Disney Cruise Line terminal to be shut down from June-October
Disney Cruise Line’s main terminal at Port Canaveral is shutting down for nearly half of 2020 as it gets an overhaul ahead of the debut of its new ship.
Cruise Terminal 8, which is the main departure point for its home-ported ships Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy, will be taken offline in June for a five-month refurbishment.
The cruise line recently signed a new 20-year agreement, though, that lets it get preferential use of the adjacent Terminal 10, which it shares with Norwegian Cruise Line, so that no interruptions of summer sailing itineraries for DCL should occur.
While it’s out of service, contractors propose taking care of required demolition, installation of new piles, seat replacement, ticket counter removal, IT infrastructure replacement and the extension of the drop-off canopy off the main building.
As part of the plans, the contractors PCL & Heard Construction have submitted a $391,270 budget for material acquisition and design drawings that will need the approval of the Port Canaveral Board of Commissioners at its Dec. 11 meeting. It’s part of overall $46.5 million planned budget for the refurbishment of both cruise terminals 8 and 10.
Disney Dream will continue its short 3and 4-night cruises to the Bahamas and Disney Fantasy its seven-night Caribbean itineraries from Terminal 10 during the shutdown. The cruise line does not plan on home porting its older ships Disney Magic and Disney Wonder in Port Canaveral for the near future.
A fifth ship, Disney Wish, will be constructed at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, with first steel expected to be cut in early 2020. It won’t be handed over to Disney until late 2021 and not arrive to Port Canaveral until January 2022. Two more new ships in what has been referred to by port documents as the Trident Class will come online in 2022 and 2023, with at least two of the three calling Port Canaveral home.
Its arrival will be part of the cruise line’s contractual expansion from 150 calls from the port annually to at least 180 in 2023 and at least 216 in 2024. The same contract gives Disney Cruise Line continued exclusive use of Terminal 8 and also preferential use of Terminal 10 when the cruise line begins home porting three ships from Canaveral.
The renovation of Terminal 8, which has not had any major changes since its opening in 1998, will touch both floors including a new luggage screening building, ADA ramp, a new area for arrivals and technological improvements. Also needed is a new jet-way style boarding bridge.
The changes will allow for the arrival of the slightly larger new ship.
Disney Wish will be look similar to the existing fleet coming in at approximately 144,000 gross tons, which is larger than the 130,000 gross tons of Dream and Fantasy, but will have the same number of staterooms: 1,250.
Port Canaveral documents have shows the new ship’s size will be 1,119.19 feet in length, 127.95 feet in width and to have a maximum draft of 28.22 feet. For comparison, Disney Dream is 1,115 feet in length, 121 feet wide and has a draft of 28 feet, according to the cruise line’s fact sheet.
The new ships will also be powered by liquefied natural gas, which is the cleanest fuel the cruise industry has begun to embrace as more stringent maritime emission laws begin to take effect. Disney Wish will follow on the heels of Carnival’s Mardi Gras cruise ship arriving in 2020, which will be the first LNG-powered cruise ship to home port in North America.
Port Canaveral has been building out preparations to support the LNG ships with training, construction of an LNG fuel barge and the acquisition of a new fire suppression boat among other things.