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Friday 30th October 2009: Make your family's dreams come true with a cruise onboard the magical new ship, the Disney Dream. Find out more here in today's cruise news
Friday 30th October 2009
By Steve Read
The Disney Dream..
DISNEY are sprinkling magic dust all over cruising with their new ship Disney Dream – which will be packed with innovation, technology and most important of all, imagination.
Inside cabins with portholes, a water-coaster ride that’s more exciting than a slide, a restaurant that changes colour “from dawn’s early light to a starry night” ... the ship is going to be sensational.
And in charge of all the entertainment onboard will be Disney Cruise Line’s own princess, Rachel Quinn from Doncaster. She will be the Disney Dream’s cruise director.
Details of the 2,500-passenger, 128,000-ton ship were revealed at a glittering event in New York last night.
The 765-foot AquaDuck water-coaster will propel riders four decks above the ship, through the funnel and out along a transparent pipe suspended 150 feet above the ocean, before ending with a 335-foot “river rapids” section.
Riders will be in inflatable rafts (basically, a rubber ring) pushed along by high-powered water jets.
It’s more of a roller coaster than a water slide, and will be so fast that only people four feet or taller will be able to go on it.
And the magic continues inside the ship.
Of the 1,250 cabins only 150 will be inside, and they will have a “ virtual porthole” linked to cameras showing the ocean outside in real time. As a bonus, Disney characters will occasionally appear, as though they are out there in the water.
Pull-down beds, which take the passenger count up to 4,000 if they are all occupied, will have a starry night scene on the ceiling. And the main beds will be higher off the ground, making room for suitcases to be stowed underneath.
Every cabin will even have an iPod docking station, and most will have two bathrooms – which is great for families.
All around the ship, pictures will suddenly come to life – for example, a character being drawn in an old photo of Walt Disney will go from black-and-white to colour and appear to float towards you.
Sensors will know when passengers are looking at the pictures, and each has several reactions so you will rarely see the same thing twice.
In the youth areas, Oceaneer Lab and Oceaneer Club, Disney characters including alien Stitch and friendly turtle Crush from Finding Nemo will appear on big screens and hold real conversations with children.
Teenagers have their own outside deck, accessed by swipe card to keep grown-ups out, with pools and loungers.
But it’s not all about children. I cruised on the Disney Magic a couple of years ago and found it was brilliant for adults too ... even if I did act like a six-year-old when I saw Mickey Mouse.
There will be an adult-only nightclub and bar area with venues including the Skyline lounge which has plasma screens showing city landscapes (as seen on P&O’s Ventura), a champagne bar, piano bar, British-style pub and a nightclub.
For relaxation the spa will have 17 treatment rooms stretching across 16,000 square feet over two decks.
One fun thing about dining on Disney ships is that you don’t eat in the same restaurant two nights running, but rotate between the three – taking your waiters with you.
Two of them will have new themes – the Royal Palace will be inspired by Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast, while lighting effects will make the Enchanted Garden change appearance from day to night.
The $900million ship is being built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Germany, and is due to be launched on January 26, 2011.
She will mostly sail three and four-night cruises from Port Canaveral in Florida to Nassau in the Bahamas and Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay.
Bookings open a week on Monday, November 9, and my colleagues in the Sky Travel will be ready to make your dreams come true!
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