Disney Cruise Line orders four new ships, announces 'Hercules' show on Disney Destiny

ORLANDO, Fla. — Disney Cruise Line isn’t slowing down on its ship expansion plans, ordering up four new vessels in a new class with the first arriving in 2027.

Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro made the announcement at this year’s D23 expo held in California along with news that a Broadway-style play based on "Hercules" was coming to Disney Destiny when it debuts out of Port Everglades next year. D’Amaro also teased the largest puppet ever to take the stage on a DCL ship for Disney Treasure’s new "Moana" show later this year.

The fleet expansion means DCL will grow to 13 ships by 2031, with all of the ships to be constructed at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany.

The fleet currently stands at five ships with the original Disney Magic and Wonder that debuted in 1998 and 1999, followed by Disney Dream and Fantasy in 2011 and 2012 and then the first of the most recent class of ship, Disney Wish, which debuted out of Port Canaveral in 2022.

Next up is this year’s Disney Treasure, also coming to Port Canaveral, and then both the Singapore-bound Disney Adventure and Florida-bound Disney Destiny in 2025, which is the third Wish-class sister ship. A fourth Wish-class vessel will sail out of Japan starting in 2029 in a partnership with the Oriental Land Co. that runs Disney’s Japanese theme parks.

"So from two ships, we go to four, from four to five, from five to eight, and now we’re going all the way up to 13," D’Amaro said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel. "The reason here is we have so many more stories to tell. We have such incredibly high demand. We know that the cruise ships are brand ambassadors for us, and we know that we can take these ships to parts of the world where we may not have a theme park or Disney experience for our fans to participate in."

He noted the line’s success in recent sailings in Australia and New Zealand that quickly sold out, and so the global demand is ripe for DCL.

"We’re incredibly bullish on this business. It’s served us well financially. It’s served us well from a brand perspective, and served us well in terms of getting to our biggest fans around the world," he said.

He didn’t say whether Florida’s ports would be getting any of the new ships for certain, but Port Canaveral has been the first home port for all of its five existing ships as well as sixth ship Disney Treasure while Port Everglades will get the seventh.

"We have set ourselves up pretty well to make sure that we have ports to accommodate all of these ships," D’Amaro said. "I won’t give you any specifics there ... but we’re going to use all of these ports, I think, in an intelligent way. ... We’ve created these relationships for reasons. I’ll put it that way."

Thomas Mazloum, president of the New Experiences Portfolio & Disney Signature Experiences which includes Disney Cruise Line, echoed his belief Florida would not be forgotten in the expansion.

"There’s no question we have a great global opportunity, but make no mistake, that includes still the U.S. where I believe we have significant opportunity to introduce our stories to our guests," he said. "Everywhere in the U.S. but ... I believe we have immense opportunities still out of Florida."

That said, he’s keen to embrace an expanded global footprint for the line acting in many ways as the Disney brand vanguard.

"We have phenomenal parks around the world. That means in the U.S., but we have Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong. They’re wonderful parks. They are the best in class, but the globe is so big, and not every person can easily access a park depending where you live," he said. "We know that for every person that walks into our parks on a global basis, there are eight or nine others that simply are too far away."

He notes also that the line only has seasonal sailings in Europe, California and Galveston, Texas for now, so there’s room for growth.

"I think domestically, we are far from being where we should be, which now, with the expansion, gives us that opportunity," he said.

No other details were revealed about the new ships, but D’Amaro said they would "be in the same ballpark" in terms of size. Right now, the Wish-class vessels and Disney Dream and Fantasy can hold about 4,000 passengers at maximum capacity while its original ships are smaller at about 2,700 max capacity.

Mazloum said 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.

"We’re going to be very flexible on that, and I think you will see different sizes eventually emerging over the next decade plus, because we’re going to be very, very thoughtful — how we do this. Not every size fits everywhere," he said.

Just like the Wish class, the new class of ships will be capable of running on liquefied natural gas, a cleaner-burning fuel that’s part of the transition as cruise lines attempt to lower their carbon footprint.

Mazloum, though, said the new ships will be designed to take on other fuels as they become available to get closer to the net-zero emission target.

"We are extremely focused on that. ... We’ve looked at LNG as a transition. It’s another step in the right direction, and the future ships will have an immense amount of flexibility," he said. "So one of the things you will see is that on all of our ships, including, by the way, the Wish class, we’ve built in and spent money on a lot of flexibility so that different types of fuels as they are being developed are going to be used."

With a 2027 delivery date, the first steel could be cut in 2026, if Meyer Werft follows the same timeline of about 20 months construction as it has for past Disney ships. It’s built Dream, Fantasy and Wish and has Treasure near completion and Destiny in the works.

"We always place a premium of having the right partners with the right technological ability to help us," Mazloum said pointing out the ships’ features such as the Broadway-caliber shows on board. "You can imagine the infrastructure in order to bring our stories to life on a ship, it requires an immense amount of technological advancement, and Meyer Werft was one of these strategic partners that has always delivered beautiful ships."

Mazloum is giddy for the pace with which the line is rolling out new hardware having only just taken delivery of the line’s fifth ship, and first new ship in more than a decade, two years ago.

"We’re suddenly going to go to 13 ships. We’re going to launch eight ships in the next eight years," he said. "That’s the proof in the pudding. We truly believe that the sky is the limit for us, and we think, honestly, the timing is perfect."

New ‘Hercules’ show on Disney Destiny

Another big announcement at D23 was the third main-stage show coming to Disney Destiny when it debuts out of Port Everglades in November 2025.

"Disney Hercules" will be exclusive to the ship putting to stage the Greek gladiator popularized in the Walt Disney Animation Studios 1997 movie. The Broadway-style show "will stay true to the story and spirit of the film while showcasing a fresh, modern adaptation tailor-made for the stage," according to a Disney news release.

The Muses will be the show storyteller, as they are in the film, and include songs from the film along with the theatrical debut of "Shooting Star."

"The new musical arrangements will emphasize the iconic soundtrack’s pop and gospel influences, drawing on the production team’s extensive and diverse experience that ranges from theater to pop music," the release said. "Guests can expect showstopping musical numbers, incredible vocals, stunning visuals and immersive projection effects."

It will join two other shows previously announced for the ship: "Frozen, A Musical Spectacular" and "Disney Seas the Adventure," both of which have appeared on other ships in the fleet.

New look at ‘Disney The Tale of Moana’ on Disney Treasure

One final treat for the D23 crowd was a reveal of a rendering from the marquee show "Disney The Tale of Moana" on Disney Treasure when it debuts from Port Canaveral in December.

Just like in the film, the show has a climactic moment depicting Moana taking a final stand against Te Kā, "the fiery lava-wielding foe who will appear on stage as an incredible 15-foot-tall puppet, the largest puppet ever produced for a Disney Cruise Line Broadway-style show," according to the release.

The scene promises a transformation of the Te Kā puppet into her true self, a stunning green goddess.

The show’s puppetry, which will also be used to show many of the characters from the film, is being developed by Jeff Conover and Michael Curry. Curry previously worked on Broadway’s "The Lion King."

The "Moana" show joins Disney Treasure’s two other main stage productions, versions of "Beauty and the Beast" and "Disney Seas the Adventure."