If you had a genie in your lamp, would he grant you three wishes? If you’re planning on going on a Disney cruise, you’re in luck; you’ll soon have more opportunities to do just that.
Disney Cruise Line on Sunday announced orders for four more ships to be delivered between 2027 and 2031, in addition to four ships scheduled to debut by 2029.
These eight ships will more than double Disney’s five-ship fleet in seven years.
Disney hasn’t released many details about its latest order, but it has tasked Germany’s Meyer Werft with building the four ships, which the company said is the shipyard’s “largest order ever.”
The shipyard is also building Disney’s three newest ships, the Disney Treasure and Disney Destiny, which are scheduled to debut in late 2024 and 2025.
Disney Cruise Line is also expanding in Asia and the Bahamas.
Disney Cruise Line announced that its next luxury beachfront property, Lighthouse Point (rendering), opened in June on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas. The cruise line already owns the private island of Castaway Cay. Disney Cruise Line
Two of the eight ships will be the cruise line’s first to homeport in Asia: the Disney Adventure, due to debut in Singapore in 2025, and an unnamed ship to be operated by Oriental Land, which operates Disney theme parks in Japan.
“Cruise ships tend to pay for themselves very quickly,” Hugh Johnston, Disney’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, told analysts in August. “We’re certainly positive about these investments.”
The fleet expansion comes as Disney Cruise Line opened its second private Bahamas destination in June, Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point. The new port and Castaway Cay, the cruise line’s first private island, are expected to account for more than 70 percent of Disney’s 442 voyages in 2025.
Now is the perfect time for entertainment giants to bet big on the sea vacation business, with major cruise lines experiencing record bookings and demand for 2024.
In its quarterly earnings report, Disney said it saw “robust demand” for its cruise division and increased on-board spending through the summer. That could help offset some of the 3% decline in operating profit at its theme parks compared to the same period a year ago. The company, like competitors such as Six Flags and Universal, blamed the decline on “moderating consumer demand” that was better than expected.
“The lower-income consumer is feeling a little bit stressed,” Mr. Johnston told analysts. “The higher-income consumer is traveling a little bit more internationally,” preferably on a cruise ship, he hopes for his company.
