Why Disney Is Plowing Cash Into a Cruise Line Expansion
Entertainment titan plans to launch seven new ships by 2031, looking to overseas markets far from theme parks
4 min
Chief Executive Bob Iger had christened the 1,119-foot-long Disney Treasure the previous evening while 1,000 drones hovered overhead in the shape of a Champagne bottle. The fleet of drones transformed into shapes of images from “Aladdin,” “Coco,” “Moana” and other movies as pop star Jordin Sparks belted out a song written specially for the new ship.
The spectacle was a coming-out party of sorts for a business that for years has played a bit part in Disney’s overall entertainment empire, but is now increasing in prominence. Growth is slowing in the entertainment company’s parks businesses, and its legacy TV business is suffering from cord-cutting , but Disney fans worldwide can’t seem to get enough of cruises.
When Disney announced plans last year to “turbocharge” investment in its Experiences division, which includes theme parks, resorts and consumer products, the company said 20% of the $60 billion over the next decade would go toward its cruise business and other projects that haven’t been announced yet. Disney plans to more than double its fleet from six to 13 ships by 2031 and further expand its service internationally. undefined undefined “Given the fact that we are still a relatively small player and we see this strong demand, it’s only natural and actually the best time to invest in this business,” said Thomas Mazloum , who leads the part of Disney’s Experiences division that includes cruises.
Cruise travel overall surpassed prepandemic levels last year, attracting 31.7 million passengers, up from 29.7 million in 2019, according to the Cruise Lines International Association, a trade group.
More affluent millennials are choosing cruises over land-based vacations in part because a host of new, larger ships with premium amenities make them feel they get good value for the money, JPMorgan Chase said in a June research note. Rising international airfares have also made cruises that leave from ports in their home country more attractive to some overseas families.
Most cruise lines offer chaperoned children’s activities. On the Disney Treasure, parents can sunbathe with cocktails by the pool while children are entertained until as late as midnight with activities such as playing in a “Star Wars”-themed workshop, completing hero’s missions set in the Marvel Comics universe or designing a virtual theme-park ride to their specifications.
The Disney Treasure offers “Moana” and “Beauty and the Beast” themed stage shows, a piano bar themed after the movie “The Aristocats,” and a Mexican eatery where you can watch mariachi musicians sing songs from “Coco” while you sip a margarita and eat enchiladas. On a typical Disney cruise, costumed characters such as Pluto, Goofy and Donald Duck roam the decks and movie theaters show Disney films that are playing on land in cinemas.
Disney is betting that interest in cruises will prompt travelers to pay more for its cruises, which tend to cost more than mass-market cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean or Carnival. A four-day cruise to the Bahamas for a family of four on the Disney Wish ship, leaving from Florida’s Port Canaveral during a popular spring-break week next April, starts at $7,692. On Royal Caribbean, a much larger cruise line, a comparable trip starts at $3,368.
“You’re paying up to cruise with Mickey,” said Matt Hochberg, editor of Royal Caribbean Blog, which focuses on the cruise industry and isn’t affiliated with the cruise line.
Disney says that some of the cost of cruise tickets comes from docking fees charged at ports, which are largely passed on to the customer. Entertainment and dining options and even free unlimited soda—a perk harder to come by on competitors’ cruises—are part of the value proposition that passengers find attractive, the company said.
“You want it to feel like part of the mythology,” said Danny Handke, one of Disney’s parks and attractions designers who helped create the Haunted Mansion-themed bar aboard the Treasure.
The company discloses certain financial metrics for its cruise business but doesn’t share its full financials. In the year ended in September, Disney said a 5% increase in revenue for the Experiences division that includes cruises was driven in part by higher average cruise line ticket prices.
“Passenger cruise days,” the number of passengers aboard Disney ships multiplied by the days they spend on voyages, rose 14% in the company’s 2023 fiscal year (the most recent time period for which such figures are available) and 32% the previous year.
Mazloum, the head of the division that includes cruises, said that with only 5% of the Caribbean market and 2.5% of the global market, Disney is still a small player in cruising. But among Disney’s menu of entertainment options, it is one of the experiences that rates the highest among guests.
Consumer satisfaction surveys show that 82% of Disney’s cruise passengers intend to take another and that sea journeys are the highest-rated experience in Disney’s Entertainment division portfolio, Mazloum said.
At Disney’s busiest cruise port, Port Canaveral, two of the line’s ships launched 157 voyages that were on average 92.4% full in the year ended in September, publicly available port information shows. That metric, the average number of passengers per vessel as a proportion of each vessel’s maximum capacity, has returned to prepandemic levels for Disney.
Disney is now increasingly focused on the Asian market, where hundreds of millions of potential Disney Experiences customers live without a nearby theme park.
Launching next year, the Disney Adventure, which can hold up to 6,700 passengers and will initially operate in Southeast Asia, is Disney’s biggest ship yet. It will sail out of Singapore—the company’s first-ever service there—and aims to attract affluent Indian, Indonesian and Malaysian travelers.
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A haven for hedge-fund titans and Hollywood grandees, Greenwich is one of the world’s most expensive residential enclaves, where eye-watering prices meet unapologetic grandeur.
Rugged coastal drives and fireside drams define a slow, indulgent journey through Scotland’s far north.
For affluent homeowners, the laundry is no longer a utility space. It’s becoming a performance-driven investment in hygiene, longevity and seamless living.
2 min
In high-end homes, the most telling upgrades are no longer the obvious ones.
It’s not just the marble in the kitchen or the view from the terrace. Increasingly, it’s the rooms you don’t see, and how well they actually work.
The laundry is a perfect example.
Once treated as a purely functional space, it is now being reconsidered by architects and homeowners alike as a zone where performance, hygiene and design need to align.
And for buyers operating at the top end of the market, that shift is less about aesthetics and more about control.
Because in a home where everything is curated, inefficiency stands out.
ASKO’s latest “Laundry Care 2.0” range leans directly into that mindset, positioning the laundry as a long-term investment rather than a basic appliance purchase.
Built on more than 75 years of engineering, the Scandinavian brand’s latest systems focus on durability, precision and what is becoming a defining luxury in modern homes: quiet.
One of the more telling innovations is something most buyers would never think to question until it fails.
Traditional washing machines rely on rubber seals that trap dirt and bacteria over time. ASKO replaces that entirely with a steel solution designed to maintain a cleaner, more hygienic drum.
It’s not a headline feature. But it is exactly the kind of detail buyers tend to notice.
Then there is the issue of noise.
As open-plan living has become standard in prestige homes, the background hum of appliances has gone from unnoticed to intrusive.
ASKO’s suspension system is engineered to minimise vibration almost entirely, allowing machines to run without disrupting the wider home environment.
In practical terms, that means a load can run late at night without carrying through the house. In lifestyle terms, it means the home functions as intended.
The same thinking extends to the drying process. Uneven loads, tangled fabrics and repeat cycles are treated as inefficiencies rather than inconveniences, with technology designed to keep garments moving evenly and reduce wear over time.
For buyers, this is where the value proposition sharpens.
It is not about having more features. It is about removing friction.
Less maintenance. Less noise. Less time spent correcting what should have worked the first time.
In that sense, modern laundry is no longer just a utility. It is a reflection of how a home performs behind the scenes, and whether it lives up to the expectations set by everything else.
Because at this level, luxury is not just what you see.
It is what you don’t have to think about.
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