Never Mind, COVID-19 Has Delayed the Disney Wish

This week, Christine McCarthy, the Senior Executive Vice President and chief Financial Officer of the Walt Disney Company, confirmed that the Disney Wish has been delayed because of COVID-19.  She announced this during the Bank of America Virtual 2020 Media, Communications, & Entertainment Conference and the Citi 2020 Global Technology Conference.  She said that the pandemic caused the Meyer Werft shipyard, where the Wish is currently under construction, to delay the ship.  This news comes just over a week after when I discovered DCL's FAQ page that said it was still scheduled for January 2022 (at the time of posting this, it still says the Wish will start cruising in January 2022).  Christine McCarthy didn't say anything about how much the Wish has been delayed, because negotiations about it are still taking place.  But, she did say that when this date is confirmed, Disney will make an announcement.  It should be coming pretty soon, so keep your eye out for that.  Maybe because Disney is sorry for the delay, they'll reveal some of what's going to be on the Wish.

McCarthy also said that when cruises resume, there will be social distancing and "whatever is required at that time."  She mentioned that DCL will likely be the last of Disney's businesses to reopen as well.  Disneyland in California isn't even open yet, so we're probably going to see another extension of the suspension in the near future.

Here's a video of Christine McCarthy's announcement from the Disney Cruise Line Blog:

I'm really disappointed by this announcement, but I'm hoping the delay won't be too long.  I think it'll be around four to five months, six months at the most.  It's funny, in my post before the delay, I said "We still have a long time to wait before 2022, and if the Wish's launch were to get pushed to a later date, the seemingly eternal wait would be even longer."  Well, we'll be waiting an eternity plus however long this delay is.

This delay also means that we probably won't see any Wish itineraries in the next announcement, which is also disappointing.

For more information, check out the Citi conference and the Bank of America conference.  Also, the Disney Cruise Line Blog has some more information about this unfortunate delay.  When the length of the delay is announced, I'll have a new post as soon as I find out!