A long laid-up former German cruise ship that was sold at the height of the pandemic for conversion into a superyacht is set to return to service under a new Malaysian cruise operator.
Berlin Capital Group (BCG) has emerged as the new owner of the 9,600-gt Dream Goddess (built 1980), which departed its lay-up moorings near Piraeus in Greece towards the end of 2024 and sailed to a shipyard in the Chinese port of Ningde.
Since arriving there, it has been undergoing a transformation into what BCG claims will be a luxury-end cruise ship based in Penang, Malaysia that will offer short regional cruises to South East Asian ports.
The new owner has been proudly documenting the transformation via video reels posted on its social media accounts showing how the long-neglected, rust-streaked vessel is being turned back into a gleaming white cruise ship.
The interiors have been gutted and construction of new accommodation is underway.
The ship will return to service as Berlin Oceanis, a name that pays homage to its origins as the Berlin, the flagship of Peter Deilmann Cruises and star of the long-running German TV series Das Traumschiff.
BCG acquired the ship from Dreamliner Cruises, a subsidiary of holding company Royalton Investments that has a large investment portfolio of luxury yachts and shipyards specialising in the yachting industry.
Dreamliner had bought the ship from German tour operator FTI Cruises in September 2020 after it decided to exit the cruise sector due to the pandemic.
The plan then was to convert it into a mega-yacht and make it available for charter to wealthy individuals and groups.
That plan was abandoned, due in part to the invasion of Ukraine and the sanctioning of many Russian oligarchs, who were among the biggest charterers of the larger superyachts.
The vessel was left sitting at a dock at a shipyard on the island of Salamina alongside a clutch of unwanted old cruise ships and ferries, and most industry observers expected it would be sold for scrap.
