The Force Is With Disney Cruise Line, Star Wars Is Coming!

By
Star Wars At Sea
Cruise Hive
 Disney Cruise Line has announced that Star Wars is coming in 2016. The Force is with Disney Cruise Lines!

A new celebration of Star Wars and its iconic characters will come to the cruise line in 2016 but only on one cruise ship and for a limited time. Cruise Hive has long been hoping that some day there would be a Stars Wars feature at sea and now it;s actually going to happen.

The celebration will be held aboard the Disney Fantasy and will be known as a “Star Warts Day At Sea”. The new experience will be held on eight special sailings and will be an all day event. Expect to see all the popular hero’s and villains from the well-known brand that is owned by Disney after being purchased from Lucas Arts.

There will be plenty of fun and entertainment including a deck party, meet-and-greets with favorite characters,Star Wars-themed youth activities, unique food and beverage offerings, and special merchandise. The animated series called Star Wars Rebels will also be available for people to watch.

The youth onboard will play a major role as they can become young “Padawans” or “Younglings” and enjoy Jedi Academy training from an elite Jedi Night. Theres will be fun competitions and activities all types of cruisers as the ship will be overrun by Star Wars.

The deck party will have a fireworks display along with competitions and special stage show featuring all the characters. Special effects will light the deck up and make passengers feel like they are apart of the Star Wars Universe.

Star Wars Day at Sea will be on Disney Fantasy cruises sailing on Jan. 9, 23; Feb. 6, 20; March 5, 19; April 2and 16, 2016. Departing from Port Canaveral, the seven-night Western Caribbean itinerary includes Cozumel, MexicoGrand CaymanCayman Islands and Disney’s private island in the Bahamas, Castaway Cay.

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Land of ‘Frozen’ coming to Disney Cruise Line

Disney Cruise Line will offer experiences inspired by the animated hit ‘Frozen’ beginning in summer 2015. They include a deck party, a three-song stage show production number, opportunities to meet characters and storybook adventures ashore. A new addition is planned for Castaway Cay, too.

The experiences will debut on select Disney Magic and Disney Wonder sailings to Europe and Alaska.

One one day the ship will transform into a winter wonderland, culminating with an extravagant celebration with friends from the Kingdom of Arendelle. Passengers will awake to discover a magical freeze has overtaken the atrium lobby with sparkling icicles adorning the grand staircase, resembling the mountaintop ice palace of Queen Elsa.

Activities for the entire family throughout the day include new character meetings and themed experiences such as moments with

Anna, Elsa and, ‘for the first time in forever,’ Kristoff and Olaf. There will be an ‘Anna’s Chase for the Chocolate’ scavenger hunt for with a surprise for finishing the game and a ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman’ activity where kids take on Elsa’s magical powers to make snow and ice.

‘The Maypole Swirl and Twirl’ gives families the chance to learn a traditional Scandinavian dance, spinning and braiding giant ribbons.

A ‘Frozen’-themed dining experience includes a menu inspired by traditional Nordic fare and dishes inspired by the film.

The evening fun kicks off with ‘Freezing the Night Away with Anna, Elsa and Friends,’ a family-friendly interactive deck party featuring the royal sisters of Arendelle and their Nordic companions. By now, the freeze has spread to the upper decks of the ship, with giant snowflakes, icicles and snow-covered rocks.

The celebration begins with a line dance set to the movie’s ice cutting scene, featuring the arrival of Kristoff, twirling his ice picks, and Princess Anna.

The evening concludes with more family dancing on the pool deck, followed by fun just for adults in the nightclub featuring dance performances and frozen specialty drinks.

This summer, friends from ‘Frozen’ will make their stage show debut at sea in the Walt Disney Theatre aboard Disney Magic. In the original production, ‘Disney Dreams … An Enchanted Classic,’ Anna, Elsa and Olaf join the line up of Disney characters who together teach a young girl the power of her dreams.

New scenes featuring ‘Frozen’ characters include renditions of ‘Let it Go,’ ‘For the First Time in Forever’ and ‘In Summer.’ Special effects include a snowfall throughout the theatre and the transformation of the young girl’s room into her own ice palace.

Children and families will have the opportunity to meet and take photographs with their favorite ‘Frozen’ friends on Disney Fantasy, Disney Dream, Disney Wonder and Disney Magic.

Passengers on Disney Magic in Norway, the land that inspired Arendelle from ‘Frozen,’ will have the opportunity to join new excursions that bring this fairytale setting to life. One signature adventure ashore in Å̊lesund, created exclusively for Disney Cruise Line, will immerse participants in a storybook village with the help of Elsa and Anna.

Other shore excursions highlight natural wonders, architecture and the Scandinavian culture depicted in the film.

Seven and nine-night voyages begin June 6, sailing through Norwegian fjords and calling on ports including Stavanger, Ålesund, Geiranger, Molde, Olden and Bergen.

Meanwhile, in the Bahamas, Disney will cool down Castaway Cay with the addition of Olaf’s Summertime Freeze bar, serving non-alcoholic specialty frozen drinks in souvenir cups. The bar opens summer 2015 near the Pelican Point tram stop by Castaway Cay Family Beach.

Seuss proving a coup for Carnival

With the addition of Dr. Seuss characters and the makeover of Camp Carnival into Camp Ocean on some of its ships, Carnival Cruise Line has more appeal than ever to the family cruise segment.

The changes, announced a year ago, bring an instantly recognizable name to Carnival’s kids offerings.

“For Dr. Seuss, as soon as you mention Cat in the Hat, they already know who it is,” said Ana Klacinski, youth director on the Carnival Freedom.

It’s a step up for Carnival, which competes at sea with characters from Nickelodeon (Norwegian Cruise Line), DreamWorks (Royal Caribbean International) and, of course, Disney on Disney Cruise Line.

Now Carnival offers a kids parade through the Freedom once each cruise, led by characters from “The Cat in the Hat,” as well as a Green Eggs and Ham breakfast featuring Sam I Am.

At the same time, Carnival has significantly improved the kids facilities on the Freedom and other ships. Seuss is now playing on 10 of Carnival’s 24 ships, and Camp Ocean has been installed on the Freedom, Breeze, Magic and Triumph.

The big change is to give each age group its own themed space to play in, from Penguins (ages 2 to 5) to Stingrays (6 to 8) to Sharks (9 to 11). Klacinski said kids are excited to see the play space has lost its day-care vibe.

“They have a name, but not only that, they have their own space that they don’t have to share with anybody,” she said. “And they love it.”

The Freedom also received a Dr. Seuss Bookville area adjacent to Camp Ocean. It provides space for unscheduled time that children and parents can play together and an introduction to Seuss books guests may not know.

Part of the magic of the Seuss parade is its mystery, Klacinski said. It begins with an announcement that Seuss characters are onboard and an invitation to gather in a lounge 15 minutes before the parade. No one knows quite what for. When the time is ripe, a chant begins: “Dr. Seuss is on the loose!”


One by one, the characters are introduced and then the parade begins, through the ship, with kids banging noisemakers and keeping the chant going until arrival at the ship’s main theater, where they’re invited on stage for a group reading of “The Cat in the Hat” while parents watch.

“It’s like a good, family-friendly event and comedy show at the same time,” Klacinski said.

The Green Eggs and Ham breakfast, held later in the cruise, attracted about 50 kids and parents on the cruise I was on. Food, including mint-green scrambled eggs, is served by wait staff attired as Thing One and Thing Two from “The Cat in the Hat,” and Sam I Am appears to greet and hug kids.

Chuck Soukop, a passenger from Punta Gorda, Fla., said he was delighted with the upgrades to Freedom’s kids programming. “It’s nice to have something for the kids to do that isn’t as expensive as Disney [Cruise Line],” he said.