Disney Cruise Line has only canceled sailings through May for its Port Canaveral-based ships, but in Disney’s shareholders meeting on Tuesday, the company shared an optimistic look for a timeline for Disney cruises to return to sailing.
Disney’s CEO said with current coronavirus trends and the wide span rollout of vaccines, the company is hoping to have limited operations of its cruise ships by this fall. He said if granted the opportunity to return to operations even within a restricted capacity, the company will likely implement similar disciplined guidelines in its theme parks.
“We’re anticipating that with some luck and the increase in the number of vaccinations out there and the encouraging trends that we’re seeing that maybe by this fall we might be able to have some limited operations of our cruise ships,” Chapek said. “But that’s all going to depend on the incidents of the virus and the vaccination of the general public.”
Disney and other lines have been out of the cruising business for almost a full year when the coronavirus pandemic began to surge and ships halted sailing. U.S.-based ships were placed under a no-sail order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that was only lifted last November. It was replaced by a conditional sail order that has more than 70 points cruise lines have to fulfill before the CDC will let them sail again with passengers.
“We’re very anxious to get our Disney Cruiseline business back up and running,” Chapek said. “As of right now we don’t have any definitive information.”
Chapek also quickly noted that Disney Cruise Line’s fifth ship, the Disney Wish, is still under construction in Germany. No other details were announced about the new ship.