Disney Wish debut delayed until mid-2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Disney Cruise Line has announced that its new cruise ship, Disney Wish, currently under construction at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany, will be delivered later than initially planned.

The cruise line’s new vessel was intended to be delivered in January, 2022, but will instead be delivered in the summer due to the disruption caused to shipyard work schedules during the coronavirus lockdown earlier in 2020.

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Disney Cruise Line confirmed in September that Disney Wish’s delivery would be delayed, but was not able to provide a timeline at the time of that announcement.

“Originally planned to sail in early 2022, the Disney Wish is now scheduled for its maiden voyage in summer 2022 due to pandemic-related delays at the Meyer-Werft shipyard in Germany,” the company said in a statement.

“As previously announced, Disney Wish will be powered by liquified natural gas or LNG, one of the cleanest-burning fuels available,” the statement added. “At approximately 144,000-gross tons and 1,250 guest staterooms, the ship will be slightly larger than the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy.”

Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy, delivered in 2011 and 2012 are the cruise line’s most recent additions to the fleet. At 129,690-gross tons and carrying 4,000 passengers each they are currently the largest ships in the four-ship Disney fleet.

Although significantly larger, Disney Wish has been designed with the same number of staterooms, making her the most spacious ship on a guest to gross tonnage ratio than any other ship ever designed for the cruise line.

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Disney has released few details of the various dining, entertainment and relaxation options to be found aboard the new ship, but with so much extra space, there are bound to be a number of new-to-the-line announcements in the coming two years.

Disney Wish will be the first of three sister ships of a new class for Disney Cruise Line called the Triton class. The second, as-yet-unnamed, Triton-class ship is due to enter service in March, 2022, a date that will likely be pushed back due to the delivery delay for Disney Wish.

Disney Cruise Line is redeveloping two cruise terminals in Port Canaveral to accommodate its new cruise ships, which will homeport in Florida and sail roundtrip cruises to the Caribbean, including a second private island destination, which is also under development.