''Explorer Dream'' is a ''Leo'' class

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 ...

that most recently operated with

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 ...

. She was built in 1999 by the

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 ...

shipyard in Papenburg,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

as ''SuperStar Virgo''.

Concept and construction

''SuperStar Virgo'' was ordered by

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 Caribb ...

on 22 November 1995 from the

shipyard in Papenburg,

as the second ship of the ''Leo'' class, and the second new build for Star Cruises. She was designed specifically for the Asian cruise market. The keel of the ''SuperStar Virgo'' was laid on 18 November 1996, and she was floated out of dry dock on 23 December 1998. She was delivered to Star Cruises on 2 August 1999.

Service history

SuperStar Virgo

Following the transit from Papenburg to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

the ''SuperStar Virgo'' entered service on cruises from Singapore on 10 October 1999. On 24 April 2003 the ''SuperStar Virgo'' was relocated from Singapore to operate cruises out of

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

due to the outbreak of the

severe acute respiratory syndrome Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), the first identified strain of the SARS coronavirus species, ''sev ...

(SARS) in Southeast Asia. Initially the redeployment was planned to last only a one-month evaluation period, but ''SuperStar Virgo'' continued to be based in Perth until July 2003. On 2 April 2008 the ''SuperStar Virgo'' relocated from Singapore to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

as her port of departure until 26 October 2008, the redeployment coinciding with the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. She returned to Singapore in October 2008. In January 2009, Star Cruises installed a 100m waterslide on the ''SuperStar Virgo'' during her dry dock period in Singapore, and in January 2012, received new hull art and livery. Between April and October 2014 she was based in Hong Kong. From 13 November 2015 to 31 December 2015, ''SuperStar Virgo'' undertook a 48-day cruise to the Southern Hemisphere with over 20 ports of call. From 3 January 2016 to 11 November 2016, ''SuperStar Virgo'' was homeported in Nansha, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. From November 2016 to December 2016, she continued to be based at Hong Kong. From January 2017 to March 2017, she was based in Shenzhen and cruised to Vietnamese ports and Hong Kong.Press Release: STAR CRUISES CONTINUES TO AMASS ACCOLADES FROM INTERNATIONAL EVENTS ACROSS ASIA http://promos.starcruises.com/index.php/star-cruises-continues-to-amass-accolades-from-international-events-across-asia/

Explorer Dream

''SuperStar Virgo'' was transferred to

and following a US$65 million refit at Sembawang Shipyard in Singapore, was renamed ''Explorer Dream''. She will operate from Australia during the 2019-20 cruise season. The ship was supposed to return to north Asia and based in Shanghai for the summer of 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, her deployment in China was cancelled and was subsequently laid up in Port Klang, Malaysia and sailed to various ports around Asia to load and offload crew members. In July she arrived in Keelung, Taiwan and awaited her island hopping cruises which began on 26Jul. Her island hopping cruises in Taiwan made several stops in islands of Taiwan like Penghu and Matsu, and only made a technical call in Japan without disembarkation.

Media

In the 2013, Japanese movie

Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de is a Japanese television drama series based on the mystery novel of the same name by Japanese author Tokuya Higashigawa. It premiered on Fuji TV on October 18, 2011. This drama series was subsequently followed two-hour long special episode, then ...

take place on SuperStar Virgo.

Gallery

File:Virgo ParthenonPool.jpg, Parthenon Pool onboard ''SuperStar Virgo'' File:VirgoPiazza.JPG, ''SuperStar Virgo''s Grand Piazza File:Explorer Dream cruise ship In Bay of Islands, New Zealand.jpg, alt=Explorer Dream anchored In Bay of Islands, New Zealand, Explorer Dream anchored In Bay of Islands, New Zealand

References

External links

*
Star Cruises official website for ''SuperStar Virgo''
{{Star Cruises Ships of Star Cruises Ships built in Papenburg 1998 ships Ships of the Dream Cruises