Disney Cruise Line is an American
cruise lineA cruise line is a company that operates cruise ships. Cruise lines have a dual character; they are partly in the transportation business, and partly in the leisure entertainment business, a duality that carries down into the ships themselves, which have both a crew headed by the ship's captain,...
company owned by
The Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney Company , often simply known as Disney, is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world, known for its family-friendly products...
and headquartered in
Celebration, FloridaCelebration, Florida is a census-designated place and an unincorporated master-planned community in Osceola County in the U.S. state of Florida, near Walt Disney World Resort. It was developed by The Walt Disney Company...
. The business is run by President
Karl HolzKarl L. Holz is the current President for Disney Cruise Line as of February 14, 2009. Holz was moved back to his former role as part of the corporate merger of Disney Cruise Line and New Vacation Operations....
as part of the
Walt Disney Parks and ResortsWalt Disney Parks and Resorts is the segment of The Walt Disney Company that conceives, builds, and manages the company's theme parks and holiday resorts, as well as a variety of additional family-oriented leisure enterprises...
division. Disney Cruise Line operates the
Disney Cruise Line TerminalThe Disney Cruise Line Terminal or Port Canaveral's terminal 8, is located in Port Canaveral in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. It is used to transport passengers on and off of the Disney Cruise Line ships the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder.-Service:...
, which homeports both ships.
Disney Cruise Line operates two ships, the
Disney MagicThe Disney Magic is a cruise ship operated by the Disney Cruise Line, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Its sister, the Disney Wonder, was launched in 1999. The Disney Magic's Godmother is Roy E. Disney's ex-wife Patty Disney....
and the
Disney WonderThe Disney Wonder is the second cruise ship operated by Disney Cruise Line and was launched in 1999. The ship had its inaugral cruise from the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy, stopping in Southampton UK and arrived in Port Canaveral 2 weeks later. The Disney Wonder's Godmother is Tinkerbell.The...
, along with
Castaway CayCastaway Cay is a private island or "out island" in the Bahamas which serves as an exclusive port of call for the Disney Cruise Line ships Disney Wonder and Disney Magic. It is located at near Great Abaco Island, and was formerly known as Gorda Cay...
, a private island in the Bahamas designed as an exclusive port of call for Disney's ships.
The
Disney Magic began operation July 30, 1998.
Disney Cruise Line is an American
cruise lineA cruise line is a company that operates cruise ships. Cruise lines have a dual character; they are partly in the transportation business, and partly in the leisure entertainment business, a duality that carries down into the ships themselves, which have both a crew headed by the ship's captain,...
company owned by
The Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney Company , often simply known as Disney, is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world, known for its family-friendly products...
and headquartered in
Celebration, FloridaCelebration, Florida is a census-designated place and an unincorporated master-planned community in Osceola County in the U.S. state of Florida, near Walt Disney World Resort. It was developed by The Walt Disney Company...
. The business is run by President
Karl HolzKarl L. Holz is the current President for Disney Cruise Line as of February 14, 2009. Holz was moved back to his former role as part of the corporate merger of Disney Cruise Line and New Vacation Operations....
as part of the
Walt Disney Parks and ResortsWalt Disney Parks and Resorts is the segment of The Walt Disney Company that conceives, builds, and manages the company's theme parks and holiday resorts, as well as a variety of additional family-oriented leisure enterprises...
division. Disney Cruise Line operates the
Disney Cruise Line TerminalThe Disney Cruise Line Terminal or Port Canaveral's terminal 8, is located in Port Canaveral in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA. It is used to transport passengers on and off of the Disney Cruise Line ships the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder.-Service:...
, which homeports both ships.
Overview
Disney Cruise Line operates two ships, the
Disney MagicThe Disney Magic is a cruise ship operated by the Disney Cruise Line, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Its sister, the Disney Wonder, was launched in 1999. The Disney Magic's Godmother is Roy E. Disney's ex-wife Patty Disney....
and the
Disney WonderThe Disney Wonder is the second cruise ship operated by Disney Cruise Line and was launched in 1999. The ship had its inaugral cruise from the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy, stopping in Southampton UK and arrived in Port Canaveral 2 weeks later. The Disney Wonder's Godmother is Tinkerbell.The...
, along with
Castaway CayCastaway Cay is a private island or "out island" in the Bahamas which serves as an exclusive port of call for the Disney Cruise Line ships Disney Wonder and Disney Magic. It is located at near Great Abaco Island, and was formerly known as Gorda Cay...
, a private island in the Bahamas designed as an exclusive port of call for Disney's ships.
The
Disney Magic began operation July 30, 1998. The
Disney Wonder began operation August 15, 1999. The ships each contain 875 staterooms and are virtually identical in their design, with a few variations in restaurants and entertainment venues. Both contain areas designed exclusively for various age groups, including toddlers, young kids, teens, and adults.
They are the first in the industry to be designed and built from the keel up as family cruise liners, with the goal of accommodating parents and children. Unlike most ships of their type, they do not include casinos. Disney ships also feature horns which play the opening seven-note theme
When You Wish Upon a Star"When You Wish upon a Star" is a popular song written by Ned Washington and Leigh Harline and introduced in the 1940 Walt Disney movie Pinocchio, where it is sung by Cliff Edwards in the character of Jiminy Cricket, over the opening credits and again in the final scene of the film...
from Disney's
PinocchioPinocchio is a American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based on the story Pinocchio: Tale of a Puppet by Carlo Collodi. The second film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, it was made after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and was released to theaters by RKO Radio...
, in addition to the traditional horn.
Disney Cruise Line was created in 1995 when the company commissioned its two ships at
FincantieriFincantieri - Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A. is a shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy.-Overview:It designs and builds merchant vessels, passenger ships, offshore, and naval vessels, and is also active in the conversion and ship repair sectors...
in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
, ending an arrangement with
Premier Cruise LinePremier Cruise Line was a cruise line that was headquartered in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It was at one time licensed as the official cruise line of Walt Disney World and used the trademark "The Big Red Boat" based on the color scheme of some of its ships...
for the maritime segment of its vacation packages. Disney had contracted Premier Cruise Line to provide cruise vacations in the 1980s, also sailing from Port Canaveral. The ships were similarly marketed as family vacations and featured costumed Disney Characters.
Current
| Ship |
Year built |
Entered service |
Homeport |
Gross Tonnage Gross tonnage is a unitless index related to a ship's overall internal volume. Gross Tonnage is different from Gross Register Tonnage...
|
Notes |
Disney MagicThe Disney Magic is a cruise ship operated by the Disney Cruise Line, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Its sister, the Disney Wonder, was launched in 1999. The Disney Magic's Godmother is Roy E. Disney's ex-wife Patty Disney....
|
1998 |
1998 |
Port Canaveral |
|
The Disney Magic and its stern were built in two different countries and were then welded together. |
Disney WonderThe Disney Wonder is the second cruise ship operated by Disney Cruise Line and was launched in 1999. The ship had its inaugral cruise from the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy, stopping in Southampton UK and arrived in Port Canaveral 2 weeks later. The Disney Wonder's Godmother is Tinkerbell.The...
|
1999 |
1999 |
Port Canaveral |
|
The Disney Wonder will be moved from its home port in Florida to the Port of Los Angeles in 2011. |
Future
Disney Cruise Lines announced on February 22, 2007 that two new ships are to be added in 2011 and 2012. The ships are being built by
Meyer WerftThe Meyer Werft is one of the remaining large German shipyards, headquartered in Papenburg. Since 1997, it has been part of the Meyer Neptun Group together with Neptun Werft in Rostock.-History:...
shipyard, based in
PapenburgPapenburg is a city in the district of Emsland in Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. It is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer-Werft, which specializes in building cruise liners.- Districts :...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
; the first steel cut, made in March 2009, was for a portion of the scrollwork that will decorate the exterior of the vessels. Later that same month, the ships were officially named:
Disney Dream and
Disney Fantasy. They will be long and wide. These newest 128,000-ton ships will be 2 decks taller than the
Disney Magic and
Disney Wonder and will have 1,250 staterooms each.
Disney Cruise Line has negotiated with the Port Canaveral port authority and has extended their contract for 15 more years, through 2022. As part of this contract, the port authority will expand and upgrade the dock in order to accommodate the new ships (both of which will be home-ported there), the terminal will be enlarged to accommodate more passengers and luggage, and finally a parking garage will be built by 2011.
Both new ships are planned to depart from Port Canaveral until at least 2014. With the arrival of the
Disney Dream in 2011, the
Disney Wonder will be relocated to Los Angeles. The arrangement will be for two years, with a potential extension for three additional years.
| Ship |
Passenger capacity |
Projected to enter service |
To Be Homeported |
Gross Tonnage Gross tonnage is a unitless index related to a ship's overall internal volume. Gross Tonnage is different from Gross Register Tonnage...
|
Notes |
| Disney Dream The Disney Dream is an upcoming cruise ship for the Disney Cruise Line, part of The Walt Disney Company. The Disney Dream will be the third ship in the cruise line when it enters service in 2011.-History:...
|
4,000 |
2011 |
Port Canaveral |
|
|
| Disney Fantasy The Disney Fantasy is an upcoming cruise ship for the Disney Cruise Line, part of The Walt Disney Company. The Disney Fantasy will be the fourth ship in the cruise line when it enters service in 2012.-History:...
|
4,000 |
2012 |
Port Canaveral |
|
|
Current
| Position |
Name |
Notes |
| President of Disney Cruise Line |
Karl Holz Karl L. Holz is the current President for Disney Cruise Line as of February 14, 2009. Holz was moved back to his former role as part of the corporate merger of Disney Cruise Line and New Vacation Operations....
|
|
| Senior Vice President of Operations |
Tom Wolber |
Ozer Balli |
|
| Manager of Island Recreation & Shore Excursions |
Larry Stauffer |
|
| Director of Marine & Security Operations |
Russel Daya |
|
| Vice President of Marine & Technical Operations |
Bert Swets |
|
| Director of Purchasing & Logistics |
Tony Wills |
|
Former
| Position |
Name |
Notes |
| Former President of Disney Cruise Line 2004-2009 |
Tom McAlpin Thomas Michael McAlpin is the former president of Disney Cruise Line. McAlpin resigned in 2009 “to pursue other interests”. McAlpin was with the company for 13 years and was replaced by former President of New Vacation Operations, Karl Holz...
|
|
| Former President of Disney Cruise Line 2003-2004 |
Karl Holz Karl L. Holz is the current President for Disney Cruise Line as of February 14, 2009. Holz was moved back to his former role as part of the corporate merger of Disney Cruise Line and New Vacation Operations....
|
|
| Former President of Disney Cruise Line 1999-2003 |
Matt Ouimet -Career highlights:Prior to joining Corinthian Colleges, Inc. in December 2008, Ouimet was president, Hotel Group, for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. He oversaw global operations for more than 850 hotels in 95 countries after joining Starwood from Disney in 2006...
|
|
| Former President of Disney Cruise Line 1994-1999 |
Arthur Rodney Arthur 'Art' Rodney is the Former President of Disney Cruise Line. He left the company in 1999 and was replaced by Matt Ouimet. During his Disney Career, Arthur Rodney was in charge of the development, construction, and operations of both the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder.He began his career...
|
|
| Former Senior Vice President of Operations |
Tom McAlpin Thomas Michael McAlpin is the former president of Disney Cruise Line. McAlpin resigned in 2009 “to pursue other interests”. McAlpin was with the company for 13 years and was replaced by former President of New Vacation Operations, Karl Holz...
|
|
External links