Pickleball and foam parties: StarDream Cruises president on renewing the cruise experience

SINGAPORE – For years, cruising in Asia has been boxed into a narrow stereotype, associated mainly with floating casinos, retirees and “cruise to nowhere” trips.

That perception no longer holds, said Mr Michael Goh, president of StarDream Cruises. The industry’s future, he reckons, depends less on ships or destinations and more on how deliberately the experience is designed.

“Cruising is not new in Asia. What’s changing is what people expect when they come on board,” he told The Straits Times.

“If people come on board and feel bored, they won’t come back. If we run a cruise the same way we did 10 years ago, we lose the market.”

That emphasis on refreshing the cruise experience has become central to StarDream’s strategy, particularly as it competes not only with other cruise lines but also with every other holiday option available.

The cruise operator has deliberately moved away from the old perception of cruising as casino-led or limited to cruise-to-nowhere offerings. While every ship still has a casino, it now plays a much smaller role within a broader ecosystem of dining, entertainment, wellness and cultural programming.

“Our biggest competitor isn’t another cruise company,” Mr Goh said. “It’s flights, resorts, road trips and staycations.”

Re-emerging after collapse

That, at least, is the rationale StarDream is running its business by after re-entering the industry following a three-year absence between 2022 and 2025.

The cruise operator re-entered the market in March 2025 after a new parent company was set up by former Genting Group chief executive Lim Kok Thay to run the cruise business following the collapse of Genting Hong Kong, which previously ran Star Cruises, Dream Cruises and Crystal Cruises.

As borders closed and ships became idle during the Covid-19 pandemic, Genting Hong Kong’s losses mounted, with the group reporting a net loss of US$1.7 billion in 2020. The company’s debts, much of them linked to its German shipbuilding operations, also grew.

In January 2022, MV Werften – Genting Hong Kong’s German shipyard – filed for insolvency after failing to secure financing to complete the Global Dream, a mega cruise ship.

That triggered cross-defaults on Genting Hong Kong’s other debts, eventually forcing it to file for liquidation and delist from the Hong Kong stock exchange. Its cruise brands subsequently ceased operations, with their vessels either sold, transferred or scrapped.

Crystal Cruises was later acquired by A&K Travel Group, while Global Dream was eventually acquired by Disney Cruise Line in November 2022 and renamed Disney Adventure.

Following Genting Hong Kong’s collapse, Resorts World Cruises was set up in 2022 to revive the cruise business.

In March 2025, StarDream was formed to reintroduce and operate StarCruises and Dream Cruises.

StarDream currently has a fleet of three cruise ships: Genting Dream, which sails under the Dream Cruises brand, and the Star Navigator and Star Voyager under the StarCruises banner.

A broader audience

One of the clearest shifts since StarDream began operating has been the changing cruise passenger mix.

Multi-generational families – grandparents, parents and children – now form a growing share of guests, drawn by the convenience of having meals, accommodation and activities bundled into one trip, Mr Goh said.

At the same time, younger adult travellers are increasingly present.

“Our programming has become much younger,” Mr Goh said. “Beach-club concepts, foam parties, red-carpet events and even pickleball courts. These are things people don’t usually associate with cruising, but they make a big difference.”

StarDream is now offering pickleball courts at sea, an example of how cruise experiences are being redesigned to appeal to a wider age range.

Another major change has been the shift towards themed sailings, which rotate through the year.

Recent programmes have included South Korea’s Nanta performance troupe, Smurfs-themed school holiday cruises, traditional Chinese opera, Taiwanese puppetry, wellness-focused sailings and full-scale party cruises where entertainment runs day and night.

“These are not gimmicks,” Mr Goh said. “They take planning, partnerships and a deep understanding of what resonates with different markets.”

Itineraries matter, too, he added.

For example, Genting Dream offers two-night and three-night sailings from Singapore to destinations such as Melaka, Penang and Phuket, as well as longer itineraries that include Bali.

He highlighted the appeal of visiting different parts of an island or city within one journey, adding that cruising simplifies travel by eliminating multiple flights, airport transits or long road transfers typically required when moving between locations.

Beyond leisure travel, cruising also appeals to companies organising meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE), as on-board venues can accommodate large groups while simplifying logistics.

Mr Goh said the largest MICE group hosted on board numbered “over 2,000 people”, making cruise ships well-suited for company retreats and distributor reward trips.

One draw for organisers is the ship’s “confined environment”, which keeps participants together. “You can’t run away,” he said, adding that this helps facilitate networking, while the ship’s in-house dining and entertainment reduce both cost and planning complexity.

Home port advantage

Singapore has played a critical role in supporting the cruise industry at a time when demand appears to be picking up.

It recently expanded the Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore for $40 million, enabling the terminal to handle up to 12,000 passengers and accommodate the industry’s largest cruise ships.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) also administers the Cruise Development Fund to help cruise lines and travel agents create and market “fly-cruise” packages designed to attract international travellers to Singapore as a starting point for regional voyages, among other things.

In 2023, STB signed a five-year partnership with Disney Cruise Line to make Singapore the home port for the Disney Adventure from 2026 to at least 2031 – this means the ship will be based here permanently, with voyages starting and ending in Singapore. Its first passenger sailing from the Marina Bay Cruise Centre is scheduled for March 10.

With Singapore also serving as a year-round home port for the Genting Dream, Mr Goh said there has been a steady rise in international travellers flying into Singapore specifically to join StarDream’s cruises, particularly for fly-cruise itineraries.

He added that more travellers are choosing to include Singapore in their holiday plans, either as a home port or a stopover.

StarDream is also exploring multiple home-porting arrangements, allowing passengers to start or end their cruise in different cities rather than returning to the same port.

“With Genting Dream, we currently operate double and even triple home ports, allowing guests to embark from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur (via Port Klang) and Melaka. This approach gives our guests greater flexibility and convenience, allowing them to start their cruise from the port that suits them best,” Mr Goh said.

More work still needs to be done in drawing awareness to cruising as a holiday option, though, especially in Asia.

While the number of ocean-going cruise travellers globally rose from around 29.6 million in 2019 before the pandemic to more than 34.6 million in 2024, Asia’s share of the pie has dwindled, according to data from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

Compared with 2019, when more than five million travellers from Asia and Oceania went on a cruise, just over four million did so in 2024, CLIA data showed.

Mr Goh said cruise ships have been operating in Asia for more than three decades, and he believes cruising still has a long runway in the region.

According to CLIA, the number of ocean-going passengers is expected to rise globally over the next few years, with the number reaching 42 million by 2028. The data also revealed that more people are considering going on a cruise in 2026. Many who have gone on a cruise also plan to do so again.

“Many people simply haven’t considered cruising. A cruise can be full of activity or completely quiet,” he said.

“You can do everything, or nothing at all, on a cruise ship. That experience and flexibility, when deliberately designed, is what makes cruising timeless.”