Let me say this up front: I love Disney Cruise Line. I have spent more nights on these ships than I can count, and the new ships are beautiful. But now that the Disney Believe has been revealed, I keep coming back to one thought. It looks almost identical to the Disney Wish. And honestly, the older, smaller ships, the Disney Magic, Disney Wonder, Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy, are still my absolute favorites.
This is not a hit piece. I was cheering through the whole reveal, and you can see everything I am excited about in our list of the 13 things we are most excited for on the Disney Believe. I just think it is worth talking honestly about what four ships built on the same blueprint means for those of us who sail Disney again and again.
The Disney Believe Is the Fourth Wish-Class Ship
Disney itself calls the Disney Believe the fourth installment of the Wish class, joining the Disney Wish, Disney Treasure and Disney Destiny. All four share the same hull design of roughly 144,000 gross tons, with roughly 1,250 staterooms each (1,254 on the Wish and 1,256 on the Treasure, according to Disney) and room for around 4,000 guests. That means the same basic deck plan, the same flow from the Grand Hall to the Walt Disney Theatre, and the same pool deck up top.
Disney’s answer to this is the “motif.” The Wish is enchantment, the Treasure is adventure, the Destiny is heroes and villains, and the Believe is promise and possibility. I really do love that idea. But once you have sailed one of these ships, you start to notice how much of the experience is the same no matter which theme is painted on top.
Same Venues With a New Coat of Paint
Walk through the Wish-class venue list and the pattern jumps out. Every ship gets a three-story Grand Hall with a bronze character statue in the middle. Every ship gets one big themed family dinner show: Arendelle: A Frozen Dining Adventure on the Wish, Plaza de Coco on the Treasure, Pride Lands: Feast of The Lion King on the Destiny, and now Oaken’s Table: A Frozen Family Feast on the Believe. Yes, that is a second Frozen restaurant in the same class of ships.
Then the repeats start stacking up. Worlds of Marvel is back. 1923 is back. The Haunted Mansion Parlor, a Disney Treasure original, is back with a new selection of ghoulish delights. AquaMouse, the 760-foot attraction at sea, is back. Hook’s Barbery, Quiet Cove, Senses Spa, Palo Steakhouse, Enchanté and The Rose are all back for adults. Disney’s Oceaneer Club still holds Marvel Super Hero Academy, Fairytale Hall, Star Wars: Cargo Bay, the Walt Disney Imagineering Lab and Mickey and Minnie’s Captain’s Deck. Even “Disney Seas the Adventure” is coming back to the Walt Disney Theatre.
Each one of those is a great venue on its own. Together, they make it hard to tell a first-time cruiser why they should pick the Believe over the Wish, other than the sail date.
Why the Classic Ships Still Feel So Different
Compare that with the ships that built Disney Cruise Line. The Disney Magic and Disney Wonder are close siblings at about 84,000 gross tons, with 875 staterooms and room for 2,713 guests each, but they have grown apart in the best way. The Magic has Rapunzel’s Royal Table and the AquaDunk, the only one in the fleet. The Wonder has Tiana’s Place with its live jazz and Louisiana-style cuisine. They feel like two different ships with two different personalities.
The Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy are bigger at about 130,000 gross tons, and they share the AquaDuck and Animator’s Palate, yet each still has its own lounges, shows and art. The smaller size is part of the charm. You learn every corner of the Magic or the Wonder by day two, the crew starts to know your name, and it feels like the cozy, classic Disney Cruise Line experience so many of us fell in love with.
And Disney has shown it can still go big and bold. The Disney Adventure, which sailed its maiden voyage from Singapore in March 2026, is its own class of ship entirely, and Disney Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point gave us a second private destination that feels nothing like Disney Castaway Cay. So the creativity is clearly there.
What Is Actually New on the Disney Believe
To be fair, the Disney Believe does bring real surprises. The world’s first stage adaptation of Encanto is coming exclusively to its Walt Disney Theatre, and that alone might be worth the trip. The Grand Hall centers on a bronze Moana with Pua and Heihei, with the heart of Te Fiti hidden in the chandelier.
There are also brand-new lounges, including Skygazers, the Snow White-themed Wishing Well and Sea Notes, Ariel’s iridescent piano lounge. Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde star in a first-ever family show at Gazelle. The Believe Tower Suite is inspired by Magic Kingdom Park, the Oceaneer Club gets a Monsters, Inc. entrance with Mike Wazowski, and Tangled: The Musical moves over from the Magic with a reimagined set. I picked apart all the early clues in our Disney Believe scavenger hunt roundup, and plenty of them paid off.
So the stories are new. It is the bones of the ship, and so many of the venues inside it, that feel like a fourth helping of the same meal.
What I Hope Comes Next for Disney Cruise Line
I get why Disney did it. A proven design is faster and safer to build, and the Wish-class ships sell out. But Disney has already said a brand-new class of ships is coming in 2029, and I hope it takes a page from the Magic and the Wonder: ships that each feel like their own place, with signature venues you can only find on board that one ship.
Will I Still Sail the Disney Believe?
Absolutely. I still love Disney Cruise Line, and yes, I will be on the Disney Believe so I can add it to my collection of ships I have sailed on. I cannot wait to see Encanto and hunt for the heart of Te Fiti. The new ships are gorgeous and the crew is always amazing. But if you ask me where my heart is, it is still on the older, smaller ships, the Magic, the Wonder, the Dream and the Fantasy. Those are still my absolute favorites.
You can find all the official details on the Disney Believe page on the Disney Cruise Line website. Which Disney ship is your favorite? Tell me, I want to compare notes!
