The 2,000-passenger SkySea Golden Era departed Shanghai filled with loyalty guests, travel agents, industry leaders, vendor partners and employees with their families as the brand neared its official end as one of the pioneers of China's nascent cruise industry.
Special activities, memorabilia and Sasebo send-off
During the five-day ‘Golden Memories Farewell Cruise,' passengers were treated to special activities, memorabilia, the best entertainment acts from the line's past three years, a captain’s gala dinner, the finale of the 'SkySea Voice' competition and excursions in Sasebo, Japan, along with an enthusiastic send-off by Sasebo's mayor and the community.
The cruise culminated with an emotional black-tie gala event with tributes to the crew, employees, travel agents, vendors, industry officials and passengers. They were recognized for establishing the brand as an innovator that will leave a legacy in China's cruise market
Since the company launched in May 2015, founder and chairman Min Fan set out to establish a brand offering a perfectly blended East-meets-West experience. For more than three years, the company has done exactly that, earning accolades for food, service, theme cruises and its MICE business offering.
Nearly half a million passengers
Having operated close to 300 voyages carrying a total of nearly 500,000 passengers to destinations in Japan, Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam, the brand delivered on its multiple homeport strategy with departures from Shanghai, Xiamen, Qingdao, Shenzhen and Zhoushan. It also launched creative ways to sell and market cruising through travel agents and brand partnerships, expanding the awareness of cruising to a broader audience.
'While we originally had every intention of growing the brand, it had become clear that the Chinese consumer was driven toward the newer and bigger hardware that had infiltrated the market in recent years, making it difficult for us to fulfill our dreams,' said Ken Muskat, CEO of SkySea Cruise Line. 'I could not be more proud of our shipboard and shoreside employees for their determination and commitment to the company.
'We not only established a brand name in the market,' Muskat continued, 'but after announcing last March that we were ending operation in September, the brand still broke all-time company records in the areas of employee satisfaction, crew satisfaction, guest satisfaction, load factors and on-board revenue performance. This is a true testament to the kind of employees I had the pleasure of leading and the partners I had the pleasure of working with.'
Ship is headed to Marella Cruises
SkySea Golden Era will sail a final voyage from Shanghai to Fukuoka, Japan, and returning to Shanghai Sept. 2 before its redeployment to Europe where Marella Cruises will take delivery in January. Renamed Marella Explorer 2, it will operate as an adults-only ship.
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