“They really entail some really high hurdles in terms of not only testing by the potential guests that we host on the ships but also a process that has to happen in order to certify our first sailings. Those will necessarily result in delays beyond what we had hoped in terms of getting our ships back in service and making magic for our guests,” Bob Chapek said.

Chapek also pointed out that the arrival of the fifth cruise ship, the Disney Wish, was postponed from the end of 2021 to the summer of 2022.

As the reason for the six-month delay back in mid-October when it was first revealed, pandemic-related issues at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany were cited.

The cruise line sees a very high demand for its new cruise ships, Chapek added.

“We hope and expect that the world will back to normal by then, and anticipate having a fine time trying to fill up the demand of those ships. And we think there's going to be so much pent-up demand that we don't expect to have much issues given the love that our guests have for Disney Cruise Lines,” Chapek stated.

Maritime Business World