Genting bankruptcy charts new cruise course

Same ship, different brand. (Photo provided by Resorts World Cruises)

Covid coupled with massive ill-timed bets on the Asian cruise market led to bankruptcy for Genting Hong Kong, the company that began as Star Cruises. But for Genting chairman Lim Kok Thay and family that control the global gaming and leisure group, bankruptcy seems little more than a course correction.

Former US diplomat and broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is Asia editor at large at ICE 365, a contributor to Forbes, columnist for Asia Times and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about TV news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook, Twitter @MuhammadCohen and LinkedIn.

Cruise ships, casino resorts on collision course

Casino ships sailing to nowhere have been niche players for decades, but now international cruises lines are giving Asian leisure travelers new options with gaming just as Macau is eyeing that same burgeoning market.

Totally globalized native New Yorker and former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen is a blogger for Forbes, editor at large for Inside Asian Gaming and author of Hong Kong On Air, a novel set in his adopted hometown during the 1997 handover about television news, love, betrayal, high finance, and cheap lingerie. See his bio, online archive and more at www.muhammadcohen.com; follow him on Facebook and Twitter @MuhammadCohen.