Disney CEO Bob Chapek provided a quick update on Disney Cruise Line during the company’s recent shareholders meeting. When asked about Disney Cruise Line resuming, Chapek said they’re not ready to announce any definitive information. However, he added that they’re optimistic Disney Cruise Line could begin “limited operations” by Fall 2021.
Chapek’s comments on Disney Cruise Line:
“We’re very anxious to get our Disney Cruise Line business back up and running. As you know, the cruise industry had been quite hit hard by COVID, and as of right now, we don’t have any definitive information in terms of when we will be able to reopen up our cruise lines. We are anticipating that with some luck and the increase of the number of vaccinations out there and the encouraging trends that we are seeing that maybe by this fall we might be able to have some limited operations of our cruise ships.”
“But that’s all going to depend on the incidents of the virus and the vaccination of the general public. So, we look forward though when we do open up to using the very same disciplined guidelines we’ve used in our parks to safely reopen and use those same guidelines on the Disney Cruise Line.”
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.
Summarized, Disney Cruise Line is working with the CDC and monitoring the vaccination process before finalizing any reopening plans. Using Walt Disney World as an example, we can safely assume Disney Cruise Line will allow other cruise companies to resume sailing first. Disney will then observe, see how those sailings go and modify their plans accordingly.
