Who remembers the Big Red Boat?

[llkoolj40]

We honeymooned on "The Big Red Boat" in 1997. Disney had already pulled there resorts out of the land-sea package by the time we sailed. When we boarded we discovered the ships original name was the Oceanic....The ship my parents went on to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary in 1978!!

Great Story!!!!

 

[cinderella&prince]

The Big Red Boat was the first cruise i had ever been on when the Looney Tunes were the characters on the ship. Bugs Bunny came and tucked my little brother in.... that was about 18 years ago....

 

[truck1]

In fairness, we were on Premier in 1994 after Disney declined to renew the contract to have Disney characters on the ship. We were there with the Looney Tunes. The kid programs consisted of coloring pictures of the characters and watching cartoons!

No, as others have noted, it was the official cruise line of Disney, but it was not owned by Disney. Just like Delta is the official airline of Disney, but it is not owned by Disney.
They just licensed Premier to have a few Disney charactors on board, just like they license McDonalds to allow them to include Disney toys in happy meals.
A co-worker WORKED for Disney and sailed on the Big Red Boat and thought it was odd that she couldn't get an employee discount. Then about 3 weeks ago she sailed on the Wonder, and a light bulb went off........the difference she said was incredible.

I have the book, Disney Magic, Launching a Dream, and it discusses how DCL actually came about. Im at work right now and dont have the book in front of me for exact dates.Ill post them later.
The short version is, that back in the early 90s,possibly late 80s(Id have to get my hands on the book when I get home) the Walt Disney Company, contracted with Premier Cruises out of Port Canaveral (as previously mentioned)for the cruise portion of the 7 day vacation packages.That was as far as the agreement went.Disney had little to no control over the cruise portion of the guest experience. When the contract came up for renewal, Disney had 3 basic choices.
1.Renew the contract as is with either Premier or another line.
2.Get out of the cruise business completely.
3.Start there own cruise line.

In the end, it was decided to cancel the contract with Premeir, and start a cruise line.The rest as they say is history.

Premier later contracted with Universal Studios, Orlando/Florida, for characters onboard. I remember seeing the sign Party Animals onboard, as well as the Universal Banner on her upper decks. Ill have look to see if I have the pics somewhere.Im also fairly certain that I have some pics of the Premier ships that were laid up in Nassau.
When Premier went bankrupt, Universal contracted with Royal Caribbean, for a cruise portion, of a land sea package, out of Port Canaveral.(personally I wouldnt be surprised if Universal is considering or has considered a cruise line of their own)

 

[tvguy]

The March/April issue of Cruise Travel magazine has a short note that NCL has come to an agreement with Nickelodeon to feature Nickelodeon themes family entertainment and programing, character meets and greets, etc.
It starts in April on the Norwegian Jewel, and this summer on the Norwegian Epic, and the deal runs for three years.

 

[inkkognito]

I remember reading that the Nick characters are going to offer tuck-ins like the Big Red Boat used to. It will be interesting to see if DCL matches that since they are so careful and that could be a liability nightmare (which is why I imagine they don't do it now). Remember the woman who claimed to be groped by Tigger?