New Boat "The Disney Dream"

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Happen to stumble across this article while searching for DW's Italian charms. Seems that this gentleman has some inside info as to the new boat.

By: Shaun Finnie
E-Mail Shaun


The Disney Cruise Line is now well established and ready for expansion. In his latest article, Shaun Finnie looks at the possible directions that expansion could take.
There have been many rumours about a possible expansion of the Disney Cruise Line over the years, but recently they’ve started to get a bit more specific. In this article I’ll try to collect some of the more reliable ones together. Remember, this isn’t what’s definitely going to happen; it’s what has been rumour to be in the planning stages at the Disney Cruise Line.

The plan is apparently for the Disney Wonder to stay at Port Canaveral, continuing with the current three and four night cruises. Her sister ship, the Disney Magic, would cruise back through the Panama Canal to take passengers on a regular version of the Los Angeles to Mexico route that will be sailing this summer. The 2005 trial of this route was supposedly just for a limited run in honour of Disneyland’s 50th anniversary but as it’s been hugely popular, making it a regular occurrence seems a sure thing.

The longer cruises that currently sail out of Florida would be done by a brand new ship to be named the Disney Dream. The Dream would be styled to the same classic look as the two current ships but would have a few more decks – three or four seem to be the most commonly reported numbers. This would make it higher than the Wonder and Magic, but no wider, as that would make passage through the Panama Canal impossible: the current ships only just fit through it.

Disney Dream will be instantly recognisable to anyone who’s been on the two older boats, but with a few additions. A second exclusive restaurant will be added. It will be similar to Palo, but will be French in theme. The three main restaurants will actually be larger that on the Magic & Wonder, but will be variable in size with movable walls so that they will always feel full even if the ship isn’t running at full capacity.

Another difference in the proposed Dream is with the much-loved Animator’s Palate. This restaurant is to be replicated at the Walt Disney Studios, Paris, in a version that will be more or less the same as the current cruise line restaurants. The Disney Dream version will be much more elaborate though, with better and more colour-changing effects.

Finally, the Dream will (if the rumours are to be believed) feature a number of larger staterooms capable of holding families of up to six people. This is in response to large family groups of passengers complaining in the past that they’ve had to split them up.

So with the building of the Disney Dream and the new western route, that’s the proposed DCL expansion phase one.

Phase two would involve cruising to much further afield places. Los Angeles to Tokyo would be a fairly obvious route for a larger ship like the proposed Dream to embark on. And there’s also talk of putting a ship in the Mediterranean to do a land / sea vacation link with Disneyland Paris. But the US West Coast is looking very likely candidate for expanded touring options. Why else would Disney just last month have started inviting guests who had been on multiple DCL cruises and theme park holidays to join them on escorted touring trips (not via the Cruise Line) to Hawaii? Can you imagine a Lilo & Stitch-themed cruise to Hawaii? The 50th State is a definite prime target for future DCL sailings, and an Alaskan cruise has been mentioned too.

There has even been talk of Disney buying two cruise ships from other operators for the shorter runs and renaming them Disney Fantasia and Disney Enchantment. I can’t really see this happening though as the cost of refitting an existing vessel to the standards of the Magic & Wonder would surely be almost as much as building a brand new boat.

Of course there are no timescales for all this to happen in, nor any guarantees that any of it will happen at all. It’s just the Disney rumour mill.

But it’s always fun to Dream….

 

[Euphscott]

All of this is fine and dandy, but what fact is he basing any of this upon?

 

[Typhoon Guy]

In a staff meeting about 1 or so ago there was an announcementthat a 3rd ship has been commissioned by the same shipyard that built the Wonder and Magic. Disney is set to make the deal they are waiting for the value of the Doller to be better in Italy so that it would not cost the company more to build anothership. Although a name was not released the 3rd ship would be longer and taller. Adding several more decks and a third red smoke stack.

 

[DrCavin]

Most of that info has been reported before. DIS emailed many of the details on the ship a few months ago. Rumour has it DCL is working on a terminal in San Francisco, http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=823467

 

[holcomb-mania]

An Alaska cruise would be sweet.

 

[georgeat]

All the other major cruise lines have ships on order. What is Disney waiting for? Do they think the dollar will ever get that strong or will they miss the boat. Really I think if they added two ships they would do fine. They could both do Alaska in the summer and Mexico in the winter. I say "LET'S DO IT"

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I'm troubled when I see copyrighted articles stolen from another website, without even identifying the source. The source is this article at Mickey News and the article is over two months old. The article is titled "Disney Cruise Line Rumours," which the OP failed to include.

The article is a compilation of things that have been announced along with rumors, conjecture, and misinformation. Allow me to comment about a couple of things in the article:

"The Dream would be styled to the same classic look as the two current ships but would have a few more decks – three or four seem to be the most commonly reported numbers. This would make it higher than the Wonder and Magic, but no wider, as that would make passage through the Panama Canal impossible: the current ships only just fit through it."​

Yes. Disney, has already said that the plans call for the next generation of Disney ships to be Panamax sized, meaning the same width and length as the Wonder and Magic, so that the new ships will also fit through the Panama Canal. But there won't be "three or four" additional decks. The height of a ship is limited by its width; otherwise it becomes top-heavy and unstable. Other cruise lines have built Panamax ships with more staterooms and interior volume than the Disney ships. For example, RCCL's Radiance of the Seas has a volume of 90,090 GRT compared to the Disney Magic's volume of 83,000 GRT. (GRT is a measure of volume, not weight.) Yes, the next Disney ship is likely to have an additional deck of verandah staterooms -- but not "three or four."

"Los Angeles to Tokyo would be a fairly obvious route for a larger ship like the proposed Dream to embark on."​

Maybe that would be "fairly obvious" to Shaun Finnie, but it makes very little sense to operate ocean voyages of around two weeks, with almost no port stops along the way, after which passengers would need expensive one-way flights across the Pacific. There is no cruise line operating such a route today.

 

[ivanova]

All the other major cruise lines have ships on order. What is Disney waiting for? [/B]

Actually you will see a lull in new ships rolling out for other cruise lines .. just heard a HAL rep state that ships we've been seeing roll out had been ordered pre-9/11 .. right after 9/11 a lot of ship orders were delayed or cancelled, and we'll now start seeing that in few ships rolling out over the next couple of years.

....it makes very little sense to operate ocean voyages of around two weeks, with almost no port stops along the way, after which passengers would need expensive one-way flights across the Pacific. There is no cruise line operating such a route today.

The exception are the repositioning cruises from the west coast to Asia .. but other cruise lines do not operate ROUND TRIP ocean voyages .. like Horace says, doesn't make much sense.

 

[KaitlinsMom]

When I was on the Magic in April - Karen at Bingo asked the crowd what names they would like for the third ship - Someone brought up "Dreams" and she said that they could not use that name because it is in use by another cruise line (Carnival I think, but I am not sure)

Karen

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

When I was on the Magic in April - Karen at Bingo asked the crowd what names they would like for the third ship - Someone brought up "Dreams" and she said that they could not use that name because it is in use by another cruise line (Carnival I think, but I am not sure)

NCL operates the Norwegian Dream.

There are some cases where different cruise lines have ships with similar names. There's probably no legal reason why DCL can't name a ship Disney Dream (or Disney Dreams), but I doubt DCL would want to.

Some day, I hope DCL will dust off their plans, contract with a shipyard, and announce a fleet expansion and the name(s) of the ship(s). Until then, we will keep hearing the rumor, "Disney's is adding another ship, and it will be called the the Disney Dream."

 

[Miss Eeyore]

I think it is unfortunate that DCL puts off and puts off building a third ship. But it is not in their best financial interest to do so for several reasons. With the current two ships they are able to fill every sailing at premium prices....no sales, seldom upgrades. But why would they want to dilute their sales pool with a third ship?

And once they do decide to proceed, I do not understand the long wait for the ship to be built. Princess has announced the laying of the hull right now for a new ship, and it will be available and booking cruises summer 2006.

So...a new ship would be great for us cruisers, but not so good for DCL.

 

[GenieDana]

Just some of many sites that list the contracted newbuilds:

http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/other/new_build.asp

http://www.cruisenewsdaily.com/newships.html

 

[jgalecpa]

If you want a hint at encouraging news:


The Dollar is at seven month highs against the Euro!

C'mon, Greenback!

Jim

PS Don't get me started on the Chinese Yuan issue.

 

[pogopossum]

as far as new ships not being good for dcl, i think that this summer's experiment in the west has shown that they could definitely make good use of a third ship. being bi-coastal would give them cruisers that they are not going to get in the caribbean alone. and if they added a fourth in the med, that might just be the cure for what ails them with dlp. tying a dcl ship with those existing theme parks makes perfect sense, more than alaska or hawaii cruises, at this point. don't see where two additions would greatly increase discounting or upgrading.

 

[paulmc80]

Nawwwww .... Hawaii is where its at. Definitely.

Not bias .... just self centered here. LOL

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Nawwwww .... Hawaii is where its at. Definitely.

Not bias .... just self centered here. LOL

 

[plutospup]

But there won't be "three or four" additional decks. The height of a ship is limited by its width; otherwise it becomes top-heavy and unstable. QUOTE]

As of two years ago, a DCL exec confirmed that that the plans included additional decks. The topheavy/instablility issue was being addressed by the engineers. As we've known, the plans, for the most part, have been ready. Unfortunately, 9/11, and the Euro exchange rate have been significant problems.