Jennifer Hudson to christen new
Disney cruise ship
By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY
The first new
Disney Cruise Line ship to debut in more than a decade will be christened by a celebrity who is no stranger to the line, Jennifer Hudson.
The 29-year-old Grammy and Academy Award winner, who got her start in 2003 as a performer on a Disney ship, will christen the much-awaited, 130,000-ton Disney Dream on Wednesday in a ceremony in Port Canaveral, Fla. The 2,500-passenger vessel then will set sail on a two-night preview cruise to the Bahamas. Its official maiden voyage is scheduled for Jan. 26.
Disney Cruise Line is making the announcement today in an email to past passengers.
Hudson, who rose to fame in 2004 as one of the finalists on the third season of American Idol, was a performer on the Disney Wonder in 2003 (where she played one of the muses in a production of Hercules). Hudson won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her 2006 role in Dreamgirls. She won a Grammy Award for her eponymous debut album, Jennifer Hudson.
Billed as the most high-tech cruise ship ever built, the Disney Dream is chock full of such new-for-cruising wonders as inside cabins with "virtual portholes" offering a real-time view of the sea, "enchanted art" pieces in hallways that come alive for passers-by; and a restaurant where an animated Crush from Finding Nemo converses with diners.
Fans of Disney's trademark entertainment also will find three Disney-themed, Broadway-style musicals on rotation in the Dream's state-of-the-art, 1,340-seat Walt Disney Theatre; a Pirates of the Caribbean-themed deck-top pool party; and the largest fireworks display at sea.
