The Disney Wish is Disney Cruise Lines' newest ship. And from a Marvel themed dining experience to a Star Wars lounge, to an attraction that would be at home in a Disney theme park, it has just about anything that you would want if you were looking to have a Disney vacation at sea. The first sailings on the new ship sold out as soon as they went on sale, but those people will now have to wait a bit longer, as the maiden voyage, previously scheduled for June, has now been pushed back a full month.
The first 12 sailings of the Disney Wish, the new flagship of Disney Cruise Lines, between June 9 and July 18 have been essentially cancelled and the first sailing of the ship will now take place on July 19. Those guests who were already booked for the June 9 sailing have had their itinerary rebooked for the July 19 date automatically. Everybody else, who was booked for one of the other impacted dates, or who was booked for the first cruise but now needs to change dates, will be able to rebook at a 50% discount. New sales have been temporarily paused while all this is getting worked out and will resume February 8. Everybody sailing from July 22 forward is unaffected.
The reason for the delay, unsurprisingly, is the ongoing pandemic and the omicron variant, though in a roundabout way. At this point, Disney Cruise Lines would have been able to sail on schedule, there’s no delay there. The issue, according to Scott Gustin, is that the omicron variant has hit Germany fairly hard, and thus has meant a delay in delivering the finished vessel to Disney. The Disney Wish is currently under construction at the Meyer Werft shipyard.
As frustrating as the delay likely is to those who are excited to go on the Disney Wish, it’s actually something of a financial windfall 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, much like theme parks, have had a difficult time navigating the waters of the changing pandemic. Cruises have perhaps been even more difficult for the simple reason that so much takes place indoors, making them potentially more dangerous. This has meant that rules have become more strict. While vaccination is not required to visit most theme parks, it is required to go on a Disney Cruise Lines ship.
Since this delay is simply one of production on assumes this will be a one time problem and we won’t be back here in a month doing this all over again. The Marvel dining experience alone sounds like it’s worth the cost, and I bet there are a lot of people whose only wish is to get on board the Disney Wish.
