Meyer Floats Out Disney’s Next Cruise Ship as Restructuring Talks Continue
Disney Cruise Line’s newest ship was floated out at the Meyer Werft shipyard as part of a significant expansion of the entertainment company’s cruise operations. The construction step came as talks are also continuing about the restructuring and financial bailout for the shipyard which needs to be supported by the German government.
The new Disney Treasure (144,000 gross tons) is the second of three new cruise ships ordered by Disney for the cruise line and is a sister ship to the Disney Wish introduced in 2022. The vessel is 1,119 feet in length (341 meters) and with an overall width of 128 feet (39 meters), the ship had just three feet of clearance on each side as it was backed out of the massive building hall on Saturday, August 3. There was a crowd assembled outside to see the “birth” of the cruise ship. Disney had its Captain Mickey Mouse on hand for the event.
The cruise ship came out stern first from the building hall with a tug pulling the vessel from the structure and guiding it to the outdoor fitting out berth. Work will be ongoing to complete the uniquely Disney-themed interiors with the shipyard reporting the cruise ship will make its Ems conveyance to the ocean in the second half of September.
The new cruise ship has 1,246 passenger cabins and suites with a capacity for approximately 4,000 passengers and 1,555 crew. As with the first ship, Disney Wish, the Disney Treasure, and an under-construction sister ship Disney Destiny, they are all LNG powered.
Disney’s creative teams oversee all the designs for the cruise ship, which is themed by Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel and drawing from the company’s stories including Aladdin, Coco, and Zootopia. Among the unique spaces will be the Haunted Mansion Parlor, a bar inspired by the iconic Disney Parks attraction. The Disney Treasure is scheduled to enter service on December 21, 2024, sailing from Port Canaveral, Florida on 7-night cruises.
Cruise ship had three feet of clearance on each side as it came out of the building hall in Germany (Disney Cruise Line)
She is the next step in the expansion which will see her sister ship Disney Destiny introduced in November 2025. Under construction at Meyer Werft in Papenburg, the ship will have a hero and villains interior theme décor. This ship will be homeported at Port Everglades in Florida operating 4- and 5-night cruises to the Bahamas and Western Caribbean.
Disney Cruise Line is also launching partnerships for its next phase of growth. They formed a partnership with Singapore Tourism for at least five years and in 2025 will introduce the Disney Adventure. The 208,000 gross ton cruise ship, which is the restyled Global Dream which was building for Genting Hong Kong before the group went bankrupt, will be Disney’s first cruise ship to be homeported in Asia. It will have accommodations for approximately 6,700 passengers and 2,500 crew and will operate 3- and 4-night cruises.
The owner and operator of the Tokyo Disney Resort, Oriental Land Co., also recently announced a Disney partnership to build a cruise ship to operate from Japan. They have contracted for a fourth sister ship to the Disney Wish to be built by Meyer Werft and is expected to commence cruising by early 2029.
With this latest order as well as two large cruise ships for Carnival Cruise Line, Meyer Weft highlights that it has a strong orderbook stretching through 2028. Increased costs of building the cruise ships after the pandemic and from the war in Ukraine however mean that the shipyard needs to raise more than €2.7 billion ($2.95 billion) to finance the shipbuilding projects. Its banks are also requiring €400 million ($437 million) in new equity.
Politicians and business leaders met with Meyer and its union on August 5 in Papenburg to discuss the restructuring. The company highlights that the discussion followed a recently submitted draft restructuring plan prepared by Deloitte. The company has already agreed to relocate its headquarters to Papenbrug which will include the formation of a supervisory board. There have been positive indications of support with the discussions on the financing set to resume after the summer break in Germany.
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