Inside the £1bn cruise ship that NEVER launched as Disney could save vast vessel

A CRUISE ship due to be scrapped even before it was launched could be rescued by Disney, it was reported.

The Global Dream II is a 20-deck vessel floating city which includes an outdoor waterpark and posh cinema that came with a £1 billion price tag.

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German shipbuilding firm MV Werften had nearly completed building the ship when Hong Kong’s Genting group, which commissioned the ship, filed for bankruptcy at the start of this year.

The huge ship had been due to be scrapped but now Disney Cruise Line is said to be interested, according to German broadcaster NDR.

A plan has been put together by insolvency administrators Christoph Morgen that would see the ship now serve the US cruise market rather than Asia as originally intended.

The ship is now 75 per cent built and the plan would see work resume at its current site under the supervision of another yard.

With the ship designed for the Asian market, major alterations would reportedly be needed if it were to serve North America,

The cabin, deck and propulsion system would allegedly need major changes before the vessels would be suitable for use in either North America or Europe.

The 1200 ft long, 208,000 ton behemoth will be able to carry 9000 guest, making it the largest ship ever built by passenger capacity.

Its sister liner, the first Global Dream ship, is currently also on the market but is not due to be axed.

In terms of passenger capacity, both vessels would have been the largest cruise ship in the world.

Cruise ship experts TradeWinds had earlier said they were optimistic the ship could avoid the scrapheap.

“The Global Dream would have no problems finding a buyer in a strong cruise market,” they said.

“Faced with the tight deadline to get the Global Dream out of its building dock by the end of 2023, recycling the ship in Turkey is a last resort that Morgen hopes to avoid.”

The Royal Caribbean liner Wonder of the Seas is the current title holder with the capacity to hold 6,988 passengers.

When they are scrapped, cruise ships are taken to specialist ‘graveyards’ to be dismantled.

Despite the value of the ships, the Covid pandemic has hit the cruise industry to the extent it’s more economical for them to be sold for scrap.

From start to finish it takes about a year to dismantle a cruise ship, about double the time taken to demolish a cargo ships.

All the parts are moved into separate piles and with the fittings sold on to places like restaurants and hotels, while the steel is melted down and used in industry.

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