This week we’re going to be taking a look at the origins of the Disney Cruise Line!
But we’re not going to be talking about that ship, or that ship, or that one or that one.
We’re going to be talking about, that’s right, The Big Red Boat.
The Disney Cruise Line officially launched their first cruise in July of 1998, but in
order to explore the full origins of these popular excursions, we first have to go back
14 years to 1984.
At that point Disney was looking to get into the cruise industry.
It was a market that was on the rise and it happened to be right in Disney’s backyard.
With the Caribbean so close to Florida, more and more cruise ships were sailing out of
Floridian ports, and rather than look at this as a competitive threat, Disney saw an opportunity
to grow.
The problem with cruises, as it turns out, is that the barrier of entry is extremely high.
Cruises require… well, cruise ships, and cruise ships, at hundreds of millions of dollars
a piece, aren’t cheap.
Things would eventually change for Disney but it’s important to remember that this was 1984.
They had just finished off a decade of stagnation that was topped off with a hostile takeover
attempt that cost them a pretty penny to ward off.
Eisner would eventually turn the company around and start an era of explosive growth, but
at that point they simply couldn’t afford to build their own cruise ships.
So instead they chose to test the waters by partnering with not one, but two cruise lines.
The first was a short partnership with Norwegian Caribbean Lines.
Together they offered a one-week cruise in November of 1984 called “FantaSea” which
sailed out of Miami on the SS Norway.
It took passengers to St. Thomas, Nassau, and Big Stirrup Cay.
For prices ranging from $975 to $2710 per person the “FantaSea” cruise offered fireworks,
a live performance of the ride, Pirates of the Caribbean, a Goofy themed Olympics, and
all of the traditional cruise recreations such as pools, bars, and gambling.
Embracing the all-inclusive model, the price even included round-trip airfare to and from Miami.
At the same time Disney was also partnering with Premier Cruise Line.
The two together worked with the official airline of Walt Disney World, Eastern Airlines,
and offered the “Cruise and Walt Disney World Vacation Week”.
The package included airfare to Florida, a 3-4 night cruise to the Bahamas on the SS
Royale which sailed from Port Canaveral, and a 3-4 night stay at Walt Disney World.
As it would turn out the experiment was enough of a success that the following year
Disney would name Premier Cruise Line the official cruise line of Walt Disney World.
Commercial: "The official cruise line of Walt Disney World brings you the cruise that comes with a
Walt Disney World vacation free!
Three full days include hotel, rental car, and admission to it all with a luxury 4-night cruise to the Bahamas
from central Florida. Ask your travel agent about Premier Cruise Line's Cruise and Walt Disney World Week
The magic vacation combination."
The two entered into an 8 year contract in which Premier would pay licensing fees to
use the Disney name and characters on their ships sailing out of the port.
Now when it came to Premier Cruises, the most notable visual distinction was their ships
were very big, and they were also very red.
Premier even marketed their cruises as cruises on The Big Red Boat.
The partnership proved to be beneficial to everyone.
Disney was getting to involve itself in the cruise industry without dealing with the initial
costs for their own ships, not to mention getting paid to let Premier use their characters.
In turn Premier was getting the positive exposure that came with being associated with a name
as popular and beloved as Disney.
They estimated that within their first year of the partnership over 60,000 passengers
would embark on the cruises, and even cited that the partnership was having a positive
impact on their non-Disney cruises due to the association.
The cruises would continue to run for the full length of their contract and by the time
it was coming to a close in 1993 Premier was sailing with over 330,000 passengers annually
and reporting over $200 million in revenue.
However when it came time to renew, Premier decided to pass.
Was it a contract dispute?
A falling out with Disney?
Legal issues?
Or perhaps… a better deal elsewhere?
Because you see shortly after announcing that they would not be continuing their partnership
with Disney, Premier announced that they would be partnering with Warner Bros to offer family
cruises featuring the Looney Toons characters such as Bugs Bunny.
In 1994 Disney, now having lost their cruise partner, entered into talks with both the
Royal Caribbean Cruise Line and the Carnival Cruise Line in hopes of forming a new collaboration.
However the negotiations with both failed to go anywhere.
Without another clear cruise line to partner with, Disney finally decided that it was time for them to enter
into the cruise industry on their own.
Meanwhile, Premier did do well for itself after making the switch to Looney Toons.
They continued to grow and were profitable from the venture into the late 90s.
Their owners, Cruise Holdings, merged it with two other cruise lines into one larger version of Premier in hopes
of expanding to keep up with the competition.
However they’d ultimately bite off more than they could chew, and in 2000 they’d
suddenly go bankrupt.
It also didn’t help that by then they’d be facing increased competition in the family
cruise market, most notably with the Disney Cruise Line.
Today the Disney Cruise Line is considered by many to be among the best the industry
has to offer, and it is ripe with its own history that I no doubt plan to cover in a future video.
I just think that it’s interesting that at a time where Disney’s MO was to dive
head first into new industries to approach them the “Disney way”, it was a partnership
that would eventually lead to the Disney Cruises we have today.