Disney Cruise Line's Dream Begins to Take Shape

8/27/20099:25:40 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment

Disney Cruise Line celebrated the keel-laying of the Disney Dream, the first of two new ships. “Since our inception, families have come to know and love Disney Cruise Line, and they are looking for additional ways to enjoy all that we have to offer,” Disney Cruise Line President Karl Holz said during the Aug. 26 ceremony at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. “Our fleet expansion will allow us to satisfy demand on both the East and West coasts of the United States while also giving us the flexibility to explore additional global destinations for our guests.”

The keel-laying ceremony is the first time the Disney Dream will begin to take shape after years of design work. In the maritime industry, the ceremony marks a momentous occasion when the first block -- or section -- of the ship is lowered into the building dock and a coin is placed under the keel for good fortune. Doing the honors of placing the coin was Capt. Tom Forberg. With a maritime career aboard Disney Cruise Line, Forberg was the first crew member hired and the captain who launched the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder. Recently, Forberg was named as the future master of the Disney Dream. The ship will continue to take its form through a block construction process in which pre-fabricated hull sections are joined together in block units and then brought together to form the ship. The Disney Dream will be made up of 80 blocks, with the first block weighing approximately 380 tons.

The Disney Dream is scheduled to join the fleet in 2011, followed by Disney’s second new ship, the Disney Fantasy in 2012. The new liners will more than double the capacity of Disney Cruise Line, each having 1,250 staterooms and a tonnage of 128,000. Both will call Port Canaveral their home, where expansion efforts are underway to accommodate the larger ships and additional guests. In addition to an extension of the dock and enlargements to the Disney terminal building, a new multi-level parking structure will be built. Disney Cruise Line also recently announced that the Disney Wonder will operate from the Port of Los Angeles starting in 2011.

Disney Cruise Line plans to once again sail the Mediterranean region aboard the Disney Magic during summer 2010. In addition to the ports in Spain, Italy and France, the ship will visit Tunis in Northern Africa, the island nation of Malta and Corsica. Disney Magic will also visit the Northern Europe for the first time calling on Warnemunde, Germany; St. Petersburg, Russia; and the Scandinavian ports of Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Holz said the company will begin to announce some itineraries for 2011 in September during the D23 EXPO at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. For more information, call 817-263-8131 or 866-760-0096 .