A new report by CruiseRadio.net says the Disney Wonder, one of five ships in the Disney Cruise Line, is heading toward its home port in Port Canaveral, Fla., with speculation it will be the first of the DCL ships to set sail again.
The question is, when?
Earlier this month, DCL and every other major cruise line announced it would not set sail again in 2020, aiming instead to return to the seas in 2021 and focus on complying with the mandates set down by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Conditional Sail Order.
UBS Leisure Analyst Robin Farley and Truist Securities Managing Director Patrick Scholes both told Travel Weekly the timeline for cruise lines to meet the CDC requirements would likely push any revenue cruises to February.
“Bottom line is that cruise lines will not be able to offer passenger cruises in December, but January seems possible, though February more likely, in line with what the CDC was reportedly already targeting,” Farley told Travel Weekly.
According to CruiseRadio, the Disney Wonder left its three Disney sisters behind at a shipyard in Brest, France, before a brief technical stop in Funchal, Portugal for fuel and supplies. The Wonder was originally scheduled to sail on January 6, 2020, on a six-night Western Caribbean cruise from Galveston but that is now off.
Like all other lines, Disney must first make trial cruise runs.
We know for certain Disney Cruise Line won’t return to passenger cruises in 2020. Unfortunately, there isn’t an exact date set in stone for a return to sailing in 2021. However, we can expect that it will likely be February at the earliest, barring any changes to the Conditional Sail Order from the CDC.
