A brand-new Disney Cruise Line ship will be exclusively homeporting in Singapore for at least five years starting from 2025, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Disney Cruise Line shared in a joint announcement earlier this evening (March 29).
The yet-to-be-named ship will feature Disney experiences and entertainment, dining, as well as interactions with beloved characters such as Captain Mickey Mouse and Captain Minnie Mouse, Disney Princesses, Marvel Super Heroes and more.
Thomas Mazloum, president of Disney Signature Experiences, added: “We are going to work very diligently to make sure we have a nice balance of giving guests what they expect from Disney, while also respecting the local culture. We are very sensitive to different cultures, and we will find the right way to interact (with the region’s guests).”
Disney Cruise Line estimates the passenger capacity of the 208,000-gross-ton ship to be approximately 6,000 with around 2,300 crew members. It is also expected to be among the first in the cruise industry to be fuelled by green methanol, one of the lowest-emission fuels available.
More details about the maiden voyage, itineraries and onboard experiences will be announced at a later date.
“This is a very exciting year for The Walt Disney Company – 2023 marks our 100th anniversary,” Disney Parks, Experiences and Products’ chairman, Josh D’Amaro, said. “As part of this, Disney Cruise Line is currently undergoing an ambitious expansion with new ships and new destinations around the world. We are incredibly excited to make Singapore the home port to our seventh-launched ship, which will sail from here year-round starting in 2025.”
Construction is projected to be completed at the MV Werften shipyard in Wismar, Germany, under the management of Meyer Werft, the Papenburg-based company that built the Disney Dream, Disney Fantasy and Disney Wish and is constructing two additional Wish-class ships.
“We look forward to welcoming the magic of Disney Cruise Line to Singapore in 2025,” said Keith Tan, chief executive of STB. “This is an important milestone for STB and reflects Disney Cruise Line’s strong confidence in Singapore and South-east Asia. The new Disney cruise ship will be an attraction itself and is expected to boost the tourism sector in Singapore for many years to come.”
The addition of a Disney Cruise Line ship in Singapore has the potential to add millions of local and foreign cruise passengers across the five-year period, including fly-cruise passengers who arrive in Singapore by air. It is also expected to bring about significant spillover benefits for the wider economy. These include greater demand for port and ship-related services, as well as on-ground spending in Singapore for the lifestyle and hospitality sectors.
In 2022, 1.2 million passengers passed through Singapore’s ports, or two-thirds of pre-Covid-19 levels.
“This bodes well for the industry to recover to pre-pandemic levels soon,” said minister-in-charge of trade relations S. Iswaran. He pointed out that the cruise industry currently contributes about S$630 million (US$473.8 million) to Singapore’s GDP, and supports around 7,000 jobs.
When TTG Asia asked about market activation activities, Tan shared: “We are getting all of our regional offices ready, as we expect and welcome very strong interest from the South-east Asian market because this is the first time that travellers from the region will be able to cruise with Disney without having to travel far.
“We will do all that we have been doing in the past, in terms of educating our networks of travel partners in the region about the facilities and what’s in store for them from Disney Cruise Lines.”
