Disney Cruise Line announced the name of its fourth Wish-class ship slated to begin sailing in late 2027.
Disney Believe will follow in the wake of 2023’s Disney Wish, 2024’s Disney Treasure and 2025’s Disney Destiny. Its name was announced Wednesday by new Walt Disney Co. CEO Josh D’Amaro on his first day taking over for Bob Iger at the annual shareholders meeting.
The name is touted as “honoring the dreamers and doers who dare to pursue their own happily ever after,” according to a press release from the cruise line. Each ship name in the class has fed into a theme on board, with Wish tied to enchantment, Treasure to adventure and Destiny to heroes and villains.
“Disney Believe has its own unique story to tell: one of promise and possibilities,” the release stated.
Just like its sister ships, it will continue to take shape at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. It had its first steel cut last August. The Wish-class ships come in at 144,000 gross tons and are slightly larger than the older Disney Dream and Fantasy, but retain a 4,000-passenger capacity.
No specific details about what the new ship would offer were revealed, but the cruise line mentioned several characters and movies around which some of its features would be themed.
“Filled with powerful stories of Disney characters who believe in themselves, in their dreams, and in the promise and possibility of a better tomorrow, the Disney Believe will bring to life the magical worlds of ‘Encanto’ and ‘Frozen,’ the wishing wells of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,’ and the depths of the sea with ‘Moana’ and ‘The Little Mermaid’ like never before.”
The ship will become the ninth in the fleet, with four more slated to debut before 2031. That includes a fifth Wish-class ship in 2029 in partnership with the Oriental Land Co., which runs Tokyo Disneyland, to sail out of Japan. Also in 2029 will be the first of three ships in a new class, the details of which have not been revealed.
Disney Cruise Line began sailing in 1998, with the Disney Magic followed by its sister ship Disney Wonder in 1999. It then doubled in size from two to four with 2011’s Disney Dream and 2012’s Fantasy. It again double this year with the debut of its largest ship in the fleet, Disney Adventure, which arrived for its christening ceremony with godfather Robert Downey Jr. this month in Singapore.
Most of the ships in the fleet have had their debut sailing seasons out of Port Canaveral, although Disney Destiny shook that trend up last year by beginning its service from DCL’s second Florida home in Port Everglades while Disney Adventure only made a pit stop in Florida on its way to homeport in Asia.