History of the Disney Cruise Line

by Sam. 10.23.21

Ahoy maties! Fresh off our latest Disney Cruise, it seems like a good time to dive in (ok ok - enough puns) to the history of the happiest cruise line on the seas.. The Disney Cruise Line. I'm a little biased in my cruise coverage, because aside from an awesome Royal Caribbean cruise I took over 20 years ago.... and also a rather dim and less spectacular Carnival cruise we took nigh 15 years ago, all of my other ship experience (3 times) has been aboard the incredible Disney Dream.

It's really easy to just assign all of your Disney thoughts to being for children. And yeah, I get it. What's more childlike than thoughts of Mickey and friends singing 'When You Wish Upon A Star'... but this isn't just a big boat where all the crew wear mickey ears. No sir, it's far more than that. As with all things Disney, it's the attention to detail that for me, just never ceases to amaze.

But there's plenty of stuff online about the layout of the boats (which for the Dream in particular, looks like THIS). After you get the awe out of the way of being on enormous floating resort, there's other things that come to mind. How old is this boat? When did they come up with this idea? How long did it take to build...?

Hi-ho, hi ho.. It's off to Wikipedia we go... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Cruise_Line

Disney Cruise Line is a cruise line operation that is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The company was incorporated in 1996 as Magical Cruise Company Limited, through the first vessel, Disney Magic and is domiciled in London, England, with their operational headquarters located in Celebration, Florida.

Disney Cruise Line currently operates four ships: Disney Magic, Disney Wonder, Disney Dream, and Disney Fantasy. Three ships will join the fleet in 2022, 2024, and 2025. The first ship was revealed to be named Disney Wish. Disney Cruise Line also owns Castaway Cay, a private island in the Bahamas designed as an exclusive port of call for Disney's ships. A second private destination, Lighthouse Point, Bahamas, a 700-acre property on the southern end of Eleuthera, Bahamas is in the works to open in late 2022 or early 2023. Disney Cruise Line operates the Disney Cruise Line Terminal (Terminal 8) in Port Canaveral, Florida.

The cruise line has experienced some growth over the past several years. In 2011, the company held a 1.95 percent market share and by 2015, Disney Cruise Lines had 2.8 percent of the worldwide cruise market by passenger and 2.4 percent by revenue. However, in 2018, Disney Cruise Lines declined to 2.3 percent of the worldwide cruise market by passenger and 2.2 percent by revenue. In 2021 the market share is 2.2 percent by passenger and 2.7 percent by revenue.

The line pioneered the rotational dining concept, in which guests would rotate with their wait staff through three different main dining rooms.

Don't worry, Crush. No turtle soup on the menu.

In 1985, Premier Cruise Line became the licensed partner cruise line with Disney. This allowed Disney characters on their ships and combined cruise, hotel and theme park packages. In 1993, Premier ended their relationship with Disney and signed a new one with Warner Brothers, utilizing the Looney Tunes characters. Premier continued to offer Disneyland and sea packages while adding Universal Studios as an option. Thus Disney approached both Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruise lines to replace Premier as an exclusive sea partner.

When Disney's negotiations with two major cruise lines, Carnival and Royal Caribbean, did not produce results, Disney had cruise ship designs drawn up by February 1994. Meanwhile, Walt Disney Travel Company started signing up other cruise lines to offer packages that included Disney hotels and resorts. On May 3, 1994, Disney announced that they intended to start their own cruise line with operations starting in 1998. Arthur Rodney was selected to serve as the first president of the cruise line tentatively called Disney Vacation Cruises. Disney Cruise Line in 1995 commissioned Disney Magic and Disney Wonder from Fincantieri in Italy. The cruise line was incorporated as Devonson Cruise Company, Limited on February 6, 1996, in the United Kingdom, but soon was renamed Magical Cruise Company Limited on October 1, 1996. The cruise line cost as much as a theme park to start up. In 1996, Magical Cruise Company purchased Gorda Cay as the line's private island. The company spent $25 million over 18 months on the island and renamed it Castaway Cay.

I know what you're thinking. Did these people have to drive these trikes all the way from the boat?
Nah. They're on the island, mon.

The Disney Magic's first cruise was originally scheduled for March 1998 but was postponed twice while the Disney Wonder was scheduled for December 1998. On July 30, 1998, with the first voyage of Magic, the Disney Cruise Line was operational. Also, a 10-year contract was signed with Port Canaveral for its home terminal. With the August 31, 1999, resignation of Rodney as cruise line president, senior operating officer Matt Ouimet was named as his replacement in July. By 2002, the line added seven-day cruises and western Caribbean cruises.

In June 2005, Disney Magic moved its port for the summer cruise season to the Port of Los Angeles. This was temporary for the company's 50th-anniversary celebration of Disneyland and as a test for California expansion. The transfer cruise sold out quicker than expected. Bookings from first time Disney cruisers were up for these cruises by at least 60%. While Disney had wanted additional ships, shipbuilding cost had increased by at least 33% since it built its first two ships. The Disney Magic was transferred to the Mediterranean for an extended stay in 2007. In 2007, Disney announced the building of two new cruise ships. Disney Dream set sail in Jan 2011, followed closely by Disney Fantasy in 2012. Meyer Werft shipyard, based in Papenburg, Germany, built the new ships.

New Vacation Operation unit

In February 2009, Tom McAlpin left the Disney Cruise Line presidency and was replaced by Karl Holz as president of Disney Cruise Line and New Vacation Operations. In early 2009, Disney and Canaveral Port Authority extended their agreement to 2022 with expansion to the terminal to handle the new class of ships. A re-posting of the Disney Magic to Europe in 2010 adding DCL's first North European cruises with Mediterranean cruises.

With the arrival of Disney Dream in 2011, Disney Wonder was relocated to Los Angeles. With the arrival of Disney Fantasy in 2012, Disney Magic was relocated to New York City in May 2012 for only the Summer season, before relocating to Galveston, Texas.

In late 2012, Disney Wonder began sailing cruises out of Miami, Florida, respectively. In 2013, the Disney Magic relocated to Barcelona, Spain and the Disney Wonder relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia for the summer season. In Autumn 2013, the Magic and the Wonder returned to the United States but switched home ports, with the Magic leaving out of Miami and the Wonder leaving out of Galveston. In January 2014, the Wonder took over for the Magic in Miami and the Magic joined the Dream and Fantasy in Port Canaveral, placing all four ships in the state of Florida for the first time. Since then, the Magic and the Wonder have once again switched places.

At the February 2016 Cruise Critic Cruisers' Choice Awards, three of Disney's ships won 11 category awards. The company ordered three ships of a new class of ship, Triton, in 2016 and 2017. At the company annual meeting on March 3, 2016, Walt Disney Company Chairman Bob Iger announced the first two new ships of the new line which are planned to be built larger than the previous two ships. These ships are expected to join the line in 2021 and 2023. On July 15, 2017, Bob Chapek, President of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, announced at the D23 Expo that a seventh unnamed ship will join the fleet.

In 2016, the cruise line was looking to buy Egg Island, Eleuthera, Bahamas as another destination for the additional cruise ships. However, opposition from nearby island residents and potential damage to the islands' reefs stops plans from going forward.

In April 2017, it was announced that Karl Holz would retire as president of Disney Cruise Line on February 15, 2018 and Anthony Connelly would assumed the role of president on October 1, 2017. The Canaveral Port Authority Board of Commissioners in January 2019 approved work for Disney's Terminal 8 and adjacent Terminal 10, which would handle more ships when the new class arrives.

With the October 6, 2017 cruise of Disney Magic from New York to the Bahamas, the cruise line held its first Marvel Day at Sea. In October 2018, the cruise line began showing Disney at Sea with D23, a 30-minute entertainment news show that covers the many Disney subsidiaries with input from D23, starting with the Disney Wonder ship.

Future

In early 2019, the company placed an order for a new class of ship, named in public documents as the Triton class. In 2016 the line announced it would acquire two ships, as yet unnamed, are described as larger than Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy but with an equivalent number of staterooms. A third ship of the class was announced on July 15, 2017 at the D23 Expo. The delivery date was changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March 2018, Disney Cruise Line released the first rendering of its new generation of cruise ships. The 140,000-ton cruise liners will be LNG-powered and will accommodate at least 2,500 guests.

The Disney Wish will be the most luxurious ship in their fleet. I mean, just look at this.

On April 29, 2021, Disney Cruise Line shared a first look at their newest ship, The Disney Wish, set to embark in mid-2022. The Disney Wish will feature restaurants, immersive spaces and experiences themed to Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar characters and adventures, plus the first-ever Disney attraction at sea, with a goal of accommodating and equally satisfying adults and children.

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Looking for more info on Disney cruises? The Disney Cruise Line blog has a wealth of info: https://disneycruiselineblog.com. And the Disney Tourist Blog has some incredible info on their site as well: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/disney-magic-cruise-ship-planning-guide/

Planning your own Disney Cruise? While the bigwigs have made it easier and easier every year, save time, money and energy by booking with a former cast member herself? We've got the expertise to get you in the resorts and parks (AND YEP, EVEN CRUISE LINE) and do almost anything you'd ever want to. Best thing, it's no cost to you! Hit up our FB page HERE or email us HERE.