He traveled with his wife Lillian Marie Bounds on the Queen Elizabeth in 1946. He was also a passenger on the S.S. Independence, nothing to do with the shipping company for which the young Walter Elias Disney worked in his early years creating advertising posters for The Red Cross Line ships. Years later, established as a filmmaker and animation pioneer, he would recruit his own daughters, Sharon and Diane, to join him on his transatlantic voyages aboard some of the most iconic ships of the golden age of cruise ships. Those same ones that today the shipping company that bears his name, Disney Cruises Line, pays tribute to.
This season, Barcelona once again hosts one of its ships, the Disney Dream, which will sail the Mediterranean for the first time this 2023 and also next summer. Two seasons in a row, something unusual for a company that has done very little in these waters. Hence, it is one of the most coveted ships for families with children, who seek the same magic of the Disney parks inside the ships.
Imagineers have managed to fuse much of the Disney magic with a cruise experience that evokes the years when the entire crew welcomed families on board, announcing their last name to applause, as if they were big stars. treat. On Disney ships, the cruise begins with the same welcome.
Built in 2011, the Disney Dream has a capacity for 4,000 passengers and has a luxury crew. Mickey and Minnie are the quintessential protagonists of the ship. But they are not the only captains. Hook, Jack Sparrow and Goofy are also vying for the spot. It is not for nothing that Disney ships are known to be the ships with the most captains in the world. That without counting the cast of princesses: Ariel, Snow White, Rapunzel, Belle, Jasmine… and a long etcetera.
Undoubtedly the highlight of this cruise is served in its theatre, a space with capacity for 1,340 spectators in an art deco style that fits very well with the entire philosophy of the ship. Just 24 actors and 18 technicians make up the cast capable of staging the main musical: Beauty and the Beast. Broadway actors and specialists have participated in the adaptation of the original animated version, resulting in an interesting staging, especially with regard to animated objects such as Mrs. Potts, her son Chip or Lumiere.
But the theater is also the setting for other musical shows such as The Golden Mickeys, which plays some of the factory’s most famous songs as a Hollywood gala, and Disney’s Believe, another stage show in which a father must reconnect with the magic he lost as a child.
Disney Cruises Line, like the park in Paris, is also celebrating. They are celebrating their 25th anniversary together, an anniversary that is noted on all the ships. In July 1998, the company inaugurated the first ship in its fleet, the Disney Magic, transferring to it the philosophy of bringing the magic of its parks on board a cruise ship.
In August 1999, its twin, the Disney Wonder, began to sail, followed by the Disney Dream in 2011, now twice the size of the first two. The fourth in the fleet, Disney Fantasy, opened in March 2012 and the company stopped its shipping plans there. Until last year.
It was not until this past 2022 when the company’s fifth and most anticipated ship was incorporated: the Disney Wish, the most modern and ecological, with capacity for 4,000 passengers. Two other ships with the same characteristics are already under construction, as announced by the director of Disney Cruises Line Hotels, Andy Hudson.
Another of the highlights of this fleet of ships is the possibility of watching the most famous films from the Disney factory at all hours, including those released this year such as The Little Mermaid. The central pool is the ideal place to do it, since you can soak to the rhythm of songs as unique as those sung in Moana.
It goes without saying that if someone does not like or is not convinced by everything related to Disney, they should not get on this or any other ship in the fleet. Because in addition to encounters with the characters, movies, musicals and various parties, even at dinner time the characters appear by surprise on the screens in many of the restaurants to share the emotions of the day, sing or simply observe. Everything, even the smallest detail, is designed in a Disney key.
