The ''Disney Dream'' is a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...

operated by

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 ...

, part of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

. She is the third of the fleet, and first of its ''Dream''-class. She currently sails four-day, and five-day cruises to

the Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

and the Western Caribbean calling at

Cozumel Cozumel (; yua, Kùutsmil) is an island and municipality in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen. It is separated from the mainland by the Cozumel Channel and is close to the Yucatán ...

and

Grand Cayman Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the territory's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles (121 km) southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles ( ...

as well as Disney's private island

Castaway Cay Disney's Castaway Cay, or simply Castaway Cay (), is a private island in the Bahamas which serves as an exclusive port for the Disney Cruise Line ships. It is located near Great Abaco Island and was formerly known as Gorda Cay. In 1997, The Walt D ...

. In May 2023 the Disney Dream sailed across the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

and began sailings in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The other four ships in the fleet are the ''

Disney Magic ''Disney Magic'' is the first cruise ship owned and operated by Disney Cruise Line, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. She has 11 public decks, can accommodate 2,700 passengers in 875 staterooms, and has a crew of approximately 950. The int ...

'', ''

Disney Wonder ''Disney Wonder'' is a cruise ship operated by Disney Cruise Line. She was the second ship to join the Disney fleet on entering service in 1999. ''Disney Wonder'' is of the same class as . The other three ships in the fleet are the , , and . The ...

'', ''

Disney Fantasy ''Disney Fantasy'' is the fourth cruise ship owned and operated by Disney Cruise Line, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, which entered service in 2012. Her sister ship, ''Disney Dream'', was launched in 2011. ''Disney Fantasy'' is the sec ...

'', and ''

Disney Wish ''Disney Wish'' is the fifth and newest cruise ship owned and operated by Disney Cruise Line, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. She is the largest ship in the fleet and the first of the ''Triton''-class. She entered service in June 2022 ...

''. She entered service in 2011; her sister ship, ''

'', was deployed in 2012.

History and construction

In February 2007, Disney Cruise Line announced that it had commissioned two new ships. The first steel cut, for scrollwork on the ship's hull, was in March 2009, at the

Meyer Werft Meyer Werft is one of the major German shipyards, headquartered in Papenburg at the river Ems. Founded in 1795 and starting with small wooden vessels, today Meyer Werft is a builder of luxury passenger ships. 700 ships of different types have be ...

shipyards in

Papenburg Papenburg (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Papenbörg'') is a city in the district of Emsland, Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. It is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer-Werft, which specializes in building cruise liners. Geog ...

, Germany. Later that month the two ships were named, with ''Disney Dream'' set to enter service first, followed by her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

, ''Disney Fantasy''. The design of ''Disney Dream'' was unveiled at a press conference in New York City, on October 29, 2009. The keel of ''Disney Dream'' was laid on August 19, 2009. On June 1, 2010, the final section of the ship, the bow, was put into its place, completing the exterior, with work continuing on the interior of the ship.

Float-out Float-out is the process in shipbuilding that follows the keel laying and precedes the fitting-out process. It is analogous to launching a ship, a specific process that has largely been discontinued in modern shipbuilding. Both floating-out and ...

took place on October 30, 2010, and ''Disney Dream'' had her maiden voyage on January 26, 2011. Disney Cruise Line took possession of ''Disney Dream'' on December 8, 2010. She arrived in Port Canaveral, Florida on January 4, 2011. ''Disney Dream'' was christened on January 19, 2011, by

Jennifer Hudson Jennifer Kate Hudson (born September 12, 1981), also known by her nickname J.Hud, is an American singer, actress, and talk show host. Throughout her career, she has received various accolades for her works in recorded music, film, televisio ...

, who began her career as an entertainer on ''

''. ''Disney Dream''s maiden voyage began on January 26, 2011, calling on

Nassau, The Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. ...

, and Disney's private island,

. Since the ship's launch the ''Disney Dream'' has sailed almost exclusively on three and four-night sailings to Castaway cay and Nassau. It has now announced plans to debut itineraries for European destinations as of summer 2023. This will include the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and Italy. On June 7, 2022, ''Disney Dream'' relocated to her new home port in Miami.

Design

''Disney Dream'' is 40% larger than the two older ships in the

family, ''

'' and ''

'', with a

gross tonnage Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weigh ...

of , a length of and a width of . ''Disney Dream'' has 1,250 staterooms, carries 2,500 passengers (double occupancy) or a maximum of 4,000 passengers, and a crew of 1,458. The ship has 14 floors, a black hull, white superstructure, twin red funnels and yellow lifeboats. The ship’s interior includes a combination of art deco design, features from the world of Walt Disney and state-of-the-art technology. The interior cabins are fitted with virtual portholes ("Magical Porthole") that broadcast the view of the outside and animated Disney characters. ''Disney Dream''’s art deco-style chandelier, located in the atrium, sparkles with thousands of hand-crafted crystal beads and glows with colorful glasswork. Crafted in Brixen, located in Northern Italy, the chandelier is 22 feet diameter at the ceiling plate and comes down 13 feet from the ceiling. It is 24kt gold plated with a total of 88,680 Swarovski crystal beads ranging in size from 6mm to 12mm. Every Disney Cruise Line ship has an atrium lobby statue celebrating a classic Disney character; ''Disney Dream's'' is Donald Duck portrayed as an admiral.

Recreation

On-board Activities

Activities aboard ''Disney Dream'' include: a 9 hole mini-golf course, a walking track, digital sports simulators, a full-sized basketball court that can be converted for use as a soccer pitch, volleyball court, or football/table tennis area. There are also two smaller sport courts and two hangouts for younger children. The ship features the first water coaster at sea, called The AquaDuck, a 765-foot (233-metre) long winding waterslide with a four-deck drop and a course that winds over the edge of the ship and through the ship's forward funnel. The AquaDuck runs the width of the ship and the length between the funnels, almost the size of a U.S. football field. In addition to pools of various sizes, there are also hot tubs for adults & families, some of which have glass in the floor.

Entertainment

''Disney Dream'' also includes two theatres: * Walt Disney Theatre (1,340 capacity; live original productions: ''Beauty and the Beast'', ''Believe'' and ''The Golden Mickeys'') * Buena Vista Theatre (399 capacity; motion pictures) Among the leading-edge technical effects in the Walt Disney Theatre is an infrared camera with motion tracking, allowing the movement of performers to be blended with projected digital animated effects.

Rotational Dining concept

Every night of a ''Disney Dream'' cruise, guests dine at a different restaurant. This is called "rotational dining". On a Disney ship guests rotate along with their servers which helps develop the relationship between diner and wait staff. The rotational dining restaurants on the Disney Dream are Enchanted Garden, located on deck 2 midship, Royal Palace, located on deck 3 midship, and Animator's Palate, located on deck 3 aft. As well as rotational dining, the Disney Dream also has two specialty restaurants: Palo and Remy, respectively serving Northern Italian and French cuisine. Specialty dining is an additional cost and is exclusively for adults.

References

Bibliography

* * {{coord, 28.4100, N, 80.6100, W, source:wikidata, display=title Dream 2011 ships Ships built in Papenburg Art Deco ships