The Disney Cruise Line held a grand reveal to lay out more details on the Disney Wish, the company’s fifth cruise ship, which will set out from Port Canaveral for the Bahamas starting June 9, 2022.
Disney executives declined to address larger issues going on in the cruise industry, such as when the Centers for Disease Control will allow cruise ships to sail out of U.S. ports again.
There will be a lot of firsts on the Disney Wish, including a Frozen-themed restaurant, an adults-only Star Wars lounge, a water ride on the upper deck called AquaMouse that includes animation in the water slide, a Marvel dining experience and the cruise line’s first two-story Royal Suite.
The new ship will run on liquefied natural gas, a more environmentally friendly system.
The designs for the Disney Wish were inspired by fairy tales. The Grand Hall is a castle-inspired atrium, with Gothic, Baroque and French Rococo design influences. At the base of a grand staircase will be a bronze statue of Cinderella.
Disney left some details to be revealed later, such as prices. Disney cruises can often cost two or three times the price of a Royal Caribbean or Carnival cruise.
Bookings start at 8 a.m. May 27 at disneycruise.com. When it begins sailing next summer, the ship will cruise to Nassau, Bahamas and Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay, from Port Canaveral. Sailings will be three or four nights in length. You can find more details on the Disney Parks Blog.
The Disney Wish is the first of three new Disney Cruise Line ships to be built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany through 2025. All three ships will be powered by liquefied natural gas and, at approximately 144,000 gross tons, will be slightly larger than the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy.
In a recent announcement, the CDC said cruise companies can restart operations only by following rules laid out by the agency. Cruise lines have requested a restart date in July, but the CDC has not yet provided a firm date, and under the current rules, cruise ships must follow a months-long process that includes simulation voyages to test their health and safety protocols, followed by a review period.
The Cruise Lines International Association, the industry’s trade group, called the instructions “so burdensome and ambiguous that no clear path forward or timetable can be discerned.” Meanwhile, Florida has sued the federal government to demand cruise ships be allowed to start sailing immediately.
———
