Cruising to the breaker's yard

I was intrigued today to read of two giant cruise liners which are in trouble, Global Dream I and Global Dream II, the first of these being 90% built, the second 33%. They might not have been the biggest liners in the world, but they would have carried the most passengers - 9,500 plus 2,200 crew.

I imagine that the ultimate cause is the collapse of cruising during the plague, but the proximate cause is the bankruptcy of the German ship builder and the sale of the yard in which they are being built to another ship builder, Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, who want the yard vacated for naval work. That is to say the union of Thyssen (an early supporter of Hitler) and Krupp (of Big Bertha fame), for which see reference 4.

It seems that these ships were being built for the Asian market, the requirements for which are significantly different from those for the European market - and partly for this reason it is proving hard to find someone who will take them on. Global Dream I may survive but it looks as if Global Dream II is headed for the breakers.

With one of the features of the Asian market appearing to be the distinctive decorations of the hulls.

A quick look at the some of the fleets sold through reference 3, suggests that you get about 20 years out of one of these ships, during which time there is apt to be at least one refurbishment. Which makes it sound like an expensive business. In any case, definitely not for me.

PS: references 2 and 3 strike me as rather crude considering the prices of cruises. But plenty of YouTube suggesting that there will be plenty of clubbing available for pretty young people; a sort of floating Ibiza. Not the stuff of reference 5 at all.

References

Reference 1: https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/mv-werften-liquidator-still-seeks-buyer-for-global-dream.

Reference 2: http://www.dreamcruisespackage.com/. The once intended home for these ships. The source of the snap above.

Reference 3: http://www.vacation-hub.com/.

Reference 4: https://www.thyssenkrupp.com/.

Reference 5: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/search?q=fch.