Disney Cruise Line announced last week that three of its future ships in its expansion to a fleet of 13 in the next seven years will be smaller than all but its two original vessels.
DCL just welcomed its newest ship, Disney Treasure, sailing out of Port Canaveral as the sixth in the fleet with a sister ship in the Wish class, Disney Destiny, headed to Port Everglades at the end of 2025. It also has the Disney Adventure, which is its own class of ship, headed to Singapore before the end of the year, which will grow the fleet to eight.
The announcement revealed details for four more ships that have been ordered by DCL to be delivered between 2027-2031. The first would be a fourth sister ship in the Wish class while the last three will be a new class, which has yet to be named.
The new class of ships will be delivered in 2029, 2030 and 2031, and have a passenger capacity of around 3,000, which is about 1,000 fewer than the Wish class and Dream class vessels, according to a press release.
Those ships are projected to come in around 100,000 gross tons compared to the 144,000 gross tons of the Wish class and 129,600 gross tons of 2011’s Disney Dream and 2012’s Disney Fantasy.
It will still be about 20 percent larger than the first two DCL ships — 1998’s Disney Magic and 1999’s Disney Wonder, which come in at 84,000 gross tons and 2,700 passenger capacities.
Of note, and included in the 13-ship fleet total was a previously announced Wish-class ship ordered by the Oriental Land Co. that will sail out of Japan after its arrival in 2029. That one would be the fifth Wish-class ship when it debuts.
All of the on-order ships are to be constructed at Meyer Werft shipyards in Papenburg, Germany, as has the previous Wish and Dream-class vessels.
The smaller size for the future class of ships will allow them to access more ports than the new vessels.
“As we expand our fleet, it is important that we continue to provide a variety of experiences for our guests,” said Thomas Mazloum, president of the New Experiences Portfolio & Disney Signature Experiences, which includes Disney Cruise Line. “Families enjoy the diversity of vacations we offer, from our classic vessels to our Wish-class ships. They also expect to explore a broad range of destinations, including those that prefer to host smaller ships.”
In a previous interview with the Sentinel, Mazloum said the Magic and Wonder, though smaller, still give great returns and rank high with guests. He said the deployment of Wonder, for instance, to Alaska each year is the right choice for the line in terms of guest satisfaction.
