Disney Cruise Line

Background

In 1985, Premier Cruise Line became the licensed partner cruise line with Disney. This allowed Disney characters on their ships and combined cruise, hotel and theme park packages. In 1993, Premier ended the Disney character license for a license for Warner Brothers characters. Premier continued to offer Disney land and sea packages while adding Universal Studios as an option. Thus Disney approached both Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruise lines to replace Premier as an exclusive sea partner.

History

When Disney's negotiations with two major cruise lines, Carnival and Royal Caribbean, did not produce results, Disney had cruise ship designs drawn up by February 1994. Meanwhile, Walt Disney Travel Company started signing up other cruise lines to offer packages that included Disney hotels and resorts. On May 3, 1994, Disney announced that they intended to start its own cruise line with operations starting in 1998. Arthur Rodney was selected to serve as the first president of the cruise line tentatively called Disney Vacation Cruises. Disney Cruise Line in 1995 commissioned Disney Magic and Disney Wonder from Fincantieri in Italy. The cruise line was incorporated as Devonson Cruise Company, Limited on February 6, 1996, in the United Kingdom, but soon was renamed Magical Cruise Company Limited on October 1, 1996. The cruise line cost as much as a theme park to start up.

In 1996, Magical Cruise Company purchased Gorda Cay as the line's private island. The company spent $25 million over 18 months on the island and renamed it Castaway Cay.

The Disney Magic's first cruise was postponed twice which was originally scheduled for March 1998 while the Disney Wonder was scheduled for December 1998. On July 30, 1998, with the first voyage of Magic, the Disney Cruise Line was operational. Also, a 10-year contract was signed with Port Canaveral for its home terminal. With the August 31, 1999, resignation of Rodney as cruise line president, senior operating officer Matt Ouimet was named as his replacement in July. By 2002, the line added seven-day cruises and western Caribbean cruises.

In June 2005, Disney Magic moved its port for the summer cruise season to the Port of Los Angeles. This was temporary for the company's 50th-anniversary celebration of Disneyland and as a test for California expansion. The transfer cruise sold out quicker than expected. Bookings from first time Disney cruisers were up for these cruises by at least 60%. While Disney has wanted additional ships, shipbuilding cost have increased by at least 33% since it built its first two ships. A ship was transferred to the Mediterranean for an extended stay in 2007 to reviewers' acclaim.

In 2007, Disney announced the building of two new cruise ships. Disney Dream set sail in Jan 2011, followed closely by Disney Fantasy in 2012. Meyer Werft shipyard, based in Papenburg, Germany, built the new ships.

In February 2009, Tom McAlpin left the Disney Cruise Line presidency and was replaced by Karl Holz as president of Disney Cruise Line and New Vacation Operations. In early 2009, Disney and Canaveral Port Authority extended their agreement to 2022 with expansion to the terminal to handle the new class of ships. A re-posting of the Disney Magic to Europe in 2010 adding DCL's first North European cruises with Mediterranean cruises.

With the arrival of Disney Dream in 2011, Disney Wonder was relocated to Los Angeles, and with the arrival of Disney Fantasy in 2012, Disney Magic was relocated to New York City in May 2012 for only the Summer season, before relocating to Galveston, Texas.

At the February 2016 Cruise Critic Cruisers' Choice Awards, three of Disney's ships won 11 category awards. On March 3, 2016, at the company annual meeting, Walt Disney Company Chairman Bob Iger announced that two new ships were planned to be built larger than the previous two ships. These ships are expected to join the line in 2021 and 2023.

Current

Disney Magic began operation July 30, 1998. Disney Wonder began operation on August 1999. They are 964 ft (294 m) long and 106 ft (32 m) wide. The ships each contain 875 staterooms and are not identical in their design, with a lot of variations in interior design, restaurants, and entertainment venues. Both contain areas designed exclusively for various age groups, including children, teenagers, and adults. Current routes are Alaska, Bahamas, Caribbean, and Europe, depending on the ship.

The ships are the first in the industry to be designed and built from the keel up as family cruise liners, with the goal of accommodating parents and children. Unlike most ships of their type, they do not include casinos. Disney ships also feature ship's horns which play the opening seven-note theme When You Wish Upon a Star from Disney's Pinocchio, in addition to the traditional horn. Other horns include Do You Want to Build a Snowman?, It's a small world, and several other tunes.

Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy entered service in January 2011 and March 2012, respectively. These new 129,690-ton ships are 339.5 m (1,114 ft) long and 36.8 m (121 ft) wide. They are 2 decks taller than Disney Magic and Disney Wonder and have 1,250 staterooms each.

Future

Two new ships have been announced and will join the Disney fleet in the next 5–7 years. The two ships, as yet unnamed, are described as larger than Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy but with an equivalent number of staterooms.

Disney Cruise Line Terminal

The Disney Cruise Line Terminal, or Port Canaveral's Cruise Terminal 8, is located in Port Canaveral in Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States. It is used to transport passengers on and off of the Disney Cruise Line ships the Disney Magic, the Disney Wonder, the Disney Dream, and the Disney Fantasy.

The port, located in Port Canaveral, at cruise terminal A, is a large building, owned by Port Canaveral, and operated by the Walt Disney Company. At 70,000 square feet (6,500 m²), this massive building includes the base for Disney Cruise Line check-in, security, and boarding. The terminal was designed loosely on the old Ocean Terminal in Southampton.

Disney Cruise Line has negotiated with the Port Canaveral port authority and early 2009 has extended their contract until 2022. As part of this contract, the port authority expanded and upgraded the dock in order to accommodate the new ships (both of which will be home-ported there), the terminal will be enlarged to accommodate more passengers and luggage, and a parking garage was built. Both Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy have departed from Port Canaveral.

In late 2012, Disney Magic and Disney Wonder began sailing cruises out of Galveston, Texas and Miami, Florida, respectively. In Summer 2013, Disney Magic relocated to Barcelona, Spain and Disney Wonder relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia. In Fall 2013, Magic and Wonder returned to the United States of America but switched home ports, with the Magic leaving out of Miami and Wonder leaving out of Galveston. In January 2014, Wonder took over for Magic in Miami and Magic joined Dream and Fantasy in Port Canaveral, placing all four ships in the state of Florida for the first time.