The two new cruise ships are still years away, but Disney Cruise Line is expanding in other ways. They just added even more Star Wars Day at Sea for the 2017 calendar. New in 2017, the Disney Fantasy special sailings expand to both eastern and… Read More »Disney Cruise Line grows Star Wars fun in 2017
The Disney Cruise line has been running with four cruise ships since 2012, but even before the Dream and Fantasy were broken in, fans were asking when more cruise ships would be coming on line. It still won’t be for a few years, but we… Read More »Disney announces plans for two new cruise ships
Update – The Disney Fantasy made it back to Port Canaveral this morning just a few hours late. No word if this afternoon’s departure will be delayed. Passengers aboard the Disney Fantasy have been informed that due to mechanical issues, the ship will not be… Read More »Disney Fantasy operating on reduced power due to mechanical issues
The trophy cabinet at the Disney Cruise Line offices must be huge. Another award can now be added to their over 100 travel industry awards earned since DCL started in 1998. This one comes from the readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine. They’ve voted DCL… Read More »Disney Cruise Line picks up another “readers choice” award
Congratulations to the cast and crew of Disney Cruise Lines. The four ships of the fleet took four of the top five positions (including the top three overall) in the 2014 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Poll for best large cruise ship. 1. Disney Fantasy 2.… Read More »Disney Cruise Ships Sail Away with Top Rankings in Condé Nast Traveler’s Poll
It’s been almost a year since the Disney Fantasy took to sea with its first guests. Now Bloomberg’s Carol Massar is checking in on the status of Disney Cruise Line with Thomas Staggs, Disney’s parks & resorts chairman, aboard the Disney Fantasy. The “Fantasy” is… Read More »Tom Staggs on Success of Disney Cruise Line
By all accounts the first 5 days of the most recent 7 day cruise on the Disney Fantasy were fantastic. Sure they had to skip Castaway Cay due to hurricane Sandy, but sometime you have to roll with the punches when you travel during Hurricane season. Well, the last night of the cruise the Fantasy did a lot of rolling. The ship and is passengers encountered 12 hours of 40-50 foot swells and 80 MPH winds as it sailed back to Port Canaveral overnight. It sounds like Captain Tom Forberg was at the helm, which means the ship was in capable hands, but still a frightening experience for any guest to endure.
The question being debated online is whether Disney intentionally sailed into rough weather hoping to keep to a tight turnover schedule for the ship or if they found the storm stronger than expected. The ship was within 200 miles of the storm, well within the tropical storm strength winds of the 1000 mile wide Hurricane Sandy. I tend to believe Disney Cruise Line thought the storm would weaken as it moved north, but instead it strengthened and slowed down capturing the Disney Fantasy in its impact zone. In the end, not an ideal scenario for Disney Cruise Line. They probably could have erred more on the side of caution, but it sounds like the close encounter with a hurricane wasn’t intentional.
A few videos have surfaced and things look like they got pretty severe. There were many reports of damage on the ship from broken doors to smashed furniture. Remy and Palo apparently were a mess with many dishes and glasses lost in the rough seas. Additionally, some rooms experienced slight flooding as pools overflowed and flooded those decks. Luckily there were no reports of injuries.
This iReport from CNN has some of the most dramatic footage.
More videos from onboard the Disney Fantasy below the jump:
Read More »Hurricane Sandy Creates Some Scary Moments Aboard The Disney Fantasy
The Disney Fantasy is now sailing regularly from Port Canaveral making thousands of guests happy on every 7 day cruise. I was fortunate enough to be invited to one of the preview cruises. There were plenty of great opportunities to explore the ship and hear… Read More »Disney Fantasy – Executive Panel Discussion