The ''Global'' class is a class of
cruise ship
Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...
s constructed by the German shipbuilder
MV Werften
MV Werften is a Hong Kong–Germany, German shipbuilding company that operates three facilities in eastern Germany to construct cruise ships for parent company Genting Hong Kong.
In January 2022, MV Werften filed for bankruptcy, and an admini ...
for
Genting Hong Kong
Genting Hong Kong Limited ( zh, 雲頂香港有限公司) was a holding company that operated cruise and resort businesses. It was headquartered in (海洋中心), Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (). It was p ...
. With Genting’s bankruptcy in 2022, the future of the ''Global'' class was in doubt. On November 16, 2022,
Disney Cruise Line
Disney Cruise Line is a cruise line operation that is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The company was incorporated in 1996 as Magical Cruise Company Limited, through the first vessel, ''Disney Magic'' and is domiciled in London, England ...
confirmed it acquired the unfinished ''Global Dream''.
The second unfinished ship has been scrapped.
History
Genting Hong Kong
Genting Hong Kong Limited ( zh, 雲頂香港有限公司) was a holding company that operated cruise and resort businesses. It was headquartered in (海洋中心), Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (). It was p ...
ordered two ships of the class in May 2016 from its subsidiary Lloyd Werft Group for service in the
Star Cruises
Star Cruises was a cruise line headquartered in Hong Kong and operating in the Asia-Pacific market. The company was owned by Genting Hong Kong. It was the eighteenth largest cruise line in the world after Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbea ...
fleet, with delivery of the first vessel planned for 2019.
In July 2016, Genting Hong Kong reorganized Lloyd Werft Group, resulting in the formation of
MV Werften
MV Werften is a Hong Kong–Germany, German shipbuilding company that operates three facilities in eastern Germany to construct cruise ships for parent company Genting Hong Kong.
In January 2022, MV Werften filed for bankruptcy, and an admini ...
as a builder of large cruise ships; accordingly, the Global class order was transferred to Dream Cruises.
At the time they were ordered, the design of the ships had not been completed, and as a result construction did not begin until March 2018, when ceremonial steel cuttings for the first ship in the class were held at shipyards in
Wismar
Wismar (; Low German: ''Wismer''), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar (''Hansestadt Wismar'') is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest city ...
and
Rostock
Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...
. Major components of the ships were constructed at both shipyards, with assembly taking place in Wismar. Construction was scheduled to take just under three years, with the first ship to be delivered in late 2020 and the second in late 2021.
In March 2018, Genting Hong Kong announced that the two planned ''Global''-class ships would be operated by
Dream Cruises
Genting Hong Kong Limited ( zh, 雲頂香港有限公司) was a holding company that operated cruise and resort businesses. It was headquartered in (海洋中心), Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (). It was p ...
upon delivery, sailing from Chinese ports during the summer season and further afield in Southeast Asia, Oceania and the west coast of the United States during the remainder of the year.
The construction of the first ship, ''Global Dream'', started on 8 March 2018 at the facilities in Wismar and Rostock. The
keel
The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
was
laid on 11 September 2018 in Rostock. A big part of the ship left the drydock in Rostock on 22 November 2019 and was towed to Wismar, were it entered the drydock on 23 November 2019.
The construction of the second ship, unnamed but sometimes referred to as ''Global Dream II'', started on 10 September 2019 in Rostock.
The keel was laid in Rostock on 9 December 2019.
Due to the temporary closure of the shipyard in 2020
as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the delivery of both ''Global''-class ships was expected to be delayed.
The unfinished ''Global Dream II'' was cancelled in June 2022 after shipbuilder MV Werften filed for bankruptcy in January 2022, with the hull to be sold for scrap as the administrators could not find a buyer and the shipyard needs the space it occupies.
[ On November 16, 2022, ]Disney Cruise Line
Disney Cruise Line is a cruise line operation that is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The company was incorporated in 1996 as Magical Cruise Company Limited, through the first vessel, ''Disney Magic'' and is domiciled in London, England ...
purchased the ''Global Dream'' for €40 million, a discount from the original value of €1.8 billion. Disney plans to work with the shipbuilding company Meyer Werft
Meyer Werft is one of the major German shipyards, headquartered in Papenburg at the river Ems. Founded in 1795 and starting with small wooden vessels, today Meyer Werft is a builder of luxury passenger ships. 700 ships of different types have be ...
to complete the unfinished ship by 2025.
Design
''Global''-class ships were originally planned to measure , but were increased to 208,000 GT in the final design. They are in length, with a beam of and a draft of . They are powered by six MAN Diesel & Turbo
MAN Energy Solutions SE is a German multinational company based in Augsburg that produces large-bore gas and diesel engines and also turbomachinery for marine, rail and stationary applications, as locomotive and marine propulsion systems, power p ...
48/60CR diesel engines, which make a total of and power three ABB Azipod
Azipod is a trademark azimuth thruster pod design, a marine propulsion unit consisting of a fixed pitch propeller mounted on a steerable gondola ("pod") containing the electric motor driving the propeller, allowing ships to be more maneuverable ...
XO thrusters via ABB electrical generators. ABB also supplied major control components and software.
The ships were planned to use artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
and robots for many customer-facing services, with extensive use of voice and face recognition.
The pre-Disney design provided for 2,350 passenger cabins allowing for 9,000 passengers, 4,700 of those in lower berths. Her crew was to be 2200.
Disney's announcement of the acquisition stated her expected passenger capacity to be around 6,000 passengers, with a crew of approximately 2,300.
Ships
See also
*List of largest cruise ships
The Symphony of the Seas is the world's largest passenger cruise ship. Measuring 362m (1,188ft) long, the ship has a capacity of nearly 9,000 passengers and crew, features 23 swimming pools and 18 decks.
Cruise ships are large passenger ships us ...
References
{{Disney Cruise Line
Cruise ship classes
Disney Cruise Line