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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Apple’s first foldable, the $1,999 iPhone Duo, combines an iPhone and iPad Mini experience—but its size, weight and price come with compromises.
4 min
As I watched a Netflix show on Apple’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, I had two surprising thoughts.
The first: Maybe I don’t need my iPad Mini anymore.
The second: Uh oh, am I about to spend $1,999 on a phone?
I didn’t think folding phones were for me. I’ve been testing Android versions from Samsung and Google since 2019, and those early editions came with too much screen and too many compromises.
Fast forward seven years, and the technology has come a long way. Apple—in its very Apple way—has also come up with some hardware and software trickery to make up for some shortcomings of the basic design. My desire for a folding phone before today was zero. After today, it’s a lot more than zero.
I’m not ready to recommend the Duo, which ships on Oct. 23, just yet. Not until I am able to test it more fully, so be on the lookout for that review in a few weeks. But from what I experienced at Apple Park on Wednesday, I could actually picture myself using this new half-phone, half-tablet hybrid.
Crease camouflage
For months, I’ve been using Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8, a similarly squat, passport-shaped foldable that opens up to a larger screen. It’s impressively thin and can easily fit into the infuriatingly tiny pockets in women’s pants and dresses. Samsung did a lot of work to minimize the crease—the dip between the two halves of the big interior display—but it’s still clearly there.
When I held the iPhone Duo open, the crease was barely visible. As I slid my finger across the display, I could feel it, but it’s more subtle than Samsung’s. Most of the time, the screen looked as flat and smooth as the one on an iPad.
Apple employed both software and hardware techniques to camouflage the crease. The matte surface of the interior 7.6-inch screen minimizes reflections to hide it. (Samsung’s Fold 8 screen is shiny.)
And as you begin to open or close the iPhone Duo, the interface shifts the controls and content away from the center crease. If, say, you’re watching a video on the outer screen, you can open the Duo to switch to the bigger display within. A black fade marks the transition. You don’t see the video full screen until the phone is completely flat.
Heavy handed
My second observation was that, when the Duo is closed, in phone mode, it was harder to use one-handed than I expected.
In the keynote trailer and press release, Apple touted how thin the Duo is. It’s marketed as the thinnest iPhone ever—when open.
But it’s actually thicker and heavier than most of its Android competitors. The Duo weighs 254 grams, and is 11.3 millimeters thick when closed. The Samsung Galaxy Fold 8 is just 201 grams, with a thickness of 9.7 millimeters. Google’s Pixel 11 Pro Fold is 239 grams and 10.1 millimeters.
Because the Duo is also wider than a standard iPhone, I found it quite a challenge to type.
I admit, I do have smaller-than-average hands. So I consulted my colleague Rolfe Winkler, who has a larger grip. He agreed the Duo feels big.
Apple rearranged the interface on the outer screen so it looks different than traditional iPhones. The dock and control center are off to the right to be more reachable. Committing to the Duo as your main device will require adjustments in your handling. You will have to learn a new way to use and type.
Work and play
My most surprising takeaway? I feel a pull toward this device.
I always thought that combining an iPhone and an iPad would mean bigger compromises. The battery life is about the same as the 18 Pro (up to 24 hours of “regular use” on a single charge), though I’ll need to verify that in my real-world testing. And it’s also as durable, with the same IP68 dust- and water-resistance rating as the rest of the iPhone lineup.
There are trade-offs, for sure. Trying out the camera, I immediately missed the 8X zoom in my Pro model. The Duo has just 2X zoom, which wouldn’t cut it for the dozens of pictures I take of my kid every day.
But the dual screens unlock new photo functionality. You can see what your shot looks like from the outside screen. As someone who has tried tirelessly to self-direct a family photo—or a spouse—I am very eager to try this out more.
Foldables, I initially thought, were for classic mobile-warrior jet-setter types, who never sit at a desk and are always on calls. For that crowd, the Duo can run two apps side-by-side.
Me, I’m more of a bed binge-watcher and ebook reader. That’s what my beloved iPad Mini is for.
Watching videos on the Duo is a nice experience—nice enough that you forget the screen is 0.7 inches smaller than the iPad Mini’s. The main screen is also a 4:3 aspect ratio. Very similar, by the way, to the IMAX edition of the Odyssey.
Because I wasn’t able to snag a ticket to one of the sold-out screenings, I will be watching Christopher Nolan’s version of Homer’s epic on the Duo, just as the director intended. (Just kidding! Sort of.)
The Duo costs $800 more than an iPhone 18 Pro, and I’m not sure I want to spend that premium on a first-generation Apple device. But I’m not ruling out the idea that a Duo might one day be in my future. Stay tuned for my full review.
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