Disney Cruise Line’s next ship has taken a major step toward reality, with the first of three giant “gigablocks” for Disney Believe floated out at Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany.
The milestone, completed on 18 September 2026, marks an important stage in building the fourth Wish-class ship, which Disney says is expected to begin sailing in late 2027.
It is worth stressing that this was not the float-out of the completed Disney Believe. Instead, Meyer Werft floated out the first enormous prefabricated section that will eventually be joined to two others to form the finished vessel.
Disney likens the process to assembling a gigantic three-dimensional puzzle. Shipbuilders construct major sections with walls, plumbing and wiring already installed before welding them together. Disney says these sections can weigh more than 31,000 tons.
The first section forms the midship of Disney Believe and includes the area that will become the Grand Hall. Disney says it will build the forward gigablock next, followed by the aft section.
That makes this less a case of “ship ahoy” and more “one-third of the ship ahoy”, but it is nevertheless a significant engineering milestone.
A fourth Wish-class ship
Disney Believe will follow Disney Wish, Disney Treasure and Disney Destiny as the fourth vessel in Disney Cruise Line’s Wish class.
Meyer Werft lists the ship at approximately 140,000 GT, or gross tonnage, with 1,250 passenger cabins. GT measures a ship’s internal enclosed volume rather than its weight.
The German shipbuilder also confirms Disney Believe will use a liquefied natural gas propulsion system, as do the other vessels in the class.
The shipyard and Disney have a long-standing relationship. Meyer Werft built Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy before moving on to Disney Wish, Disney Treasure and Disney Destiny, and it is now central to the cruise line’s next phase of expansion.
Moana takes the Grand Hall
Disney may require industrial-scale shipbuilding to create Disney Believe, but once the welding is done, the company intends to give certain passengers far more magic than marine engineering.
The Grand Hall will be inspired by Disney Animation’s Moana films and will act as one of the ship’s principal gathering spaces. Disney has revealed that a bronze-cast statue of Moana, accompanied by Pua and Heihei, will become a focal point of the venue.
The ship’s exterior will receive the customary Disney treatment too.
Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story will appear on the stern, using oversized yellow crayons to create the Disney Believe name in lettering inspired by the franchise. Tinker Bell will feature in the decorative bow artwork, accompanied by silhouettes of Peter Pan, Wendy, Captain Hook and other characters from the 1953 animated film.
Disney says stories represented aboard will also include Encanto, Frozen, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Little Mermaid.
At D23 in August, Disney portfolio executive creative director Claire Weiss neatly summed up the design philosophy: “This ship celebrates belief in magic, family, the power of nature, and belief in yourself.”
Fleet expansion gathers pace
Disney Believe matters commercially because it is arriving during an extraordinary expansion of Disney’s cruise business.
The Walt Disney Company said in May 2026 that Disney Cruise Line was growing from eight ships to 13 vessels by 2031. Disney Believe has already been identified by the company as its ninth ship.
The wider expansion includes three ships from a new class expected to enter service in 2029, 2030 and 2031. Disney is also working with Oriental Land Company on a Disney-branded cruise operation in Japan, expected to begin by early 2029.
And Disney appears to have plenty of customers to fill the additional berths.
When Disney Adventure began sailing from Singapore in March 2026, Disney said its cruise fleet was already more than 80 per cent sold for fiscal year 2026, even as the company continued to add capacity.
That Singapore deployment is particularly relevant for the Australian and Asia-Pacific travel trade. Disney Adventure became the company’s first ship based in Asia, while the planned Japan operation will deepen Disney’s cruise presence in the region.
For travel advisors, the implication is straightforward: Disney is no longer merely adding the occasional new ship. It is building a substantially larger global cruise operation, with more capacity and a widening geographical footprint.
Disney Believe still has a long way to go before passengers walk aboard. Its major sections must be completed and joined, followed by the enormous fitting-out, testing and commissioning process that accompanies any new cruise ship.
But the first major piece is now afloat.
For a vessel named Believe, that seems an entirely appropriate place to start.
By: Michelle Warner – © 2026.
Read Time: 4 minutes.
Author Bio:
Michelle Warner has always carried stories the way others carry passports lightly, faithfully, and with purpose. She learned her craft in newsrooms, shaping sentences with care, before swapping deadlines for departures as a flight attendant with some of the world’s great airlines. Years aloft sharpened her eye for character and deepened her fondness for the small, dignified rituals of travel, the quiet kindness of strangers, the poetry of arrival, the patience learned between time zones.
Now grounded by choice, Michelle has come home to writing with the same calm authority she once brought to turbulent cabins. Her prose blends an editor’s discipline with a traveller’s wonder, tinged with humour and reverence for travel’s golden age. Each piece feels like a handwritten boarding pass, gracious, observant, and unmistakably alive.
