Nice chat with Captain Henry

[RRB]

We just returned from a 4 night cruise on the Dream and I had a chance to speak to Captain Henry about the new ships.
1) Although the construction has not started yet, Disney has been working on the design for over 6 months.
2) The size of the new ships will be similar but not exactly the same as the "Dream Class" vessels (previously released information).
3) The new ships will have Azipod drives for propulsion in lieu of shaft drive propulsion (I am not sure that information has been released but I did not know that)
4) The Captain for the first new ship will be promoted from within Disney Cruise Line Company and there is a number of candidates are now being considered.
5) The new Captain will arrive at the shipyard 180 days prior to completion of the construction along with the chief Engineer. At 90 days prior to completion, the next level of Officers (Hotel Manager, Support Engineers, etc) will arrive. The remaining staff arrives after that
6) During the Platinum/Gold Castaway Club reception, Henry talked about the possiblity of around the world cruises (but did not state that this would necessarliy happen). He said that the Cruisers would determine the new itineraries and ports and encouraged us to write in with our recommendations


pretty cool.

 

[dclpluto]

We just returned from a 4 night cruise on the Dream and I had a chance to speak to Captain Henry about the new ships.
1) Although the construction has not started yet, Disney has been working on the design for over 6 months.
2) The size of the new ships will be similar but not exactly the same as the "Dream Class" vessels (previously released information).
3) The new ships will have Azipod drives for propulsion in lieu of shaft drive propulsion (I am not sure that information has been released but I did not know that)
4) The Captain for the first new ship will be promoted from within Disney Cruise Line Company and there is a number of candidates are now being considered.
5) The new Captain will arrive at the shipyard 180 days prior to completion of the construction along with the chief Engineer. At 90 days prior to completion, the next level of Officers (Hotel Manager, Support Engineers, etc) will arrive. The remaining staff arrives after that
6) During the Platinum/Gold Castaway Club reception, Henry talked about the possiblity of around the world cruises (but did not state that this would necessarliy happen). He said that the Cruisers would determine the new itineraries and ports and encouraged us to write in with our recommendations


pretty cool.

Thanks for the info.

Number 4 I would think the captain of the first new ship will already be a captain and not someone newly promoted.

 

[RRB]

Thanks for the info.

Number 4 I would think the captain of the first new ship will already be a captain and not someone newly promoted.

Could be. My question to him was whether a captain would be hired from outside the company or internally.

 

[Expatriat]

Could be. My question to him was whether a captain would be hired from outside the company or internally.

The key regarding promotion would be whether Captain Henry used the word "promoted" or if that was your choice of words and he perhaps said "assigned" or something similar. One who is already a Captain who gets a new ship is not "promoted." I agree with dclpluto. They would would assign one with considerable experience, of which DCL has many.

 

[RRB]

The word promoted was not meant to mean that a junior officer was going to be the next captain, it was to meant to mean that the next captain would be from the current DCL staff. However, if an existing captain is re-assigned to the new ship, he would need to be replaced by a another person which you would assume would not be a captain which would require a promotion. He also said that he cruises about 50 times per year which is about half the cruises the Dream currently makes per year. I believe there are DCL captains that rotate in the fleet to allow the Ship's Captains to take vacations.

 

[FigmentSpark]

It might also be a promotion to move to the newer ship, even though he's already an experienced captain, he might move up a pay grade.

 

[PlanoNana]

I believe each ship is assigned two captains that rotate being on the ship and being on vacation. Same with staff captains who are the second in command. Staff captains may have as much or more total experience as the captains but less seniority with DCL.

 

[John VN]

Regarding Captain Henry but not thread title related, just a thank you to Captain Henry for allowing my family and myself the opportunity to tour the Wonder Bridge and to do a double horn button press when leaving CC some many years ago.

 

[dclpluto]

Regarding Captain Henry but not thread title related, just a thank you to Captain Henry for allowing my family and myself the opportunity to tour the Wonder Bridge and to do a double horn button press when leaving CC some many years ago.

We're you in the Walt or Roy suite? I heard them doing that for people in them rooms.

 

[RRB]

We got a "bridge tour" several years ago as the ship was leaving Castaway Cay. They stopped doing that shortly thereafter.

 

[John VN]

We're you in the Walt or Roy suite? I heard them doing that for people in them rooms.

Walt or Roy?....---just a veranda.

 

[polyqueen]

Captain Henry is a lovely man. In 2001, when he was captain of the Wonder, he was so kind to our 5 year old son. This was during the hey-day of the Christopher Radko ornament craze, and the ship had a Disney ship ornament, which the captain signed. It is such a treasure to him that he has it on display in his college apartment.

 

[Expatriat]

I believe each ship is assigned two captains that rotate being on the ship and being on vacation. Same with staff captains who are the second in command. Staff captains may have as much or more total experience as the captains but less seniority with DCL.

This is true. The captains generally rotate every 10 weeks. But regarding RRB's post - Being assigned to the latest, greatest ship would be considered an honor and privilege, but I wouldn't call it a promotion unless it went to a staff captain, which I doubt would happen. So my question was whether Captain Henry himself used the word "promoted."

 

[truck1]

I'm thinking that theyll.promote the new capts to the fleet and the most senior capt will go to Germany. Comodore Tom for example has built and brought home all 4 of DCL'S ships. Assuming he doest retire before the new ships, he'll prob be the one to go. If he does retire, whoever is next in line will most likely go.

 

[RedSox68]

Number 2 -- will the new ships be between the size of the Classic and Dream Classes, or bigger than the Dream Class?

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Number 2 -- will the new ships be between the size of the Classic and Dream Classes, or bigger than the Dream Class?

They're supposed to be a smidge (that's the technical term ) smaller than the Dream class. A bit larger than the Magic class. But, basically, the Dream class size.

 

[rhinodadz]

The new ships were announced at 135,000 tons, slightly more than the Dream class (130,000 tons).
https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2016/03/disney-planning-two-new-cruise-ships/

 

[RedSox68]

The new ships were announced at 135,000 tons, slightly more than the Dream class (130,000 tons).
https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2016/03/disney-planning-two-new-cruise-ships/

Argh -- was really hoping they'd go back to slightly smaller. Getting really tired of the ships in the industry getting bigger and bigger.

 

[Dug720]

Argh -- was really hoping they'd go back to slightly smaller. Getting really tired of the ships in the industry getting bigger and bigger.

Tonnage does not necessarily mean *bigger* - it could mean more features adding more weight. They look just a tiny bit larger...but still nowhere near the Behemoths of the Seas other lines are determined to keep putting out there.

 

[rhinodadz]

"each is currently planned to include about 1,250 guest staterooms" - that's the same number as the current Dream class ships so as @Dug720 stated the tonnage doesn't mean more passenger capacity.