DCL - Some Background Information

[Guest]

Just wanted to share some early experience by telling you a little bit about the two wonderful ships that make up the Disney Cruise Line, the Disney Magic and the Disney Wonder.

I was fortunate enough to have spent 3-4 years working on these during their construction. They were built at the Fincantieri yard in Venice, Italy in 1998 and 1999. The first ship into service was the Magic, followed a year later by the Wonder. I was lucky enough to do the transatlantic crossings on them as well, and as I was sub-contracted to Walt Disney Imagineering they also invited Gina and her two daughters to join us on the final leg from Southampton to Port Canaveral (a free cruise compliments of Disney).

Both ships are essentially identical, although the onboard venues are named and styled differently. They offer a fantastic choice of entertainment for both kids and adults. Each ship has a West End style theatre and a cinema, lots of clubs, with a couple being adult only (Comedy Club and Piano Bar) and there is a baby sitting service available.

The restaurants are all themed and work on a rota basis during a cruise, so that guests get to try a different restuarant each evening. There are also buffets, cafes and bars as well as a Disney shop. There is also a Spa and Beauty salons and fantastic pool decks.

During our last visit to Florida (October 2008) we were taking an early evening stroll along the dockside in key West and saw the Disney Magic coming in. It was great to see it again and I must say it still looks brand new!

Lucien

[Leanne1977]

Thank you very much for sharing your story, I really enjoyed reading your post.

We are very much looking foward to our first ever cruise aboard the Wonder in August, its going to be fantastic!

[jdybnsn]

Thank you so much for sharing that !

Funnily enough we actually went past the ship yard in our hire car when we went to Venice last June, and we were all really excited to see the "birth place" of the Disney Magic ! - particularly as we had sailed on her in February, earlier that year.

You could see other cruise ships presently being built there and they just looked amazing ...we were sad too that Venice had not been chosen to build the new Disney ships, because we might even have made the effort to go and see them, if they had (though I'm not even sure if construction has actually begun ! ).


We were also lucky enough to see a cruise liner coming into Venice and right past us as we stood by the main canal near St. Marks Square !

Venice is fantastic ... and those two boats could not have come from a more romantic place !

[ANGEL]

How wonderful to have worked on them, and to have had the pleasure of the transatlantic crossing too! Thanks for telling us your story Lucien

[Bats]

Can I ask what you did workwise? I'm just being nosey!

When DCL sail into and out of Dover, we (family) are all taking the day off work to visit. Dover is only about 40 mins from us and it will be lovely to watch the ship coming in. I'll take some pictures too.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Bats

Can I ask what you did workwise? I'm just being nosey!

When DCL sail into and out of Dover, we (family) are all taking the day off work to visit. Dover is only about 40 mins from us and it will be lovely to watch the ship coming in. I'll take some pictures too.

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Yes, no problem answering that. At the time I was working for a company called Strand Lighting (Theatre, Film & TV) and we provided all the controls for entertainment lighting and special effects throughout both ships. I'd negotiated the contract originally and Walt Disney Imagineering insisted that I was seconded to them for the duration. They were great people to work with, very talented and committed.

[Guest]

Thanks for the story Lucien. We were in Venice in 99 on a day trip. Whilst wandering around I happened to look up and in the distance I see a red funnel with a Mickey silhouette on it. We didn't know it at the time but it was the Disney Wonder. 12 months later we sailed on her to the Bahamas. She and her sister the Magic are the most beautiful and luxurious ships. We sailed on Cunard's Queen Mary 2 last year and whilst they are famed for their "white glove" service I have to say our stateroom (Queens level) did not come close to the sheer luxurience on board a Disney ship.(I should add we did travel Cat 3 with Disney and are doing so again in October).
I understand the two new larger ships are to be built in Germany.

[hayleyandhilda]

Appollo163 on here was part of the original crew for the magic when it was built and spent quite some time in Venice before it launched

[DIBBadmin]

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