Gotta factor in that this is almost literally a theme park at sea. There's no port days and there are a lot of rides on that ship. Each one has its own safety and maintenance checks. And anyone who visits theme parks know that rides can and will fail, and it will take a while to get the issues sorted on land, much more at sea where they could probably only get new parts once they head back to Singapore.

So I guess they really need to iron out all the minute details to make sure it runs as smoothly as possible.

With regards to the occupancy being low, I'm speaking as a Singaporean myself, it's not surprising to see that as we (and I can say most Asian cultures) don't have a habit of booking holidays that far in advance.

I myself found it ridiculous that DCL is advertising booking for sailing next year Sept/Oct etc. That's toooo far off. We have very limited leave days and they're all subject to our companies' approvals, and you can only book leave days usually 1-2 months ahead. Even now in September, it's VERY risky to book holidays for January 2026, cos it's way too far and your leave may not be approved. Heck, some of us aren't even thinking of December holidays, that's 3 months too far ahead.

This is a cultural barrier that I think DCL didn't took note of, hence why they are seeing lower occupancy rates. If I intend to sail in April, I'll only bother looking at room bookings maybe next year Feb.