The Disney Wish is Disney Cruise Lines’ newest ship. And a Marvel-themed dining experience to a Star Wars lounge, to an attraction that would be right at home in a Disney theme park, it has just about everything you’d want if you were looking for a Disney vacation at sea. are sold out as soon as they go on sale, but those folks will now have to wait a bit longer, as the maiden voyage, originally scheduled for June, has now been pushed back a full month.
The first 12 crossings of the Disney Wish, the new flagship of Disney Cruise Lines, between June 9 and July 18 have been essentially canceled and the ship’s first sailing will now take place on July 19. Guests who had already booked for the June 9 sailing had their itinerary automatically changed to the July 19 date. All others, who were booked for one of the other affected dates, or who were booked for the first cruise but now need to change dates, will be able to rebook with a 50% discount. New sales have been temporarily suspended while all of this prepares and will resume on February 8. Everyone sailing from July 22 is unaffected.
The reason for the delay, unsurprisingly, is the ongoing pandemic and the omicron variant, albeit in a roundabout way. At this point Disney Cruise Lines could have sailed on schedule, there is no delay there. The question, according to Scott Gustin, is that the omicron variant hit Germany quite hard and therefore caused a delay in the delivery of the finished ship to Disney. The Disney Wish is currently under construction at the Meyer Werft shipyard.
As frustrating as the delay is for those who are excited to participate in the Disney Wish, it’s actually a financial boon for most who need to rebook. If you weren’t going on the very first cruise anyway, it probably doesn’t matter so much when you go, just that you go, and so the massive discount is nice.
Cruises, a bit like theme parkshave struggled to navigate the waters of the evolving pandemic. Cruises may have been even tougher for the simple reason that so much happens inside, which makes them potentially more dangerous. This means that the rules have become stricter. Although vaccination is not compulsory to visit most theme parksboarding a Disney Cruise Lines ship is required.
Since this delay is simply production-related, we assume this will be a one-time issue and we won’t be back here in a month to do it again. The Marvel Dining Experience Alone it seems to be worth the costand I bet there are plenty of people whose only wish is to board the Disney Wish.
