Owed 50 million, the ship has been seized.

Ask AI · Why Did the Full Flight Schedule Suddenly Stop Operations?

The “Blue Dream Song” cruise ship, dedicated to becoming a “national cruise,” has been docked in Beihai, Guangxi for two and a half months. According to industry media reports, this cruise ship was seized at Beihai Port by the well-known fuel supplier Island Oil due to an outstanding fuel payment of approximately $600,000.

“No one knows exactly how much foreign debt Blue Dream Cruise owes.” Zhao Yi, the former sales manager of Shanghai Blue Dream International Cruise Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Blue Dream Cruise”), told China News Weekly that he is owed over 300,000 yuan in unpaid wages. According to incomplete statistics from employees seeking rights, the company has debts exceeding 50 million yuan for material supply fees, contract breach compensations, and employee salaries before and after the suspension of operations.

Founded in 2016, Blue Dream Cruise was once a representative of domestic operators, and its “Blue Dream Star” was the first international cruise ship to resume operations from a domestic home port after the pandemic. Now, its trajectory overlaps with many domestic cruises that have quietly exited the market, ultimately falling into disputes over ship sales, unpaid wages, and lawsuits.

Zhao Yi revealed that around 200 employees, including shore-based personnel and crew members, are owed salaries. Since the company announced the suspension of operations suddenly, many have not even received money to return home for the New Year. Screenshots he provided show that the company’s former chairman, Wang Peng, wrote in a response to employees: “After the company disposes of the ship’s assets, we will resolve everyone’s issues as soon as possible.” This is exactly what Zhao Yi is worried about; if the old ship cannot be sold smoothly, the company may be dragged into insolvency.

“Blue Dream Song” Cruise Ship Image / Visual China

Suspension of Operations Becomes Business Closure

When she learned of the suspension, Yan Jie was still at sea on a voyage to Vietnam. On the morning of January 4, the “Blue Dream Song” cruise ship returned to Beihai Port, and after tourists disembarked in the morning, the labor company summoned all crew members in the afternoon, requiring them to sign an “Employment Termination Agreement.” She and her colleagues were informed that they must leave the ship by January 6, and upon completing the handover, they would receive a “one-time compensation,” but this did not include the unpaid wages from December last year and the annual performance bonuses.

Yan Jie recalled that crew salaries had already been delayed for three consecutive months. Everyone had long been worried about the operational situation, but no one expected everything to happen so abruptly. The ship’s schedule had been booked until June 30, 2026, with all cabin spaces outsourced to travel agencies, maintaining a load factor of over 90%, which meant that the ticket revenue for the next six months was practically guaranteed. She truly did not understand why the company suddenly breached the contract unilaterally.

Zhao Yi also confirmed that Blue Dream Cruise’s sales team had signed a six-month “charter” contract with Shenzhen Xinyingyang International Travel Agency in 2025. More critically, the travel agency had already paid a deposit of about 10 million yuan. According to the contract terms, if Party A (Blue Dream Cruise) breaches the contract, it will face substantial compensation.

On December 25 of last year, Blue Dream Cruise announced the suspension of the “Blue Dream Song” under the guise of “hardware upgrades and maintenance.” Zhao Yi recalled that the sales team strongly advised at the time to at least operate until mid-2026 to fulfill the contract and minimize losses, but the company’s decision-makers insisted on an immediate suspension. This decision quickly triggered a chain reaction; on January 20 of this year, Shenzhen Xinyingyang International Travel Agency filed a lawsuit against Blue Dream Cruise in the Shanghai Maritime Court and applied for property preservation.

“This directly led to the special funds prepared for crew payment being frozen.” A credit voucher provided by Yan Jie shows that a special fund of 5 million yuan for crew wages was issued by Blue Dream Cruise to Shanghai Guoyuan Labor Service Co., Ltd. on January 27. According to the agreement signed by the crew members after renegotiation on January 5, this money should be distributed before the Spring Festival to settle the outstanding wages and compensation. “But until now, we haven’t received a single cent,” Yan Jie said.

The hasty decision to suspend operations is backed by an unrealized monetization plan. Zhao Yi revealed that at the end of last year, the company intended to sell the “Blue Dream Song” and had contacted a Russian operator, stating, “The suspension is to prepare for subsequent transactions.”

However, in fact, the ownership of the “Blue Dream Song” is not held by Blue Dream Cruise. According to public reports, the company’s director, Lu Guangyuan, introduced in an industry forum in 2024 that the “Blue Dream Song” was introduced in cooperation with Guoyin Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Guoyin Leasing”) through offshore leasing and then refinanced for Blue Dream Cruise’s operation, which was designed to reduce the company’s burden.

“The funding chain is clearly problematic now.” Zhao Yi further revealed that Blue Dream Cruise operates the cruise ship through its wholly-owned Hong Kong subsidiary, which needs to pay rent to Guoyin Leasing regularly and must complete the final repurchase before the agreed deadline. To his knowledge, the repurchase deadline is before 2026, but as of now, the repurchase has not been completed. China News Weekly attempted to verify this with former chairman Wang Peng of Blue Dream Cruise, but received no response.

After the suspension notice was issued, more than 30 employees at Blue Dream Cruise’s Shanghai office gradually received “Labor Contract Termination Agreements” at the end of last year. This suspension event ultimately evolved into a business closure. An employee who had worked in the Blue Dream cruise sales department for many years told China News Weekly that each person was owed salaries ranging from tens of thousands to over 300,000 yuan. Due to the prolonged delay in receiving the owed payments, the first batch of employees had already filed lawsuits and registered cases in court by February 27 of this year. According to data from Qichacha, Blue Dream Cruise has recently become the defendant in eight cases, involving amounts totaling 1.3146 million yuan.

Sun Yue, the HR manager of Blue Dream Cruise, confirmed to China News Weekly that there are currently 27 shore-based employees on the books who are owed wages, involving a total amount of about 5.5 million yuan. She explained that after the company’s accounts were frozen, the existing three shareholders are working to resolve the funding issue. According to the plan confirmed by the shareholders’ meeting, the three parties will inject the owed salary funds into a designated account according to their shareholding proportions.

As of now, the 40% funds borne by the major shareholder, Fujian Zhongyun Investment Group Co., Ltd., have been received, and the 30% funds borne by Zhoushan Archipelago International Cruise Port Co., Ltd. were received on March 24. Qingdao Jurong Industrial Investment Co., Ltd. is responsible for the remaining 30%, which is still being coordinated.

China News Weekly called Yao Shuai, a director of Blue Dream Cruise and a shareholder representative from Qingdao, who stated that the plan for “three shareholders to raise funds according to their share ratio” “may still only be in the discussion stage,” and he personally has not seen specific documents, nor does he “have a grasp” on the current situation of Blue Dream Cruise. The reporter sought to verify this contradictory statement with former chairman Wang Peng of Blue Dream Cruise and legal representative of Fujian Zhongyun Investment Group, but the latter refused to be interviewed, citing “no time.”

It is noteworthy that just one day before the promise to pay wages, on February 9 of this year, Blue Dream Cruise completed the change of its legal representative, and Wang Peng stepped down as chairman and general manager. He currently still serves as vice chairman of Fujian Guohang Ocean Transport (Group) Co., Ltd., which was the largest shareholder holding 80% of Blue Dream Cruise at its inception but exited in 2020.

“Currently, Blue Dream Cruise only has the aforementioned three shareholders,” Sun Yue emphasized. She stated that if the funds from Zhoushan can be received on time, the company will notify the specific plan for paying 70% of the owed wages as soon as possible. As for the remaining 30%, the temporary working group she is part of “theoretically will not give up on pursuing.” As an employee sent by Fujian Zhongyun to Blue Dream Cruise, Sun Yue has now returned to the shareholder company. She admitted that how this temporary working group responsible for aftermath will operate and who will lead it remains uncertain.

Sell One Order, Lose One Order

In Zhao Yi’s impression, signals from the decision-making level of Blue Dream Cruise about suspending operations began around November last year. Due to geopolitical influences, domestic home port cruise companies quickly canceled their plans to dock at Japanese ports, and Blue Dream also quickly changed all its Japan-Korea travel destinations to Jeju and Busan in South Korea.

“The funding chain was already tight, and the route adjustments dealt a fatal blow.” Zhao Yi explained that unlike mature markets in Europe and America, where customers view cruises as vacation destinations, domestic tourists generally still see cruises as a mode of transportation. When the travel destinations are no longer unique, the value-for-money advantages of cruises diminish significantly, and a reduced load factor could likely prompt travel agencies to lower prices to offload bookings.

A seasoned industry professional with 23 years of experience told China News Weekly that in terms of the richness of destination tourism resources, the South Korean market is difficult to completely replace Japan, and in the competitive markets of Jeju, Busan, and others familiar to domestic cruise passengers, price reductions are the most direct means to attract customers. Even the most resilient pricing in the industry, the Royal Caribbean’s “Spectrum of the Seas,” has seen its interior cabin prices drop below 2,000 yuan.

In past operations, Blue Dream Cruise, which opened the market through low-price strategies, was once referred to as the “Mixue Ice City” of the cruise industry. Zhao Yi explained that without the premium brought by differentiated routes, the company is concerned about a repeat of history where it “sells one order and loses one order” when facing competition from larger, newer cruise ships.

The deeper issue lies in the mismatch between the aging second-hand ships purchased by Blue Dream Cruise and the domestic mainstream cruise consumption market. The “Blue Dream Star” and “Blue Dream Song” ships were both nearly 20 years old when acquired, and their tonnage is generally small, at 25,000 tons and 42,000 tons, far below the current mainstream large cruise ships of over 100,000 tons. Their cabin types, entertainment facilities, and other hardware are inherently insufficient, and the limited space also restricts onboard consumption scenarios and secondary income.

Zhao Yi cited an example where, to meet the demand for standard rooms in domestic group tours, the company had to install a wooden board in the middle of originally large beds to act as a partition. Such makeshift modifications fall far short of visitors’ expectations for modern cruise comfort and spaciousness.

“Planning for cruise operations begins even before placing orders with the shipyard.” The builder of the domestic large cruise ship “Aida·Magic City,” Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., previously stated in an interview with China News Weekly that shipowners must clarify their target customer groups and plan future routes before placing orders, and design onboard hardware and soft furnishings accordingly to meet consumer demands. This model of “pre-operations, customized design” is key to the success of cruise projects and explains why large cruise ships wanting to establish a foothold in the domestic market must take the path of self-construction rather than relying on purchasing second-hand ships.

“When the hardware is insufficient, the software is also hard to piece together.” Yan Jie joined in April 2023, and the “Blue Dream Star” made its maiden voyage in June of the same year, leaving her only a month to prepare onboard entertainment activities. At that time, the company canceled a professional dance troupe due to funding shortages, and she had to use personal connections to contact a Colombian dance troupe, hiring them as ordinary crew members and allowing them to perform alongside regular reception duties. Although their pay was slightly higher than that of ordinary crew members, it saved the company about 4 million yuan overall. Meanwhile, the team organized various group activities, such as games, dance classes, or workshops, on the deck and in lounges during the day to enrich the passenger experience and reduce complaints.

More often than not, Blue Dream Cruise’s operations are in a state of “discovering problems while solving them.” Zhao Yi recalled that in the early stages of operation, the driving team mostly came from the freight sector and had delayed arrival at ports to save fuel, disrupting subsequent land itineraries for passengers. Complaints were passed through travel agencies to the company’s sales department and then relayed back to the ship, resulting in a long communication chain and slow resolution speed. Such frictions arising from differences in philosophy were frequent in the early stages of operations, ultimately reflecting in market reputation and load factors.

In 2024, to enhance market competitiveness, Blue Dream Cruise introduced the slightly larger “Blue Dream Song.” Although it underwent renovations and upgrades, it still could not change the inherent deficiencies of second-hand cruise ships. Due to limited resources, the company almost transferred the entire crew team from “Blue Dream Star” to the new ship, while the original “Blue Dream Star” was subsequently suspended and has been seeking a buyer.

The fate of these two ships now appears bleak. The aforementioned seasoned practitioner stated that the service life of cruise ships is generally around 30 years, and vessels that are old, small in tonnage, and equipped with outdated facilities have very few avenues for post-retirement, typically only turning to offshore or gambling cruises, and the number of such buyers is decreasing. If they cannot be sold smoothly, these assets will continue to incur maintenance costs, potentially becoming a burden that drags down the company.

Can We Only Rely on Home Port Subsidies?

Under intense market competition, private or mixed-ownership cruise lines view “multi-point operations” as a survival strategy. “Simply put, wherever there are subsidies, the ship will go there,” Zhao Yi admitted. Since its launch in 2024, the “Blue Dream Song” has made stops in multiple cities, including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beihai, Xiamen, Zhoushan, and Qingdao, making it the cruise ship that has visited the most domestic home ports.

During the peak summer season of 2025, Blue Dream Cruise deployed its capacity to Qingdao home port to show support for its shareholders. However, the sales team later reported that the operational data during that period was not optimistic.

“Subsidies are just external blood transfusions; the true survival ability of a cruise must rely on the attractiveness of route products and services,” Zhao Yi explained. The routes from northern home ports primarily focus on Japan and South Korea, which are already competitive red oceans. At the same time, the accessibility of ports, the ability to attract customers, and overall passenger throughput directly determine the cruise’s load factor.

After adjusting its routes to all-Korea itineraries at the end of last year, Zhao Yi’s team urgently assessed the feasibility of venturing into Southeast Asian ports like Singapore. The evaluation showed that while opening new routes has greater profit potential, it requires an initial investment of at least 3 to 4 million yuan and a market layout at least six months in advance. This suggestion to continue burning money was ultimately not adopted.

Faced with the same challenges of route interruptions, the domestic cruise brand Aida demonstrated stronger action. After strategic adjustments, the “Aida·Magic City” continues to focus on the South Korean market, while the “Aida·Mediterranean” takes on more tasks to expand into southern markets, with Guangzhou as its home port and routes shifting to Da Nang, Ha Long Bay, and Hue in Vietnam, and plans to launch mid to long-haul routes covering the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei.

“Cruise operations are typical heavy asset, long-cycle industries,” pointed out the aforementioned seasoned practitioner. This not only means a one-time massive capital investment but also involves a prolonged market cultivation and brand-building cycle. He cited that foreign cruise operators like Royal Caribbean invested hundreds of millions in market promotion after entering China. The more the market is sluggish, the more active their commercial promotional activities become.

Industry veterans are attempting more fundamental innovations in business models. The “Glory” ship under MSC Cruises has officially launched dual home port operations between Shanghai and Busan. This is no longer a traditional one-way outbound tour, but allows the same ship to simultaneously carry tourists from both China and South Korea, enabling two-way flow.

This aligns perfectly with China’s policy direction to promote the expansion of service industries and encourage cultural and tourism consumption. Taking Shanghai as an example, in its published “Several Provisions (Draft) to Promote the Development of the Cruise Economy in Shanghai,” it specifically mentions building a first-class cruise port and service environment, developing inbound cruise tourism, and attracting more foreign tourists to arrive by cruise. The cruise home port has been endowed with new value as an engine for inbound tourism.

During this year’s National Two Sessions, some representatives suggested encouraging coastal provinces with major cruise ports to leverage local cultural and tourism resource advantages to create differentiated cruise destination brand IPs. In other words, regions should avoid homogenized competition and maximize their regional comparative advantages and characteristics.

“Home port subsidies can play a role in attracting traffic in the early stages of enterprise development, but they are by no means a long-term solution,” pointed out the aforementioned seasoned practitioner. Private cruises that are at a disadvantage in terms of survival space may find new opportunities through these policy dividends.

(At the request of the interviewees, the names Zhao Yi and Yan Jie are pseudonyms.)

Published on March 30, 2026, Issue No. 1229 of China News Weekly

Magazine Title: The “Mixue Ice City” of the Cruise Industry is Being Sold

Reporter: Li Mingzi

(limingzi@chinanews.com.cn)

Editor: Min Jie