was the Big Red Boat a Disney ship?

[kikipug]

The BRB was originally sailed out of NYC under the Italian Line. I sailed on her under the Italian line and the Premiere line. My Disney wonder cruise will be my 19th cruise and my second disney cruise.

Yes, it was "Home Lines"... the Doric, the Oceanic, and the Atlantic... my first cruise when I was 7... when crusing still meant dressing for dinner EVERY night, and no such thing as children's activities. (my siblings and I were the only ones on the ship, both times... LOVED it that way!!!!!) White gloved service, high tea at 4PM, and service fit for a queen...

We met up with the ship again when it was the Big Red Boat... Disney characters on board, lots of fun... in fact, long before the DCL commercial of the same concept came along, in Feb of '94, we had an original "Little Souvenir" from our Big Red Boat trip in May of '93!!! (Despite twin beds that were NOT moveable, and a small cabin)

 

[yogibigdog]

When I was getting ready for my 04/05 trip on the Wonder I happened upon by old Premier Cruise line folder. We had been on the "Oceanic" spring of 1988. I still had the itinerary and all the information in the folder. The cover says "Premier Cruise Lines - The official Cruise Line Of Walt Disney World" I remember our cabin as being run down. The whole ship had "knee knockers" (you know where you have to lift your foot over the 5 inch threshold to get into each room.) We even had an electrical fire in our cabin. The ship was old. They could not get that burning electrical smell out of our cabin so the moved us to an upgrade. That cabin was not much better.
After reading through the itinerary it said we had been tendered to their island called Salt Cay. I actually had no memory of this island so I got out our video.
After watching the video it all came back. The tender played loud Caribbean music back and forth from the island. The island was okay no comparison to Castaway Cay.
Our package included as stay at the Disney Inn.
The cruise was okay we had a good time but I thought the ship was really old even back then. I remember the crew was great.

Still have the Facts & Figures sheet about the ship in the folder.
It says that The Oceanic first sailed with Premier cruise lines 04/25/86 and at time was the largest ship in the Bahamas cruise market at 40,000 Gross tons.
Length was 774 Ft Beam 97 Ft with 8 Decks.
The other ship at the time was the Royale it had a gross tonnage of 21,000 tons. Length of 606 and beam of 74 it also had 8 decks.
It first sailed with Premier on 03/26/84.

I heard on ship is someplace in Freeport. Are these ships abandoned, did they break them down for scrap or is someone using them?

 

[jillane88]

My TA worked on the BRB as her first job out of college. She worked in the kids area and said they worked like dogs 16 hours a day. She has told me hilarious stories about having to dress up like a pirate and entertain kids on a HOT HOT beach. I have so much more respect for those folks who faithfully entertain our kids on the ship. Of couse she likes being a TA SO much better, but it gave her a great "in" as to what really goes on on the ships.

Heather
Western Magic May 2006

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I heard on ship is someplace in Freeport. Are these ships abandoned, did they break them down for scrap or is someone using them?

The Oceanic is now operated by Pullmantur Cruises, a Spanish company. See http://www.pullmanturcruises.com/oceanic.html (the page loads slowly and is in Spanish)

Premier's original "Big Red Boat," the Royale, sank in 2000. At that time, it was named the SeaBreeze. See http://www.parentsurf.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCP/is_5_22/ai_71821966

 

[mickeyfan1]

I sailed on all 3 BRBs. When they were the "Official Cruise Line of Walt Disney World" and after. For the poster who couldn't believe the state room size on the Oceanic, believe it. The were HUGE, much larger than cat 11s, on an equal compare. I know that many here think that Disney has the largest staterooms, but I know that is not true. Staterooms at the lowest category on Carnival Ectasy are bigger. I have sailed many other cruise lines, and they all have their good and bad points. I think that one thing DCL should have done when they began sailing was to hire the chefs from the BRBs. Most of them were medal winning shefs, and the food on the BRB was the best I have had on any cruise line.

BTW, the BRB Majestic, which called on the Abacos rather than Nassau and Grand Bahama was also the original Love Boat in the first season. She was small., and her staterooms at the lowest cost were the smallest I have ever seen. THey never seemed to show them on the Love Boat show!

Horace, thanks for the links. I never sailed on the Royale, she was given up and the Atlantic took her place, I believe. Then Majestic was added.

FWIW - The Big Red Boats were wonderful ships for the time. They had excellent crews, great itineraries, and when they were affiliated with Disney, they did it right. I am glad the Disney decided to get into the cruise business, and have been sucessful. But if it had not been for the older lines before them, they may never have done it.

 

[CPM]

I know that many here think that Disney has the largest staterooms, but I know that is not true. Staterooms at the lowest category on Carnival Ectasy are bigger. I have sailed many other cruise lines, and they all have their good and bad points.

And, have more storage space.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Links about two more Big Red Boats -- including what they were before they were Big Red Boats, and what they're doing now...

Premier Majestic: http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/FlamencoPCs.html

Premier Atlantic: http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/AtlanticPCs.html

 

[llachance]

My daughter was four. We stayed at the Dolphin for three days then drove to Port Canaveral and were on the Oceanic for 4 days. I do remember the crew as being amazing and the food was good as well. There was a fire on board while we were docked at Nassau. We donned our life vests and went and sat by the pool for a couple of hours while they cleared the smoke from the hallways. One of the dryers had caught on fire. Have pictures with the Captain with my daughter asleep in my arms...and last night at FFA awards night they show pictures of the graduating seniors during a slide show. I let my daughter pick her pictures out so I was clueless as to what she had chosen. One of the pictures was with her captains hat on "steering" the Big Red Boat. We had a great time.

 

[mickeyfan1]

Links about two more Big Red Boats -- including what they were before they were Big Red Boats, and what they're doing now...

Premier Majestic: http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/FlamencoPCs.html

Premier Atlantic: http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/AtlanticPCs.html

What a cool site!!!! I need to look up the rest of the old ships on which I have sailed. Thanks!

 

[NYGiantsRule!]

We sailed on our first cruise on the BRB with the Warner Brothers characters. Our cabins was really small and we had to step over those bottom door things. My DS favorite thing was winning a free "tuck-in" by Bugs Bunny. The character came to your room and a photographer and you had about 5 minutes of time at bedtime.

 

[randytenn]

During our first Disney Cruise in 2000, we docked beside the "Big Red Boat" in Nassau. That night, at dinner, our server told us that Premier had gone into receivership, and that the cruises were cancelled. Apparently, all of the people on the ship had to find their own way home. I remember looking at the ship, and seeing the crew members having one last big party (apparently, they figured out they weren't getting any tips for the cruise, so they broke into the liquor storage and had a huge party).

Disney hired a bunch of the employees there in Nassau, but the customers were out of luck.

 

[Mary Anne]

I too sailed on the Oceanic twice when it was out of NYC back in 1970 and 1971. To the poster who asked if the rooms were really 3x's bigger? Yes they were! While I couldn't tell you what I ate for dinner last night nor what my room # was on the Magic less then a year ago, I know exactly what staterooms I was in 30 plus years ago on the Oceanic. I was in staterooms 062 in 1970 and C62 in 1971 and indeed they were 3 x's bigger. You ate beautiful meals 3 x's a day that were 100 times better then the food on Disney's ship plus a full midnight buffet every single night. You dressed for dinner all the time and changed at least twice a day as shorts were not permitted in the dinning rooms. That was a true luxury cruise ship. Disney does a lot of things really well when you compare it to the Oceanic when the Oceanic was the top of the line cruise ship/line Disney does pale.

 

[txaggie94gigem]

the one thing disney says they have improved on in the design of a future ship is the # of bigger rooms to hold more people...even i believe that most staterooms, esp those with verandahs can hold more than 4 people if 2 of those people are small children...i have a family of 6 and getting 2 cabins keeps getting more and more expensive...i am jealous of the people that can take their family on board for less than $3000 each time...our current cruise in the offseason is $5400, one inside room and one oceanview room...if i could get a room for all 6 of us with a balcony for the same price i would jump at the chance...esp since my kids are small and i don't like the idea of leaving them alone at night to sleep...luckily my mom will come with us this time (adds $600) so the kids do not have to stay all in one room with us but that was what we were origianlly going to do...have all the kids stay in our room with us...i hope they hurry up and build the new ship so we can cruise with all the kids with us iin one room! I just hope they do not price these as much as the suites, which i cannot afford....i believe you should be able to add a child 3 and under to any room (for a fee) and not have that child count in the max occupancy for that room...

btw....those ships look so SMALL compared to the big ships of today! what was their capacity for # of passengers?

 

[kikipug]

btw....those ships look so SMALL compared to the big ships of today! what was their capacity for # of passengers?

If I remember correctly, the Atantic only held about 1200 passengers.

 

[Tigrrtum]

The very first time I took the beautiful woman who became my wife to WDW (and got her TOTALLY hooked), it was on the "Big Red Boat" Cruise. Not only did she fall in love with WDW, My wife loved the cruises so much, she went back several times afterward, taking a differant girlfriend with her each time and sailed on a differant ship in the Premier fleet each time. I think she would agree with me that DCL leaves Premier way waaay in the dust!!