Coronavirus: Singapore ‘cruise to nowhere’ ship World Dream’s last voyage; Indonesia extends AstraZeneca vaccine shelf life
- World Dream vessel will stop operations on Wednesday after its final trip ends, due to financial difficulties
- Elsewhere, Indonesia extends AstraZeneca vaccine shelf life as millions of doses near expiry, New Zealand retirement villages close doors to visitors
Singapore will lose one of the two ships offering cruise-to-nowhere trips from the city, after Genting Hong Kong Ltd’s Dream Cruises said it no longer has the financial capacity to keep the service going, The Straits Times reported.
Genting Hong Kong’s financials deteriorated after the Covid-19 pandemic prompted travel restrictions that have led to restructuring and insolvencies across the global tourism industry. The company reported a net loss of US$1.7 billion last May.
People who have paid deposits for voyages on World Dream will have to submit refund claims to the company, although it was unclear whether they will be reimbursed, The Straits Times report said.
Singapore’s cruises to nowhere started in November 2020, providing a way for residents to travel outside the city even as the pandemic kept borders largely closed. Royal Caribbean International’s Quantum of the Seas has been operating a similar service and in total more than 82,000 people had sailed on these ships by early March last year, The Straits Times reported.
Indonesia extends AstraZeneca vaccine shelf life as 6 million doses near expiry
The decision underscores challenges many developing countries face in their slow inoculation campaigns, as vaccines donated by wealthy countries arrive with a relatively short shelf life of just a few months or even weeks.