What was arguably probably the most stunning 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 current 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 below building, 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 below building 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 further ships are nonetheless below growth, it would welcome them between 2027 and 2031.
For these maintaining rely at house, Disney Treasure will first set sail later this 12 months 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 only some weeks in the past and can start building in Germany in 2025 and set sail in 2029.
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However with the just-announced timeline for 4 further ships starting in 2027, it feels like no 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 at the side of the Oriental Land Firm that owns Tokyo Disney.
There’s a lot we do not but learn about these newly revealed 4 further Disney Cruise Line ships, together with their measurement, if they are going to make the most of a brand new or current footprint and the place these further ships will house port and sail to. There are at present a number of U.S. ports, resembling Galveston, that the road serves solely throughout a portion of the 12 months.
Nevertheless, Josh D’Amaro, the chairman of Disney Experiences, did maybe give a clue to the plans for no less than a number of the ships, saying, “Increasing our fleet provides extra folks, 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 might be new to Disney Cruise Line. For instance, the road at present doesn’t sail to or from South America, a market that’s necessary to the corporate in some ways. Actually, 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 government shared that the cruise ships are likely to “pay again in a short time,” and it is clear that Disney is betting huge on the ocean and on its capacity to draw ‘voyagers’ to its ships for many years to come back.
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