So....whatever happened to the Big Red Boat?

[love280mickey]

I was on a cruise once on another line and saw this "boat" in port. It looked very small at the time.

How long did it sail and whatever happened to it? Was it actually a Disney boat/ship?

When did the Magic and Wonder come out to replace it?

Any of you sail on her, and to which ports?

just being curious..

 

[rachelm23]

They sank her, just off the coast of one of the Carolinas I believe.

 

[cruisecrasher]

according to the article Disney ended their relationship in 1993.
The Magic set sail in 1998.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_Cruise_Line#section_1

"The Oceanic (Big Red Boat I) was still sailing until 2012 when it was sailed to Yokohama for scrapping [7]. The Big Red Boat II, formerly Eugenio Costa, was put up for sale and was laid up in Freeport, Bahamas. It had no potential buyers and remained there until 2005. It was eventually sold to the breakers and was scrapped in Alang, India in late 2005.[8] The Big Red Boat III, formerly Carnival Cruise Line's Festivale was also sold for scrap. The former Frederico C (called the Seabreeze I) was to be scrapped at India but instead sank in a storm 220 nautical miles (407 km) off the Virginia coast. Lastly, the Rembrandt, formerly the Rotterdam, was purchased by the city of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, to be restored and kept as a historic landmark."

 

[ChewieIsMyCoPilot]

This was the very first cruise I ever went on when I was 5 (back in '93 so I guess it was as their Disney partnership was ending). We went to the Bahamas. I remember their versions of a kids club and, let me tell you, kids today are downright spoiled in comparison .

 

[sissy_ib]

I was on a cruise once on another line and saw this "boat" in port. It looked very small at the time.

How long did it sail and whatever happened to it? Was it actually a Disney boat/ship?

When did the Magic and Wonder come out to replace it?

Any of you sail on her, and to which ports?

just being curious..

It was not a Disney ship. It was a Premier Cruise Line ship that Disney started a contract with in 1985. They had Disney characters and they did Disney land/sea vacations with WDW. Disney ended the contract in 1993 and started DCL in 1994. The line is now defunct and the ships themselves had all different fates.

 

[CarolAnnC]

It was not a Disney ship. It was a Premier Cruise Line ship that Disney started a contract with in 1985. They had Disney characters and they did Disney land/sea vacations with WDW. Disney ended the contract in 1993 and started DCL in 1994. The line is now defunct and the ships themselves had all different fates.

That is correct. Disney never "owned" the Big Red Boat. Premier Cruise Line more or less bought licensing rights to use the characters and the Disney name on board.

I think everyone agrees that there really was no comparison. Once Disney decided to get into the cruise business, they just blew everyone's socks off, lol.

 

[super mike b]

A sad end. We had our honeymoon on that boat.

 

[MousseauMob]

I sailed her - had a great land/sea cruise, doing WDW then cruising to Nassau, Freeport.... hmmm and I think somewhere else, but can't recall now. Our cruise was great we had the Beach Boys onboard half way, then they did a concert on the pier for us and our sister ship, then they boarded the sister ship and sailed back with her. My daughter was 14 at the time, and she LOVED the kids club, I don't know what it was like for younger kids, but the teens had a blast.

 

[kcashner]

This boat was my first cruise experience. It was in 1994, after Disney had declined to renew the character contract, so the Disney folk had been replaced by Looney Tunes. It was still "The Official Cruise Line of Walt Disney World" and booked land/sea combinations.

The little kid programs were horrible. Basically they watched cartoons on video and did coloring pages.

The good part was that it was also our first WDW experience and that was great.

 

[Bonniec]

A sad end. We had our honeymoon on that boat.

Mine too.


In fact, we sailed the year the Magic debuted and it was my first (and only so far) cruise. I remember us looking at it and we were so excited....and the we saw the Magic sitting next to it. I had serious ship envy and vowed I wanted to go on that ship next, lol. We had a great time though and I have fond memories of the Big Red Boat.


And now, 14 years later we are planning to cruise the Magic.

 

[FairyGodLibrarian]

A sad end. We had our honeymoon on that boat.

Us too! We spent the first half of our honeymoon (June 1992) in Disney (enjoying the Adventurers Club and River Country) and the second half on the Big Red Boat. There was a tiny casino on board and the staterooms were slightly larger than the bed. Since it was my first cruise I was a little surprised by the tight quarters since my only point of reference was the huge rooms featured on The Love Boat. We stopped at a much less developed Castaway Cay.

We have since sailed on The Magic and The Fantasy and boy have times changed!

 

[dclcruiser88]

Us too! We spent the first half of our honeymoon (June 1992) in Disney (enjoying the Adventurers Club and River Country) and the second half on the Big Red Boat. There was a tiny casino on board and the staterooms were slightly larger than the bed. Since it was my first cruise I was a little surprised by the tight quarters since my only point of reference was the huge rooms featured on The Love Boat. We stopped at a much less developed Castaway Cay.

We have since sailed on The Magic and The Fantasy and boy have times changed!

Disney via Premier Cruises stopped at Gorda Cay in '92?
How far out did you have to tender to the island from?

 

[truck1]

They sank her, just off the coast of one of the Carolinas I believe.

There were several Big Red boats. Plus several other ships that were acquired from another ilne that Premiere bought out.

It wasnt an "intentional" sinking( such as to make a reef). The Seabreeze 1,actually went down under suspicous circmstances. She was actually in Halifax at the time of the cease operations, and was sold to another line. She was being sailed from Halifax to Charleston SC and was 225 miles off the Va coast. She radioed the US Coast Guard saying she was taking on water after a boiler malfunction and the Capt demanded to have every one taken off the ship( she was without passengers and had 34 crew onboard). This sparked a lot of concern in that the CG did not think that the ship should nothave gone down that quick, with the damage that the crew reported( typically capts ask for tugs and salvage crews, pumps and whatever else they need to save the ship and have her towed to port or shallow water.) she was registered in Panama which has a less then a stellar track record investigating ship sinkings, and she was insured for 20 million even though she was only worth about 5-6 million and was 25 miles out of US jurisdiction in deep water. Accroding to a London investigator, he wished she had gone down 25 miles closer to shore so the US could have investigated.

 

[BigRed1]

I was on a cruise once on another line and saw this "boat" in port. It looked very small at the time.

How long did it sail and whatever happened to it? Was it actually a Disney boat/ship?

When did the Magic and Wonder come out to replace it?

Any of you sail on her, and to which ports?

just being curious..

According to Wikipedia, she was sold for scrap in June of this year.

 

[Phantomzkb]

P & O Cruise lines still has the Oceana, and she is in Olden Norway as of 08/30/12

 

[dclcruiser88]

P & O Cruise lines still has the Oceana, and she is in Olden Norway as of 08/30/12

SS Oceanic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Oceanic_(1965)

 

[tupperware509]

Disney via Premier Cruises stopped at Gorda Cay in '92?
How far out did you have to tender to the island from?

This is the same island as Castaway Cay, Disney purchased it in 1996 and reno'd it. I knew of the name change but did not know that premier cruises stopped at it.

 

[Queen2]

we were on the boats 3 times. Oceanic & the Majestic. One cruise had looney tone characters. 2 trip we stayed at Caribbean beach. Cant remember the one trip.

 

[sissy_ib]

This is the same island as Castaway Cay, Disney purchased it in 1996 and reno'd it. I knew of the name change but did not know that premier cruises stopped at it.

They didn't. It was a different island.

 

[dclcruiser88]

This is the same island as Castaway Cay, Disney purchased it in 1996 and reno'd it. I knew of the name change but did not know that premier cruises stopped at it.

I am aware of that, hence mentioning Gorda Cay, the little known (outside of the DIS) former name for CC!