Industry sources are reporting that Disney Cruise Line is commissioning a new class of its cruise ships, to begin sailing in 2029.
Disney announced at the D23 event in Anaheim last year that it would commission four new ships for its cruise line. That would bring the fleet's size to 13 by 2031. But we did not until now what those four new ships would be.
Disney's fleet currently stands at six ships:
A new Wish-class ship, Disney Destiny, will launch in November, followed by the 208,000 GT Global-class Disney Adventure in December. Oriental Land Co. also has commissioned a Wish-class ship to begin sailing in Japan in 2029.
That leaves the four, just-announced ships.
Seatrade Cruise News is now reporting that one of those four will be a fifth Wish-class ship, to sail in 2027. Following that will be three new ships of a different, as-yet-unnamed class. These ships will weigh in at about 100,000 GT - more than the original Disney Magic and Wonder, but smaller than the Dream- and Wish-class ships. The trade publication reported that those ships would launch, one per year, starting in 2029.
A fourth Wish-class ship in the United States could allow Disney to sail two of those ships each from Port Canaveral and Port Everglades, increasing capacity for the Caribbean market. The fifth Wish-class ship would serve Japan, while the Disney Adventure sails from Singapore exclusively for five years, starting this December.
That would leave the DCL's seven smaller ships to cover the rest of the world. This line-up could allow Disney Cruise Line to establish a full-time presence in Southern California while also maintaining seasonal service to Alaska as well as cruises from ports such as New York to Canada, Galveston and New Orleans, Northern Europe and the Caribbean, and Australia and South Pacific.
For our previous coverage of Disney Cruise Line, please see:
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As much as I love the Magic and the Wonder (the Wonder especially), I'm betting that they'll be retired after the three ships of the new class are in service. The Magic and the Wonder will be over 30 years old by then, and that's typically how long cruise ships remain in service before they get shuffled off to another owner, a lower tier subsidiary (which Disney doesn't have), or to the breakers. Here's hoping that all these new ships mean a permanent ship on the West Coast, though.