Disney to expand cruise line with two more ships

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It’s expansion time again at Disney Cruise Line.

The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) on Thursday announced plans to add two more ships to the line’s fleet, bringing its total to six.

Disney said it had entered into a memorandum of agreement with the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany to build the as-yet-unnamed vessels. They’ll debut in 2021 and 2023.

At 135,000 tons, the new ships will be slightly larger than Disney’s two newest vessels, the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy, which measure 130,000 tons a piece and debuted in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Disney said each of the newcomers would have about 1,250 cabins, the same number found on the earlier ships.

“We pride ourselves on the unforgettable vacation experiences we deliver to our guests each and every day, and the expansion of our Disney fleet will allow us to create even more magical memories for families at sea and in incredible cruise destinations around the world,” Disney chairman and CEO Robert Iger said in a statement accompanying the announcement.

The announcement came as Disney was holding its annual shareholders meeting in Chicago, the city where Walt Disney was born in 1901.

Launched in 1998, Disney Cruise Line initially operated for more than a decade with just two vessels, the similarly designed Disney Magic and Disney Wonder. Each of the ships measures 85,000 tons and has 877 cabins. The arrival of the larger Dream and Fantasy at the start of this decade more than doubled the company’s passenger capacity, and the two new ships announced Thursday will boost capacity by at least another 50%.

Disney said design details and itineraries for the new ships still are in development. Disney is known for innovation on its cruise ships. The Dream and Fantasy feature what are billed as the first water coasters at sea, and Disney Cruise Line also was the first cruise operator to offer high-tech virtual windows in windowless “inside” cabins.

For a deck-by-deck tour of the Fantasy, which was Disney’s last new ship, scroll through the carousel at the top of this story. The carousels below offer a deck-by-deck tour of the Magic and an insider’s look at cruising on the Wonder.

Last SlideNext SlideCRUISE INSIDER: SAILING TO ALASKA ON A DISNEY SHIPExperience Alaska aboard a Disney cruise ship | 01:53

USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan offers an insider’s look at Disney sailings to Alaska on the line’s Disney Wonder.
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