Singapore Cruise Centre training its sights on winning over boutique vessels

SINGAPORE Cruise Centre (SCC) is looking to attract more boutique cruise ships to call at the HarbourFront Terminal in the face of competition from Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore (MBCCS).

Up to 10 new cruise ships are set to visit Singapore this year, but most of them are berthing at MBCCS due to restrictions in ship height and length at HarbourFront Terminal.

Likening the cruise ship industry to the hotel industry, Christina Siaw, CEO of SCC, said: “People don’t always built big hotels. They build medium and boutique hotels. We definitely can’t take in the very tall and big ships. So we do a lot of marketing to to court boutique ships.”

“Boutique (cruise) passengers are normally very well-off and they have lots of disposable income. We also have a service variation where we do more of a white glove service and we treat them with a higher level of care so that pleases them,” Siaw added

Acknowledging that SCC’s HarbourFront Terminal is not able to accommodate mega cruise ships like the Quantum of the Seas, Siaw said the company is looking at internal and external capacity improvements.

The MBCCS and SCC are also closely working zwith the government to increase the number of cruise lines visiting Singapore.

Lee Yi Shyan, senior minister of state for the Ministry of Trade and Industry said: “We are keeping in touch with (cruise line) operators to understand their needs and how we can help them. Giving incentives is one thing but we are focusing on market development and how we can improve the entire experience – experience being logistics support and what (cruise passengers) can do on shore.”

By Samuel Ng

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