Disney Cruise Line is setting up shop in Southeast Asia with a new cruise ship set to debut in 2025.
The line announced Wednesday with the Singapore Tourism Board it will begin sailing from that port beginning in 2025 for at least five years with a new ship.
“Disney Cruise Line is currently undergoing an ambitious expansion with new ships and new destinations around the world,” said Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. “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.”
The ship in question will be the unfinished Global Dream currently under construction in Germany which DCL acquired this year. The 208,000-gross-ton ship was being built for Genting Hong Kong, which ran Dream Cruises, Crystal Cruises and Star Cruises as well as the Lloyd Werft and MV Werften shipyards. That holding group, though, filed for bankruptcy in January, and a court ordered the sale of its assets including the Global Dream.
The line already has two other ships in its Trident class coming before 2025 as well, but those are bound for the North American market following the Disney Wish that debuted in Port Canaveral last summer. The next is named Disney Treasure and due in 2024, although where its initial homeport will be has yet to be announced.
The unnamed Singapore-bound ship will be the largest in the DCL fleet. What was originally targeted to serve the Chinese market, the Global Dream would have had the capacity for about 9,000 passengers. Global Dream, though, will get renamed with new plans for a maximum capacity of about 6,000 guests along with 2,300 crew members. The line said it will get a classic Disney look and feel.
Details about its maiden voyage, itineraries and what exactly is coming on board will be revealed at a later date, the cruise line stated.
“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,” said Keith Tan, the CEO for the Singapore Tourism Board.
Construction will continue at the MV Werften shipyard in Wismar, Germany, which is now run by Meyer Werft, the shipyard company that built DCL’s last three vessels — Disney Wish, Disney Fantasy and Disney Dream.
Of note, the ship will run on green methanol, which would make it one of the first in the cruise industry to use the low-emission fuel for the vessel. In an effort to stem environmental emissions, cruise lines have been switching from traditional diesel on new ships including the use of liquefied natural gas, which is what powers Disney Wish.
Construction of the Global Dream began in 2018 and original plans called for it to have the longest roller coaster at sea, but what exactly will be on board for Disney Cruise Line has yet to be determined beyond that it will “feature innovative Disney experiences.”
By the end of 2025, the fleet will have grown to eight ships with the first two, Disney Magic and Disney Wonder, having debuted in the late 1990s.
Disney cited Singapore’s strategic location with access to airports and port infrastructure behind the move that will let the ship also access the Australian market. Southeast Asia features more than 40 UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
“I think it will do well honestly knowing how much the Asian market devours Disney,” said Alanna Zingano, who runs the website Travel the World A to Z with an expertise in family cruising.
