The 128,000-ton, 1,250-stateroom Disney Dream will be delivered in January from Meyer Werft. The Fantasy follows in 2012, as Disney Cruise Line more than doubles its capacity with the two newbuilds joining the Magic and Wonder.
“The Dream is so full of new, innovative features, and a handful are industry firsts,” said Tom Wolber, chief operating officer and senior vice president of Disney Cruise Line.
New Features
“If you start and look at what we did with the Magic and Wonder, we have kept all of that and carried it over. What’s going to be really interesting after 10 years is what we’ve been able to introduce on the new ships.”
“We have Enchanted Art, and it’s mixed in with the regular art on the ship. It’s clever, and passengers will never know it’s an LED screen. It looks like a painting and you don’t see a difference, but something will happen when you walk by or interact with it.”
From an entertainment point of view the new theater is “full Broadway” and Disney will be able to take its shows to a new level, Wolber noted.
Disney will also introduce Skyline, a cocktail bar.
“It’s an absolute, contemporary, elegant lounge. You walk in and you think you’re looking through windows to the outside, but its video from rooftop bars in major cities around the world. We’re introducing five cities, a different one each night. And the beverage offerings change to reflect the cities we visiting. During the day there is a daytime scene.”
Facilities for children and teenagers will be much improved as well.
“They are bigger and we are taking advantage of technology. There’s an interactive floor, and kids will be able to interact with characters like in our theme parks,” Wolber said.
Technology
“We’re very proud of the fact, that despite these ships being 50 percent larger than the other ships, from a propulsion point of view, we use the same amount of fuel to get the same or slightly better performance than the existing ships,” Wolber stated.
He also said since the Magic and Wonder were launched in the late 1990s, their efficiency has been improved 10 percent.
“On the hotel side, energy consumption per guest will be 20 percent lower than the current ships,” Wolber said.
A new HVAC system will be on the Dream and Fantasy, and they will be the first ships in the industry to have it.
According to Wolber, it, like other systems, will turn off cabin ventilation when no one is present. However, on returning to the ship and checking in at the gangway, the ship’s computer system will turn the AC back on.
he newbuilds will be prepared for cold ironing, and will be ready to go minus the plug.
Solution Focused
“There are always so many technologies available, but not all of them are proven. So you have to see how far on the cutting edge you want to be, while being responsible,” said Wolber.
Disney’s Vice President of New Ship Development, Frank de Heer, oversees the yard operation, which includes 70 people from Disney Cruise Line and Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI).
Besides looking after the newbuilds, Wolber said he was responsible for logistics, purchasing, staffing, and “then we have a current fleet.”
“We bring new ships into the existing itineraries and the current ships will go to new itineraries,” he said.
“We’re always thinking of new guest experiences and how to raise the bar, whether its onboard or via shore excursions, and the future of guest experiences for the entire fleet. It keeps me busy.”
Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Fall 2010
