Disney Cruise Line is an American cruise line company owned and operated by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, a division of The Walt Disney Company and is headquartered in Celebration, Florida.^[1] The business is run by President Karl Holz.^[2] Disney Cruise Line operates the Disney Cruise Line Terminal, which homeports the Disney Dream and the Disney Fantasy. The Disney Magic is homeported in New York City and Galveston , while the Disney Wonder is homeported in Los Angeles,Seattle,Vancouver,and Miami, Florida. In 2012, it is estimated Disney Cruise Lines will own nearly 3% share of the worldwide cruise market.^[3]

Overview[link]

Disney Magic in port at St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Disney Wonder in Port Canaveral

Disney Dream at Castaway Cay

Disney Cruise Line was created in 1995 when the company commissioned its two ships at Fincantieri in Italy, ending an arrangement with Premier Cruise Line for the maritime segment of its vacation packages.^[4] 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.^[5]

The Disney Magic began operation July 30, 1998.^[6] The Disney Wonder began operation August 15, 1999. The ships each contain 900 staterooms^[7] and are not identical in their design, with a lot of variations in interior design, restaurants and entertainment venues. Both contain areas designed exclusively for various age groups, including children, teenagers, and adults. Current routes are Alaska, Bahamas, Caribbean, Europe,Hawaii,Pacific Coast, and the Mexican Rivera.

Disney Cruise Line currently operates four ships: the Disney Magic, the Disney Wonder, the Disney Dream, and the Disney Fantasy.^[8] Disney also owns Castaway Cay, a private island in the Bahamas designed as an exclusive port of call for Disney's ships.^[9]

In 2007, Disney announced the creation of two new cruise ships.^[10] The two vessels, Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy were ordered to help to expand the cruise line's fleet. Disney Dream set sail in 2011, while Disney Fantasy set sail in March 2012 .^[8][11][12] Disney also has the contract options with Meyer Werft to build 2 additional "Dream Class" ships.

The ships 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 ship's horns which play the opening seven-note theme When You Wish Upon a Star from Disney's Pinocchio, in addition to the traditional horn.^[13] The line's two new ships expand on these tunes to include: "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" (Cinderella), "Be Our Guest" (Beauty and the Beast), "Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" (Pirates of the Caribbean), "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actor's Life for Me)" (Pinocchio), and "It's a Small World".^[14]

The Disney Cruise Line offers a variety of destinations including; Europe, Panama Canal, Caribbean, Alaska & Pacific Coast, Bahamas, Mexican Riviera, Hawaii, and Transatlantic destinations.^[15]

Fleet[link]

Current[link]

Future[link]

Disney Fantasy on the River Ems before sea trials

Disney Cruise Lines announced on February 22, 2007 that two new ships were to be added in 2011 and 2012, which entered service in 2011).^[16] The ships are being built by Meyer Werft shipyard, based in Papenburg, Germany; the first steel cut, made in March 2009, was for a portion of the scrollwork that will decorate the exterior of the vessels.^[17] Later that same month, the ships were officially named: Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy.^[17] They will be 340 m (1,120 ft) long and 37 m (121 ft) 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.^[18]

Disney Cruise Line has negotiated with the Port Canaveral port authority and has extended their contract for 15 more years, through 2022.^[19] 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.^[20]

Both new ships are planned to depart from Port Canaveral until at least 2014.^[17] With the arrival of the Disney Dream in 2011, the Disney Wonder has been relocated to Los Angeles.^[21] The arrangement will be for two years, with a potential extension for three additional years.^[21] Additionally, the Disney Magic will be temporarily assigned to New York City starting in May of 2012 ^[22] and later Galveston, Texas, starting in September 2012.^[23] The Disney Wonder is to change homeports from Los Angeles to the Port of Miami in Miami, Florida at the end of 2012.^[24]

Executive Management[link]

Current[link]

Former[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Disney Cruise Line
• DCL News
• Media related to Disney Cruise Line at Wikimedia Commons

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2008)

A 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, and a hospitality staff headed by the equivalent of a hotel manager.

Among cruise lines, some are direct descendants of the traditional passenger shipping lines, while others were founded from the 1960s on specifically for cruising. The business is extremely volatile; the ships are massive capital expenditures with very high operating costs, and a slight dip in bookings can easily put a company out of business. Cruise lines frequently sell, renovate, or simply rename their ships just to keep up with travel trends.

A wave of failures and consolidation in the 1990s has led to many lines existing only as "brands" within larger corporations, much as a single automobile company produces several makes of cars. Brands exist partly because of repeat customer loyalty, and also to offer different levels of quality and service. For instance, Carnival Corporation owns both Carnival Cruise Lines, whose former image were vessels that had a reputation as "party ships" for younger travellers, but have become large, modern, and extremely elegant, yet still profitable, and Holland America Line, whose ships cultivate an image of classic elegance.

Currently the five largest cruise line operators in the world are Carnival Corporation & plc, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Star Cruises, MSC Cruises and Louis Cruise Lines.

See also[link]

• List of cruise ships
• List of cruise lines
• List of ocean liners
• Cruising (maritime)

External links[link]

• Cruise line at the Open Directory Project