Shock: Disney Cruise Line introduced 4 extra ships coming to the road in coming years

What was arguably probably the most surprising announcement of the evening on the Walt Disney Firm’s D23 fan occasion final evening in Anaheim, California, wasn’t a couple of theme park (though there have been tons of these, too).

As a substitute, we now know that the Disney Cruise Line’s latest speedy growth, the place it went from simply the identical 4 ships it had operated for about 10 years to a complete of 9 now both on the water or beneath development, was only the start.

Associated: Each new land and trip simply introduced coming to Disney

The Disney Cruise Line will welcome 4 extra ships to its fleet of 5 at present in service and the 4 already introduced and beneath development within the coming years, bringing its fleet measurement to 13 ships by 2031.

That is finally greater than triple the variety of ships it had on the water for a few years, till Disney Want set sail in June 2022.

Disney introduced that whereas ship names and itineraries for the just-announced 4 extra ships are nonetheless beneath growth, it would welcome them between 2027 and 2031.

For these conserving depend at dwelling, Disney Treasure will first set sail later this yr as the road’s sixth ship.

Then, in 2025, two extra ships will be a part of the fleet. Disney Future will set sail from Florida’s Port Everglades. Disney Journey, a large 9,000-person ship that Disney Cruise Line bought mid-construction from Asia-based Dream Cruises, will set sail from Singapore.

After which there’s what we thought was going to be the ninth ship, a Tokyo-based ship, which was introduced just a few weeks in the past and can start development in Germany in 2025 and set sail in 2029.

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However with the just-announced timeline for 4 extra ships starting in 2027, it feels like not less than a kind of ships, if no more, will probably be prepared earlier than the beforehand introduced Japan-based ship that’s being created along with the Oriental Land Firm that owns Tokyo Disney.

There’s a lot we do not but learn about these newly revealed 4 extra Disney Cruise Line ships, together with their measurement, if they are going to make the most of a brand new or present footprint and the place these extra ships will dwelling port and sail to. There are at present a number of U.S. ports, similar to Galveston, that the road serves solely throughout a portion of the yr.

Nonetheless, Josh D’Amaro, the chairman of Disney Experiences, did maybe give a clue to the plans for not less than a number of the ships, saying, “Increasing our fleet offers extra individuals, in additional components of the world, the alternative to expertise a trip at sea like solely Disney can present.” Maybe hinting that the ships will serve some components of the globe which are new to Disney Cruise Line. For instance, the road at present doesn’t sail to or from South America, a market that’s essential to the corporate in some ways. In truth, the primary D23 fan occasion to be held in Brazil will happen there in November.

Disney has additionally shared that the present ships are experiencing each excessive demand and excessive satisfaction charges, hitting 97% occupancy in Q2 2024.

For comparability, Royal Caribbean at present has 28 ships. So, whereas 13 eventual ships would nonetheless be a considerably smaller fleet than Royal Caribbean, a line that additionally caters to households, it places them in a way more comparable place for fleet measurement than when there have been simply 4 ships solely a few years in the past.

On an investor name a number of days in the past, a Disney govt shared that the cruise ships are inclined to “pay again in a short time,” and it is clear that Disney is betting large on the ocean and on its means to draw ‘voyagers’ to its ships for many years to return.

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