My boss insists...

[DisneyMama27]

that she cruised with Disney "twenty years ago" and there were casinos on the ships!

I am not about to get in a debate with her about this, although I am pretty sure that DCL has only been cruising since 1999? And never had casinos.

However, I do remember reading somewhere that Disney did partner with another cruise line to offer some land-sea vacations (which she said she did) before DCL was begun.

Anyone with info on this? Just for my own curiosity? The funny thing was, when I said something about no casinos, she said, "Oh, that's new. They had them when I cruised Disney." Then she admitted that was 20 years ago!

 

[jilljill]

Disney had a partnership with the Big Red Boat many, many moons ago. My brother went on it on his honeymoon in 1986. Once Disney's partnership ended the Big Red Boat had a partnership with Warner Bros. and sailed with their characters on the ship.

DCL started sailing with the Magic in 1998 and added the Wonder in 1999.

 

[kcashner]

Your boss sailed on Premier Cruise Line on one of 2 ships called "The Big Red Boat." For a while they had a contract with Disney to have Disney characters on the ship. When that contract expired, Disney chose to not renew it (lots of rumors as to why--low quality of Premier, new policy of not renting out their characters, they were planning DCL, etc). It was NEVER a part of Disney; just had the character contract.

After Disney pulled their characters, Premier did a contract for the Looney Tunes characters.

We sailed on it when DD was 4. The ONLY draw was the characters--the line was terrible. It went bankrupt.

 

[rtphokie]

There is some good history on the Big Red Boat here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Red_Boat

I didn't know that Premier affiliated itself with Universal after the Disney contract ended.

 

[disneynan]

DH and I sailed on the Premier ship Atlantic for our honeymoon in 1989. And yes, there was a casino. Our week-long package for 2 including flights and the cruise/Hilton at Disney plus tickets was $1200. That was the only time we have ever cruised and we enjoyed it. Can't wait for our upcoming DCL cruise this fall!

 

[brucechase]

that she cruised with Disney "twenty years ago" and there were casinos on the ships!

Don't you know that the boss is always right .

 

[cyndik1111]

I'm so glad you asked this. My hairdresser was insiting that she took her kids on a disney cruise with a casino etc and I just smiled and knodded thinking she was wrong. i was the one who was wrong.

 

[yazee1]

My sister took a cruise on the Big Red Boat and that's her only impression of what a Disney cruise is like. No so, right? I don't know what the Big Red Boat was like so I don't know what she's imagining.

 

[kcashner]

The Big Red Boat was pretty miserable. My 4 year old got sick, so I had to stay in the cabin with her. There was no room service, so I got to wait till she was asleep then go to the dining room and beg them to give me my dinner to go. The cabins were miniscule. The kid programming (before she got sick) consisted of watching cartoons and coloring pictures of the Looney Tunes characters. They did have a character tuck in service for major dollars.

The physical ship was YUK. Small, dirty, etc. On the good side, they had a song (sung ad nauseum) and awesome frisbees.

 

[Butterx3]

My Grandparents took our entire family in the Big Red Boat in the early 90's. It must have been cheap, because each grandkid got to bring a friend or significant other with to. I was in college, so not sure about the kids programming, but we had a great time. It doesn't compare to the DCL ships, but nothing from back then could compare to the cruise ships of now. It was a small ship, and I got horribly sea sick on the first night. I don't think the ship had the stabalizers, that ships do now. The ship did have a casino, and the character interaction was different than what its like now. The characters would come in during dining, and visit the tables. I don't remember there being special times to line up for autographs, but at the age of 19 or 20, I probably didn't pay attention. We visited a private island, that was the same island they filmed the first Blue Lagoon movie on, and the opening & ending sequence to Gilligans Island. The island was beautiful, but we got tendered to it. My DS(13) laughs when he sees pictures of the Big Red Boat, because it is so little. But I have great memories of that ship, and it being my first cruise..... Well, I had nothing to compare it to.

 

[Alexander]

Spring 1997 we had a cruise package for the BRB and WDW. However, a few months prior to our vacation, the BRB was no longer sailing. We ended up on a Carnival ship for the first part of our package. We didn't care for it at all. I have since done 2 Disney cruises and am getting DH on his first since that Carnival one this April! He has no idea how much better it'll be!

 

[cmhand30]

I was on The Big Red Boat 20+ years ago! Being 13 years old at the time I don't remember much. I thought it was pretty cool just to be on a cruise. So, I was hooked at a young age. My DS started cruising at 12 yo.

 

[jcuzzort1026]

We were on a DCL 4 day in Freeport (back when they stopped there) and saw the Big Red Boat in dock there. Our taxi driver told us that the government had seized it (after it's partnership with Disney ended) due to non-payment. All the people on board had to find another way home. Wouldn't that suck?

 

[lbgraves]

OH MY GOODNESS!!!! That would really stink...and make you wish you had bought travel insurance.

 

[MousseauMob]

We did the big red boat almost 14 years ago in conjunction with a WDW land vacation as our first "Disney" cruise - actually it was our first cruise ever. We had a really great time, but sea sickness was a bit of a problem as I recall. We were also suprised with when we docked in Nassau that the sister ship was next to us, and they roped off the dock and the Beach Boys gave a concert for both ships. They traveled to the concert on one ship and then came back with the other so both ships had them onboard for a bit.

Even though we had a good time, it no where near compares to the newer cruise ships or specifically to the Disney cruise experience.

 

[justmestace]

I was never on the Big Red Boat, but in my mind, it doesn't really count as a "Disney Cruise". No one has truly done a Disney cruise, until they've done one on the Magic or Wonder.

 

[Mickeyhugger]

I was never on the Big Red Boat, but in my mind, it doesn't really count as a "Disney Cruise". No one has truly done a Disney cruise, until they've done one on the Magic or Wonder.

So true

 

[DCLphanatic95]

just looked up a picture of it, wwwwwwooooooowwwwww the big red boat aint so big afterall lol.

 

[mmouse37]

Like it or not Disney was very much associated with Big Red Boat.....can't tell you how many times when I mention that I am going on Disney Cruise that people will say "Oh, the Big Red Boat"...and I spend 20 minutes explaining that DCL has their own ships, blah, blah, blah.

MJ

 

[mmackeymouse]

yeah, no offense to those that enjoyed the Big Red Boat, but from the pictures I have seen, I am pretty sure I would not have gotten on that boat.