Facts, Rumors/ Speculation, and Thoughts on the Disney
Cruise Line Expansion
Right now, it is an exciting time for DCL fans!!! Lots of known facts, rumors and speculation is going on. Let’s separate them so we know exactly what is known proven FACT vs Rumors/Speculation.
Known Facts:
Disney Cruise Line is expanding its fleet to 13 ships by
2031
They will have:
- 2 Classic-Class Ships
- 2 Dream-Class Ships
- 5 Wish-Class Ships
- 1 Global-Class Ship
- 3 Unnamed-Class Ships
- Wish-Class Destiny will join the fleet November 2025
- Disney Cruise Line is sending one new ship to Singapore, December 2025, Disney Adventure
- Disney Cruise Line is building and sending a new Wish-Class ship to Japan to be under the same company that owns and operates Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea.
- Wish-Class Ship Unnamed to come to the USA in 2027
- Wish-Class Unnamed ship to Japan in 2028
- New Unnamed-Class Ships to join the fleet 2029-2031
Disney Cruise Line has added 2 new year-round Ports:
- DCL has made an agreement starting Fall of 2027, they will be stopping at Catalina Island year-round.
- DCL has confirmed that they have made an agreement with the Port of Galveston to start sailing out of Galveston year-round starting 2027.
- Port Canaveral has too much cruise traffic and cannot handle more ships sailing out of there. Port Canaveral cannot expand to take on more traffic.
- Fort Lauderdale is also getting busy and nearing a limit to the number of ships and expandability.
- Disney Cruise Line popularity is growing.
- US West Coast and Gulf of Mexico cruising is growing.
Rumors and Speculation:
- Disney Cruise Line will leave Magic & Wonder (the 2 Classic-Class ships) on the West Coast most of the year.
- Disney Cruise Line may bring one or more of their Unnamed-Class ships to the West Coast.
- Magic and Wonder will continue going to Alaska.
- Wonder will continue going to Australia in the US winter.
- So far reports are saying a new Wish-Class Disney will call Galveston, Tx home port.
- One of the Dream-Class ships will most likely continue going to Europe in the Summers.
Why these Speculations:
- Only the Classic-Class ships and maybe the Unnamed-Class to be built can get through the Panama Canel. Dream and Wish-Class ships are too tall to go under the Bridge of Americas.
- The Magic and Wonder are specifically mentioned in the Catalina Island agreement. There is mention of possible “other” Disney ships.
- It looks like the Unnamed-Class ships could be small enough to pass through the Panama Canel so it would be able to come over to the West Coast. This is unconfirmed.
- The Australian Cruises are quite popular. I don’t see Disney stopping it. They may switch up ships but still DCL will go there.
- I believe 3 Wish-Class ships will be split between Port Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale Fl. along with a Dream-Class. With 5 or 6 ships there I believe DCL has reached it’s limit for keeping any other class ship there.
- With the addition of 3 new Unnamed-Class smaller ships there are lots of options. You could split them between Galveston, Tx and San Diego, Ca.
- Very sad speculation. Magic and Wonder are approaching 30 years old. 30 years is the expected useful life of a passenger cruise ship. After 30 years the ships smell on the inside, technology has passed them up and mechanical issues show up. It is possible that these two wave breaking ships may be decommissioned in the next 5-10 years. The newer smaller Unnamed-Class would take over for them.
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