Magic and Wonder are #47 and #48

[Horace Horsecollar]

My, how quickly things change in the cruise business!

Back in 1995 when Disney announced that they can contracted to build two cruise ships -- the Magic and Wonder -- there were no other ships in service as large as the ships that Disney announced (although there were some under construction).

I just stumbled on an interesting chart at http://members.aol.com/CruiseAZ/largest.htm

Including ships currently under construction for other cruise lines, the Disney ships now come in as #47 and #48 on the size listing.

When we cruised on the 47,000 ton Celebrity Zenith in 1993, it was considered a superliner. And RCCL's 73,000 ton Sovereign of the Seas was considered unbelievably huge for a ship that wasn't built as a trans-Atlantic ocean liner.

 

[trishy]

Too funny! We sailed on the Sky Princess in 1989 and at 46,000 tons we thought "Whoooaaaaaaaa" - then we saw the Sovereign and thought "what a scrawny ship the Sky Princess was". The Magic blew us away when we first saw it in person. I can't even imagine what the new ships are going to look like in person! Cool site, thanks for the link.

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

I dont think thats right. A lot of websites give capacity of 2 people per room. If you do the total capacity it would be more. Also there are so many ships that are compleaty identical. I think each class of ships should be put in order.(correct me if i am wrong) Also that chart says the magic holds 1800 passengers! That is way off. Also the magic is 85,000 gross registered tons! My uncle works for DCL as operation/matenice inspector. He travels on the ship somtimes and sometimes works on the ships when in port. He is a really cool guy. I told him about the DIS boards and thought they sound cool. He told me he will answer questions from the board if i email them to him.
Matt
(age 13) Just had my birthdayQ

 

[Donalds_best_pal]

Also said he said the gross registered tons really dont say how big it is. He said 85,000 gt ship could be have more space than a 95,000 ton ship

 

[Entropy]

FYI gross tonnage is a measurement of the VOLUME of a ship, not the weight. Historically, it's a measurement of the amount of cotton that a steamboat can carry in tons.
When a ship is admeasured for the gross tonnage rating, they consider every space that can conceivably carry cargo and add it to the gross tonnage.
So, by definition, a 75,000 GRT ship is "larger" than a 65,000 GRT ship. It may be shorter, shallower or narrower or displace (weigh) less, but it's larger.

 

[my3kids]

trishy....We were on the Sky Princess in '89 also. I guess Princess had just acquired the ship from Sitmar because we still have Sitmar pens, cards, and Cruisercise coins laying around the house! We did the transcanal voyage. I'm hoping it is easier to get Pizza on the Magic than it was on the Sky Princess. I don't think we ever got into that pizza shop on board because of the crowds.

 

[Piglet_Pooh99]

I don't this it is fair that they are including ships that aren't even out yet. They should just have current ships on there. Personally I think the Disney Ships are a great size and if it were much bigger it would more then likely add more walking which nobody needs on a cruise. hehe.

 

[Dave_from_Marietta]

Horace, could you check your link? I got a 404 error when I tried it.

Entropy, thanks for the clarification about what "gross tonnage" means. That was very enlightening.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Originally posted by Dave_from_Marietta
Horace, could you check your link? I got a 404 error when I tried it.

That's funny. It worked yesterday. For AOL member websites, if "members" as in http://members.aol.com/CruiseAZ/largest.htm doesn't work, try "hometown" instead, as in http://hometown.aol.com/CruiseAZ/largest.htm

I was interested in some of the reactions to this list. Honestly, it's not meant as a criticism of DCL's beautiful ships -- and certainly my post shouldn't be read as, "there are 46 ships that are better than the Magic and Wonder because they're bigger." This is merely an observation that passenger ships have become much larger over the past decade -- and that a bunch of huge new ships were recently launched or are soon to be launched.

Gross tonnage is a legitimate measurement for ranking the size of ships. I don't think there's anything "unfair" about the fact that this particular list includes orders (but not options) for ships over 60,000 gross tons. I agree that the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder are "a great size." I also doubt that it makes much difference in terms of the passenger experience whether a ship is 75,000 gross tons, 95,000 gross tons, or somewhere in-between.

Finally, depending on where you look, the Disney ships are listed as 83,000 gross tons, 83,338 gross tons, or 85,000 gross tons. The 2001-2002 DCL brochure lists 83,000 gross tons.

 

[tchrmom]

Everynight on TV Land, the Love Boat comes on. In the opening credits, look at THAT boat. HAHAHAHAHA! Too bad the staterooms aren't as big as they portrayed them on the show! HAHA!

 

[Shercara]

Donald's best Pal - aka: Matt - thanks for the info -- that must be so cool - having an Uncle who works for DCL -- !!

Happy B'day to you too! My son Nick turned 13 in March -- and we will be on the same cruise!!! He was hoping to meet someone his age on these boards before we go -- e-mail me at shercara@aol.com if you are interested in meeting him on line --

Keep us posted with any "inside" info your Uncle might like to share!

 

[trishy]

My3kids: We sailed on 2/8/89 - honeymoon cruise Eastern Caribbean. The night Horace posted this it brought back so many memories that I pulled out my old "Sitmar" stuff out and showed it to my 3 girls. They were looking at the Daily Log (*navigator*) and saying "That's boring stuff, what did the kids do?" I teasingly told them the kids were in the pizza place - "Neapolitan Pizza"! Seriously, I don't remember seeing more than 4 kids on that ship. I also dug out of the *archives* a WDW map from 1988 showing Walt Disney World Village. What a difference between then and now!