong Kong, which ran Dream Cruises, Crystal Cruises and Star Cruises as well as the Lloyd Werft and MV Werften shipyards. That holding group, though, filed for bankruptcy in January, and a court ordered the sale of its assets including the Global Dream.
What was originally targeted to serve the Chinese market, the Global Dream would have had the capacity for about 9,000 passengers. Disney Cruise Line has no intention of cramming that many people on board, but the ship is significantly larger than all of the existing ships in its fleet.