Disney Cruise Line has finally arrived in Australia. In arguably the most anticipated event this Aussie cruise season, Disney Wonder sailed into Sydney Harbour on Friday, marking the cruise line’s first foray into the Australasian cruise market.
To mark its Australian debut, Disney Cruise Line invited travel industry guests to take a sneak peek of the vessel and to get a taste of ‘Disney Magic at Sea’ – the name given to the concept of Disney holidays and experiences at sea.
In an interview with Karryon onboard the Disney Wonder, Disney Cruise Line Senior Vice President and General Manager Sharon Siskie said the company was “very thrilled with the response” the Disney Wonder debut had received in Australia.
“We know that we have a lot of guests in Australia who are very big Disney fans; there’s a lot of love of the Disney brand,” she said.
Thus, Siskie said Disney Cruise Line had “for quite some time” toyed with the notion of bringing its “magic” down under.
“Because it’s not always quite so easy to get to a Disney theme park on a regular basis. But this gives us a special way to be able to bring it to the backyard, closer to home; to be able to get that Disney experience and not have so much travel time to get to a park,” she added.
“So we were very excited about it when the idea came up three years ago, and we started to work on it.”
Siskie said the company was also thrilled to add a second year “right away when we saw how much demand there was”.
The next Australia and New Zealand season will set sail from 19 October 2024 through to February 2025.
Additionally, Disney Cruise Line has more vessels coming.
“You probably know we just launched a new ship, the Disney Wish a year ago,” the SVP remarked.
“We have two additional ships that we’re in the process of building now. And then, with this expansion, we get more opportunities to move ships around and do some more seasonal itineraries. And, add some diversity to what we do.”
Whilst on board, travel industry guests toured the ship’s decks, took in a famous Disney show, and sampled some of the Wonder’s many food and beverage offerings, among other experiences.
Disney Cruise Line says the Disney Wonder allows families to sail on one-of-a-kind itineraries with rotational dining, Broadway-style shows, themed F&B offerings, character encounters and fireworks at sea.
Typically of Disney, that sounds like a lot of fun. And a lot of Aussies are about to find out for themselves.
For more info, head to DisneyCruiseLine.com/AUNZ.
Are you a Travel Agent? Access more resources at disneytravelagents.com.au.
Also, meet the Melbourne-based agency that was swept up in the wake of the Disney Cruise Line phenomenon, booking more than 100 cabins in one day on the Australasian Disney Magic at Sea cruises.
In a recent update to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Disney said it plans to spend around US$60 billion (nearly AU$100 billion) in its theme parks and cruise lines over the next decade – equal to about AU$25 million daily for the next 10 years.