It gave it a makeover complete with new floors and a ceiling with about 600 bubble carvings to give it that “under the sea” feeling, said Sharon Siskie, senior vice president and general manager for the line, during an opening ceremony for it on Monday.

“When we stand here today, and we look at the space and we think back to when we initially did our walkthrough, and we leverage the imagination of the teams to envision what it would be able to become, we had that discussion of how do you really elevate the brand presence and really make this a Disney experience,” she said,

The Disney touches range from cartoonish murals, including a black-and-white homage to Steamboat Willie on the walk-in from the parking garage to the terminal adorned wall-to-wall with characters from “Finding Nemo.”

The 104,000-square-foot terminal is cavernous, unlike the line’s terminal at Port Canaveral, but with Disney’s expertise in managing lines, it should make for a quick onboard experience for when Disney Dream arrives for its first sailing on Nov. 20.

With a week before its arrival, officials with the cruise line, the port and Broward County government were on hand to dedicate the space, which has seen little use since the port reacquired it from Carnival Corp. in a pandemic-related deal.

“This is a complete reimagineering and rebranding,” said Port Everglades CEO and port director Jonathan Daniels. “It’s a different agreement than any agreement that we’ve had with any of the any of the lines in the past. … Because of all the intellectual property that they have in here — the branding that has occurred — this is Disney’s terminal.”

The line had been sailing from PortMiami to some degree since 2012, but only seasonally, and with Disney Dream’s four- and five-night sailings that will give way to Disney Magic in May doing three-, four and five-night sailings, it marks the beginning of a 15-year commitment to Port Everglades that guarantees 10.6 million passengers over the term of the lease.

That means both year-round sailings through 2024, but a second ship sailing seasonally beginning in 2025. The port and Disney can agree to extend the lease in five-year increments for an additional 15 years as well, bringing in another 11.25 million passengers.

It’s also going to be the first port with regular visits starting next summer to the line’s new private Bahamas destination, Lookout Cay at Lighthouse Point on the southern end of Eleuthera. Port Canaveral-based ships won’t get regular visits there until fall of next year.

Benefiting from a $120 million investment made before the pandemic, the terminal’s parking garage pairs up with the adjacent Cruise Terminal 2 used by Princess Cruises so that combined they have more than 1,800 spaces, sitting adjacent to the Broward County Convention Center and close to the hotels and restaurants just north of the port.

That includes automated walkways and the promise of complete coverage from garage to ship to shield travelers from Florida’s heat and inclement weather.

The port has its own drive-in market but also pulls travelers from the nearby Fort Lauderdale International Airport and from Miami and West Palm’s airports to a smaller degree. That also means some of the cruisers are shuttling in from nearby hotels, so the parking impact remains to be seen, Daniels said.

“The one thing we’re not going to do is we’re not going to go out there and build a massive 1,500-car, 2,000-car parking garage without seeing what this year looks like,” he said. “If we need another one, it’s because we’re in a great position. We’ll know some of the pain and pressure points this year.”

For Disney, the market is one ripe for new business, not just those with families, but the real adult market craving a Disney experience, Siskie said.

“We’re bringing the product closer to home right on the back door of guests here who, you know may not get all the way to Orlando as often as they might like,” she said. “This is a great opportunity for them to have a little Disney fix.”

And the line is leaning on the port’s backyard of Fort Lauderdale and the greater Broward County area with its own unique spillover benefits.

“We did like the location,” she said. “Port Everglades in general, there are things that we really did like a lot about it. … Fabulous beaches … restaurants, just a great overall place for guests to come to take a Disney cruise. So we started there and we said, ‘Can this be a really good fit for our guests?’ And we said, ‘Yeah, we think it can.'”

The 67,700-gross-ton, 1,200-guest ship that features 11 dining venues is the largest in the now seven-ship Oceania Cruises fleet, but only slightly over the line’s last two ships Marina and Riviera. A sister ship to Vista named Allura is due in 2025.

Oceania is the upper premium sister line to Norwegian Cruise Line and has looked to carve out a unique space focusing on both on-board offerings and destination excursions that cater to the gourmand while not growing too large for its target demographic.

“We really felt there was a huge space in between the premium brands who are actually moving more of mass market because they were building bigger ships — Celebrity, Holland America, Princess,” said cruise line President Frank A. Del Rio. “They left their old premium formats and started going more contemporary so we kind of snuck in between.”

Vista builds on the line’s prowess, once again relying on menus from famed French chef Jacques Pépin, who has been the line’s executive culinary director for two decades, but guests might be surprised to not find his signature restaurant Jacques on board in favor of a new concept called Ember.

“Jacques is not really out in a way because we are cautious of what we have done by introducing Ember,” said Oceania Cruises’ Senior Culinary Director Alexis Quaretti. Instead, his French dishes can be found in the main dining room with a different appetizer, entrée and dessert every day, enough for a 14-day sailing.

That opened up the space to create Ember, which is built to resemble the tasting room of a Napa Valley vineyard serving American farm-to-table fare including dishes conceived by Pépin.

“So, yes, it is a different atmosphere but definitely I love very much Ember, with its nice design, the wood effect, and at least we can still have some of the Jacques Pépin dishes on a daily basis in the main dining room,” Quaretti said.

Ember’s menu includes things like blackened crab cakes with corn salsa and tomato sauce; roasted beetroot salad with goat cheese, shallots, green beans and hazelnuts; porcini-dusted bone-in ribeye with foie gras-truffle demi-glace and breadcrumb-crusted tomato Provençale; and roasted apple tart with served with San Francisco favorite Humphry Slocombe-brand sweet summer corn ice cream.

Also lending her celebrity name to the ship is godmother Giada De Laurentiis, who has for now two signature dishes in the ship’s Italian offering Toscana as well as in the Grand Dining Room including her specialty of lemon spaghetti with jumbo shrimp.

Another new venue to Vista is the Aquamar Kitchen, a healthy concept that combines a family-style table setting that spills over into al fresco outdoor seating.

While it has make-your-own poke bowls and four kinds of avocado toast, there is plenty of indulgence to found within the menu as well such as the butternut squash soup, yellowfin tuna tacos with guacamole, crunchy chicken sandwich with chipotle mayo and the buffalo mozzarella tomato basil panini. Plus it has fresh juices and smoothies such as the spicy sweet “Pure Immunity,” which is OJ, ginger, turmeric and cayenne pepper.

The venue is packed during sailings as it offers a variety of options that set it apart from other lunch fare on board.

Another packed venue is the Baristas coffee bar now with its own bakery that serves up sweet and savory pastries throughout the day.

For those who enjoy learning the art of cooking, the ship offers the largest ever version of The Culinary Center, now with 24 individual cooking stations. For an extra cost, those on board can partake from dozens of new options pulling from a fleetwide library of more than 100 classes designed by the line’s culinary enrichment director and executive chef Kathryn Kelly.

Kelly introduced the kitchen on Oceania’s Marina, and it has since been on board Riviera and the new ships of sister cruise line Regent Seven Seas.

“It’s been an absolute joy ride to develop a program that guests come in — some of them are very talented home chefs, others have never picked up a knife — and have them tell our chefs that it was the experience of a lifetime.”

She says the classes have evolved just as those who have sailed.

“Ten to 15 years ago, when we were teaching cooking classes, we would get on a map and say, ‘Can I show you where you are? Do you even know what country you’re in? ‘ And now it’s not. It’s like, ‘There’s 17 cuisines in Italy. How are they different?’ So we’re seeing that kind of migration of sophistication in a lot of guests that is really rewarding for us as educators.”

Also key to Oceania’s footprint in the market are the unique culinary excursions offered at each of its ports of call, something Kelly and her team spend curating throughout the year.

Kelly said it’s designed to satisfy guests that are thinking, “‘I’ve been to Florence and I’ve checked all the boxes. Now what I want to do is something a little different.’ So they want to be able to go off and explore and maybe take that afternoon and find that special little restaurant somewhere. … I think that the trends that we’re seeing are a little bit more adventuresome, people are feeling a lot more comfortable about sort of street food or more authentic indigenous kinds of foods.”

The ship stands apart from its predecessors with the majority of the interior spaces created by Miami-based Studio DADO, which also had a hand in the new Prima class of ships for Norwegian and spaces on board Regent Seven Seas ships as well.

“What we have to really do is sort of look at trends beyond our design world,” said Studio DADO founding partner Greg Walton “One of the things we look at and we nickname it — we call we’re future casting. We look at all kinds of design, from fashion to automobile design, what’s happening in every kind of industry that involves design, even looking at things like small household appliances.”

The ship’s dining venues in particular each feature a design story to be discovered. The Polo Club steakhouse, for instance, pulls on the history of polo, and how it originated in Persia, and thus a tiled entryway that resembled a Persian rug gives way to the more traditional English stylings within. It even pulls color schemes that pay deference to Wellington, Florida, the polo capital of the South.

Ember, though, is among Walton’s favorite new space, including the faux flame created by a mix of light and mist that provides atmosphere to what feels like a California vineyard.

“The big accomplishment in this space is the fireplace, because there’s no such thing as an open flame on a ship, not even in the galleys,” he said. “At night when you come in here, there’s people who walk up” and place their hand near the flame. He said even the scent of wooden logs under the fireplace lends itself to the sensory experience.

The line often sails to a variety of destinations skipped over by major cruise lines, often built around culinary adventures.

The Miami-based will visit ports including San Juan, Puerto Rico; Gustavia, St. Barts; Roseau, Dominica; Bridgetown, Barbados; St. George’s, Grenada; Castries, St. Lucia; St. John’s, Antigua; Fort-de-France, Martinique in the Eastern Caribbean and Costa Maya, Mexico; Roatan, Honduras; Colon, Panama; Santo Tomas, Guatemala; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica and Belize City, Belize in the Western Caribbean.

The ship begins its winter run Nov. 19 and runs through the end of March.

That’s the message port CEO Capt. John Murray delivered at the annual State of the Port presentation Wednesday. He said a long-term goal is adding a new terminal for the increasing demand of the cruise industry.

“We have six full cruise terminals now. And when I say full, they’re all busy,” Murray said. “Next year we have some schedules where we have a couple of our cruise terminals operating at five and six days a week with the ship alongside. … The challenge with that utilization is that doing any kind of maintenance even as simple as cleaning the terminals after a ship departs is difficult when you’ve got one coming again in 12 hours.”

It’s part of the increased management of limited resources for the port that opened 70 years ago.

“We are a very small port. Trying to get bigger is not easy for us,” Murray said. “It might have been easy back in 1953. But over 70 years, it’s one of the things that we’ve lost. We don’t have that opportunity just to keep going into the river and grow like we did at one time.”

With those limits, optimization and efficiency can only take the port so far.

“We need another cruise terminal. If we had it right now, we could fill it up,” Murray said. “We have significant demand from the cruise lines. … We need a seventh and we need it as soon as we can get it, but in all likelihood, it’s going to be a complicated task to get there.”

Port officials have already identified an area on the south side in the marina district for the project, and the goal is to redevelop the area that supports the smaller boats such as the commercial fishing industry.

The port also is feeling growing pains from an increase in space launches. Murray noted that as many as 10 more launch service providers could join the already busy fleet of SpaceX vessels at the port in the coming years. Port officials have been in talks with Space Florida, the state’s aerospace finance and development agency, in seeking a potential alternative location for all of their ships to dock, with a report from Space Florida due by the end of the year.

“This port can’t handle everything,” Murray said. “We alone cannot accommodate the projected maritime demand. It’s just that simple.”

For fiscal year 2023 that ended Sept. 30, the port saw a record 6.8 million passengers across 906 ship calls. That built on a rebound in 2022 after the pandemic shutdown that saw Port Canaveral’s popularity shoot past PortMiami for the first time and become the No. 1 cruise port in the world. Miami may rebound for that title by the end of this year, but it won’t be for lack of business on Canaveral’s part.

The port hosted 13 ships over the busy winter season, the most ever. Next year is set to see even more, including the arrival before the end of the year of new brands Princess Cruises and Celebrity Cruises along with mainstays Disney Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian and MSC Cruises.

The year’s parking became a tactical problem having hosted more than 840,000 vehicles over the year for cruise guests alone.

That pushed up plans for two new garages on the port’s north side as well as an expanded 1,000-car lot adjacent to Cruise Terminal 1, from where Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class ships sail.

“Our biggest innovation right now is our new parking system that we’re rolling out. Cruise guests at Port Canaveral all pay on arrival,” Murray said. “By paying on entry, it allows people to get to the car and then immediately flow out without having to stop.”

The parking projects are among $500 million in capital improvements slated for the next five years, something the port can afford after bringing in $191 million in operating revenue for 2023 and a projection of near similar revenue in 2024.

“Everything that we earn here we pumped back into it, and it just continues to get better and stronger,” Murray said. “I think that’s the important part, is that we put our money back into our infrastructure.”

For entertainment options on board the massive vessel, the main stage show will be a production of “The Wizard of Oz,” but it’s just one of a supersized set of offerings for the largest theatrical venues ever in the cruise line’s fleet, said Nick Weir, the senior vice president for Royal Entertainment.

“The theater has been built to a whole new level,” he said. “We’ve also built in our 3-D aerial rig so we’ve got the performers or elements flying directly over the audience.”

Technology plays a big part across the main theater, but also the largest skating rink on a Royal ship called Absolute Zero, which has been expanded into an oval shape that will let skaters get more speed and do more tricks while also expanding its projection system to cover the rink, stage and back wall.

“We were the first people to bring an ice skating rink to the high seas,” Weir said noting its debut on the line in 1999. “And we’re still the only people to do it because it’s hard.”

The biggest new playground for Weir is the AquaTheater, which has migrated from its normal home of its Oasis-class siblings up to the new AquaDome, a massive glass-and-steel enclosed space atop the front of the ship.

“Now our AquaTheater is underneath a glass dome, which means we can control weather. We can control the production value,” Weir said. “Now 3-D flying, we will be creating the first-ever double system. So we’ll be able to have two artists essentially doing an aerial dance above the heads of our guests.”

The introduction of four robotic arms integral to the performances may be the biggest technological addition.

“Robotics can recreate any sense of force, motion and direction,” Weir said. “We’re going to put a platform on a robot arm, so instead of having springboards, we’re going to have robot arms throwing divers. The robot will have been programmed with the exact same forces of that of a fiberglass springboard. That’s never been done, and that’s all patented.”

Each of the three venues offers two shows.

The big billed version of “The Wizard of Oz” will feature a 16-piece orchestra, a first for the cruise line. That same orchestra will headline a show called “SHOWBAND! Live. Music. Now.” highlighting the musicians’ skills married with visual effects.

The headliner, though, promises to combine nostalgia with modern touches for a unique performance of the story first written in 1900 and made classic by the 1939 film.

“It’s really important that we stay true to the script and true to the music because that’s what people know,” said Christi Coachman-Orengo, associate VP for entertainment for the cruise line. “We are able to take some creative liberties in the design, for example, the costumes. We have some really unique costumes that you might not really think that we would see in the show. The set design is incredible.”

For the AquaTheater, its two shows will take advantage of the largest cast yet  — a mix of high divers, acrobats, aerialists, slack liners, synchronized swimmers and even skateboarders for the first time. For them, the robotic arms will actually assemble their half pipe in front of the audience before the start of the venue’s main show “Aqua Action!” A second show that’s geared toward families is called “Pirates vs. Mermaids” in which the two teams of performers compete for superiority of the seas in a lighthearted storyline with fairytale-like characters.

For the ice rink, the main show takes on the periodic table of elements. “Starburst: Elemental Beauty” features more tricks and jumps because of the larger rink along with digitally mapped backdrops and vibrant lighting. A second show, once again geared toward families, is called “Once Upon a Time: The King’s Royal Ball” promising a lineup of fairytale characters.

In addition to the three theatrical venues, the ship will feature more than 50 live musicians and comedians including performers in new lounge venues Dueling Pianos and Lou’s Jazz ‘n Blues but also in mainstays like the Schooner Bar and English pub Point & Feather.

“There’s always been a desire, an intention, a mission at Royal to create the best experiences, the best vacations in the world,” Weir said. “And if they’re entertainment fans and are thinking about going to Broadway, or to the West End in London or to Las Vegas. We want them to do a double take, and we’ll just go to Royal Caribbean.”

Icon of the Seas remains under construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland, having just finished its final set of sea trials. It will be making its transatlantic voyage on Dec. 23 ahead of its series of preview sailings in January.

Its first sailing with normal customers will be on Jan. 27, 2024, as it begins seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean voyages from PortMiami.

The second of Disney’s private destinations in the Bahamas joining Castaway Cay is on the southern tip of Eleuthera with the first ships set to visit beginning in June.

Designers promised to embrace Bahamian culture.

“There’s some pretty awesome, great collaboration happening right now between our teams and some unbelievably talented artists and cultural advisers in the Bahamas,” said Thomas Mazloum, president of Disney Signature Experiences, which includes Disney Cruise Line in September. “Together we’re going to shape an experience that truly celebrates that natural beauty, the traditions, the artistry of this one-of-a-kind nation.”

The arrival point is called Mabrika Cove, with “Mabrika” the Taino word for “welcome.” Disney said Taino was spoken by native Lucayans.

Central to the welcome area is the Goombay Cultural Center tied to the Bahamian carnival-esque festival Junkanoo, with a parade on tap during ships’ visits.

“Goombay is one of the traditional music styles of the Bahamas, involving singing, dancing and drumming. The brilliantly colored cultural pavilion and its Junkanoo-inspired arch will invite guests to embrace the traditions of the Bahamas, along with the sights, sounds and spirit of the country’s signature festival,” according to a post on the Disney Parks Blog.

Another new feature revealed for the destination will be Triton’s Trumpet Stage, a gazebo named after a common Bahamian spiraled seashell that doubles as a reference to King Triton from “The Little Mermaid.”

The 700-acre site, of which Disney plans to only develop 16%, will also feature retail shops with Bahamian gifts and crafts called Treasures of Eleuthera, part of the line’s promise to benefit the local economy.

Among the developed space will be an adults-only area called Serenity Bay similar to Castaway Cay, featuring its own beach and dining areas plus private cabanas.

Disney has promised to set aside at least 190 acres to be given back to the Bahamian government including the southernmost point of the land, which is expected to become a national park.

The second Bahamas site for the cruise line has been in the works since it won approval from the government to purchase the land in 2019, but it has faced delays because of the COVID pandemic, hurricanes as well as going through an environmental assessment. It began operating Castaway Cay in 1998 with the debut of its first ship.

It falls in line with the expanding fleet for DCL, which welcomed its fifth ship Disney Wish in 2022 sailing out of Port Canaveral and will bring on its sister ship Disney Treasure next December. The line has plans to grow to eight ships by the end of 2025.

Disney Cruise Line queues up old and new features for new ship Disney Treasure

Previous statements from Disney Cruise Line have said the plan for Lighthouse Point would see similar traffic as Castaway Cay, between three and five weekly visits from cruise ships year-round.

First sailings next summer will come mostly from Port Everglades, but that will expand to Port Canaveral-based ships in the fall.

The site also includes a main beach, family beach, gaming pavilion, market-style dining, water play area with two slides, water drums, fountains and dedicated space for toddlers, a club for children age 3-12 that has its own splash pad themed to “The Little Mermaid” and dedicated dining area.

Recreation options on the site include a covered gaming pavilion, volleyball court, gaga ball pit, watercraft and bike rentals as well as nature trails for hiking and biking. The line is working with local tour operators as well for a lineup to explore beyond the resort.

Details about the site can be found at lighthousepointbahamas.com.

The ship, the first of what the line calls its Prima Plus class, is an expanded sister ship to Norwegian Prima, which sailed out of Port Canaveral last winter and Norwegian Viva, which is sailing from Miami and Puerto Rico this winter.

Among the ship highlights will be what the line says is the first hybrid coaster at sea, a digital sports complex and the first three-bedroom duplex suites for the cruise line in its exclusive area called The Haven. It will also feature the line’s first hull art design by a female artist, Allison Hueman, whose style the line describes as a blend of ethereal realism.

The ship will sail seven-night Caribbean itineraries beginning April 2025 with stops such as Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic; Tortola, British Virgin Islands; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; and the line’s private Bahamas island Great Stirrup Cay.

Bookings opened Thursday for the new voyages at ncl.com. Beginning in August, the ship will migrate to New York, and then venture to Miami for sailings from October 2025 to April 2026.

The ship is 10% larger than Prima and Viva, coming in at 1,056 feet long, 156,300 gross tons and a 3,571-passenger capacity based on double occupancy. It’s still smaller than the line’s popular Breakaway Plus class ships Escape, Joy, Bliss and Encore.

The line says the ship, which will be constructed at the Fincantieri shipyards in Italy, will feature more outdoor space and higher staffing levels than any other new contemporary cruise ship.

“Norwegian Aqua is a true testament of fusing together what represents the future of our brand as the first ship in the Prima Plus class, and our commitment to pushing the boundaries in guest-first experiences that will make new waves at sea,” said Norwegian Cruise Line President David J. Herrera in a press release.

Hueman’s hull design is titled “Where the Sky Meets the Sea,” and is described by the line as a mashup of sea and sky representations, both abstract and figurative, all ruled by ancient goddesses.

“I’m honored, not only to be the first major female hull artist for Norwegian Cruise Line but to also know that my artwork will be roaming the seas touching different parts of the world,” she said in the release. “It’s incredibly special for me to partner with a brand that believes in the magical connection between art and exploration.”

Among the new features will be the Aqua Slidecoaster, dual slides that are a mix of roller coaster and waterslides that feature a magnetic lift to send riders through two different courses traversing three decks and venturing about the ship’s funnel.

Also new to the ship is the Glow Court, a digital sports complex with an interactive LED floor that will offer daytime play and turn into a nightclub in the evening.

Returning features found on Prima and Viva include The Drop, a 10-story free-fall dry slide and an expanded gaming space called the Stadium with foosball, ping-pong and other activities.

Carving out more exclusive space for suite guests, the ship will have the largest version of the Haven yet with 123 suites including four two-story, three-bedroom duplex suites with separate living rooms and dining areas, three bathrooms, three bedrooms and large balconies.

Haven guests get their own sundeck, infinity pool, outdoor spa with glass-walled sauna and cold room, two hot tubs, private lounge, exclusive bar, 24-hour butler service, and a dedicated concierge team.

The rest of the ship will feature inside, ocean view and balcony staterooms including studio staterooms for solo travelers, with price points lower than having to pay double the fare.

The lower deck outdoor walkway known as Ocean Boulevard that wraps around the entire ship will be the largest yet for the line including glass bridges with views down to the ocean on both sides.

The ship under construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland performed its first round of sea trials in June, and Royal Caribbean will get its hands on it for a trip across the Atlantic on Dec. 23 for arrival to its year-round homeport in Miami where it will begin sailing with passengers in January 2024.

This final set of sea trials will take place over several days in the open ocean to test out all the parts in place including pushing through extremes the engines of what will officially become the world’s largest cruise ship. Other on-board features will get the run-through as well including the waterpark with its six waterslides, all seven pools and the waste-to-energy plant, according to the cruise line.

The new class will take the size title from the line’s Oasis-class, coming in at 20 decks, 250,800 gross tons and 1,198 feet long. It’s the first of three announced ships in the Icon class with the next two set to be delivered in 2025 and 2026.

It has been under construction in Finland for more than two years. Similar to the five existing Oasis-class ships and next year’s Port Canaveral-bound Utopia of the Seas, Icon of the Seas is carved up into neighborhoods. The most visible of those is the new AquaDome, a massive 363-ton engineering feat that sits at the top and front of the ship.

Icon of the Seas is about 15,000 gross tons larger than the current world’s largest cruise ship Wonder of the Seas, but actually has less passenger capacity based on double occupancy — 5,610 compared with Wonder’s 5,734. The size of the cabins and suites, though, among 28 categories gives Icon a maximum capacity of 7,600, which exceeds Wonder’s 7,084.

‘The Wizard of Oz’ confirmed as Royal Caribbean teases Icon of the Seas entertainment

That includes the largest exclusive area for suite guests to date for the line covering three decks. It’s one of eight neighborhoods that also includes familiar spaces like the Royal Promenade and the open-air Central Park.

AquaDome is one of the new spaces and will be home to the popular diving and aerialist shows put on in the AquaTheater, but now within a controlled atmosphere. During the day, it will be home to a 55-foot-tall waterfall in an inviting space with bars and restaurants.

The Boardwalk space on Oasis ships gives way to a family-friendly Surfside neighborhood at the aft of the ship. The top deck is home to Thrill Island including the largest water park at sea called Category 6 and a feature called the Crown’s Edge that is part ropes course and part thrill ride.

Royal Caribbean cooks up new venues for world’s largest cruise ship Icon of the Seas

On the more relaxing side is Chill Island also on the top decks with the line’s first swim-up bar at sea with in-water loungers and tables, among four pools within the neighborhood.

Another new neighborhood is called The Hideaway, which is home to a suspended infinity pool 135 feet above the ocean along with a multi-level sun terrace, more whirlpools and bar.

Icon of the Seas will sail year-round alternating seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean voyages from PortMiami. The cruise line will send the ship out on a series of preview sailings leading up to its first revenue cruise on Jan. 28.

Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas arrived at the Central Florida port on Wednesday to begin three- and four-night Bahamas trips, a first for the massive Oasis-class vessels that will add thousands to the port’s ever-growing passenger count.

The port recently added 1,000 parking spaces to support the busy Terminal 1, also home to current record holder for world’s largest cruise ship Wonder of the Seas.

“This is a game changer,” said Allure of the Seas Capt. Tobias Oster to Port Canaveral CEO Capt. John Murray during a ceremony to welcome the ship. “Not just for us, but for you as well.”

The port commission meeting earlier in the day went over its final fiscal year 2023 numbers that ended Sept. 30, with a record 6.8 million passengers, a number that’s expected to grow even more in fiscal year 2024.

That includes more ships, larger ships and more frequent sailings. Royal’s addition of Allure of the Seas will pave the way for the line’s newest Oasis-class ship, Utopia of the Seas, coming next July and keep the double Oasis offering going year-round.

The demand is there, Oster said, noting the ship was sailing with 6,300 passengers on its first sailing. Its maximum capacity is 6,828. A sister ship to the original Oasis of the Seas that debuted in 2009, Allure of the Seas began sailing in 2010 and features the neighborhood concept. It carves the ship up into spaces, including the Jersey Shore-inspired Boardwalk at the aft of the ship and the outdoor Central Park space in the middle.

“Royal Caribbean’s three- and four-day product has been steadily improving over the last few years and one of or most successful ships was Independence of the Seas,” Murray said. “She’s been sailing full since post-pandemic, and this was the next logical step to go to the Oasis class.”

Each of the Oasis-class ships claimed the title of world’s largest cruise ship and Allure held the title until Harmony of the Seas’ debut in 2016, which has since been handed over to the more recent Symphony of the Seas and current title holder Wonder of the Seas.

Port Canaveral has now become the home to four of the five existing Oasis-class ships and will be the first home for the sixth and possibly final Oasis-class ship when it debuts.

The ship’s arrival heralds the beginning of a parade of new arrivals to not only Port Canaveral, but also PortMiami and Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, the three busiest cruise ports in the world.

Port Canaveral will see three more ships in November that are calling it home for the first time including Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas on Nov. 10, a new class of ship from MSC Cruises, the MSC Seashore, coming Nov. 16, and Carnival Vista coming on Nov. 26.

Also returning to the port beginning Dec. 24 will be Norwegian Epic, which was a late add to the port’s stable of offerings after Norwegian Cruise Line canceled four months of Mediterranean sailings.

It continues to host Disney Wish and Fantasy, Carnival’s Mardi Gras and Norwegian Escape among a winter stable that will see 13 ships among five brands.

The few brand-new ships that debuted in 2023 will be making their way to the two South Florida ports.

Port Everglades will once again be home to the latest in Celebrity Cruises’ Edge-class ships, the Celebrity Ascent, when it begins sailing on Nov. 22. It’s the fourth iteration of the groundbreaking class. The 3,260-passenger, 140,600-gross-ton vessel is about 60 feet longer than the original Celebrity Edge that debuted in 2018, but once again features the Magic Carpet.

It’s an exterior elevator platform that acts primarily as an innovative way for passengers to disembark and reboard the ship at ports of call but also doubles as an entertainment and dining venue.

Another big debut for Port Everglades isn’t a new ship, but a new second home for Disney Cruise Line as it shifts away from Miami where it had been sailing to some degree since 2012 by bringing Disney Dream to the Fort Lauderdale port’s Cruise Terminal 4 beginning Nov. 20. It’s one of the terminals closest to the city’s convention center coupled with a massive renovated parking garage and hotel.

Fort Lauderdale will also play host to the latest luxury offering from Silversea Cruises with the Silver Nova. The line’s 11th ship has a first-in-class asymmetrical design with an outward-facing pool deck, al fresco dining area and a sky bar with panoramic views from the aft of the ship. It pops in and out of Florida as it carves its way around the Caribbean, Central and South America between January and April.

Miami isn’t hurting for customers, though.

Norwegian’s second Prima-class vessel, the Norwegian Viva, will sail out of PortMiami on just a pair of sailings beginning Dec. 2, and then make its winter home based out of San Juan, Puerto Rico. It’s the second of six planned vessels in the new class, smaller than the last several ships for the line, coming in a 142,500 gross tons with a 3,100-passenger capacity based on double occupancy.

On the higher end, Oceania Vista, the first new ship from culinary-focused Oceania Cruises in more than a decade, has already made its maiden call to PortMiami when it arrived earlier this month. The 1,200-guest ship then left for a pair of Panama Canal cruises, but will return for four months out of Miami on Caribbean itineraries. The upper premium brand to sister line Norwegian, Vista is the biggest ship in Oceania’s fleet with 11 dining venues including a new concept of American dining called Ember with menu items conceived by the line’s executive culinary director Jacques Pépin. The ship’s godmother, celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis, is also bringing dishes to the ship’s Italian venue while the popular culinary test kitchen gets its largest space yet across the Oceania fleet.

Miami will also get stops from the latest from Regent Seven Seas, the luxury, all-inclusive sister brand to both Norwegian and Oceania, when the 750-passenger Seven Seas Grandeur makes its way to the Magic City on Dec. 14 and revisits Miami amid an array of unique sailings through March. The ship has more than 600 crew for a 1-to-1.4 passenger-to-crew ratio.

And Miami will welcome a new foray by MSC Group into the luxury class with its first ship under the brand Explora Journeys. The Explora 1 is the first of six ships on order, a 63,900-gross-ton vessel with a 922-guest capacity that plans to visit 132 ports in more than 40 countries during its first year in service including several embarkations from Miami beginning Nov. 3 and running through March 2024.

Haunted Mansion Parlor is a new concept that will serve up macabre drink concoctions in an expansion of the stories told at Disneyland, Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and other Disney parks around the world.

It joins previously announced venues on the new ship inspired by the Jungle Cruise and 20,000 League Under the Sea, further carving out an identity closely tied to Disney’s original theme park attractions.

The next chapter involves “a jovial captain who entered the ghostly realm after a disastrous dinner with his beloved fiancé,” according to a Disney Cruise Line press release.

Those who venture into the darkly lit venue will encounter glowing apparitions appearing within the massive mirror behind the bar while music inspired by the theme park ride’s score will set the mood.

Promised to appear are “an ever-escalating anthology of illusions that immerses guests into the mysterious lore of the Haunted Mansion,” mixing old favorites from the ride with new characters that “will come out to socialize in mysterious ways throughout the experience.”

Its styling will be tied to the Disneyland version that opened in 1969 “reminiscent of a first-class drawing room from the classic cruise liners of the golden age, invoking inspiration from the original Haunted Mansion with a nautical twist.”

Throughout the bar will be tributes to the theme park attractions amid purple wallpaper with wooden finishes. That includes a portrait gallery and mantel clock that strikes 13 that will be sitting over a fireplace near a purple armchair.

Among the libations will be themed alcoholic and nonalcoholic cocktails including the Sympathetic Libations, a drink that mixes blood orange and sour cherry served in a specialty mug. The Ghoulish Delight will have ube fudge, oat milk, tapioca pearls mixed in a purple liquid garnished with a gummy eyeball. Another drink will be a margarita with swirling smoke that has a secret message that can be read under a black light.

Along with the experience, the cruise line will offer exclusive merchandise tied to the venue including a music box, the mantel clock and parlor mirror with its own hitchhiking ghosts.

Disney Cruise Line queues up old and new features for new ship Disney Treasure

Disney Treasure is the sister ship to Disney Wish that debuted out of Port Canaveral in 2022, the second of three in what was originally called the Trident class of ship, slightly larger than the older Disney Dream and Fantasy coming in at 144,000 gross tons, but sticking with the 4,000-passenger capacity also on Dream and Fantasy.

It’s currently under construction at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany and will begin sailing alternating seven-night, eastern and western Caribbean itineraries out of Port Canaveral with its maiden voyage Dec. 21, 2024. A third unnamed ship in the class is due in 2025.

Previous highlights unique to Disney Treasure that have been revealed include a new stage show based on “Moana,” a dinner theater experience based on the Disney Pixar movie “Coco,” a new dessert venue themed to “Zootopia,” and a high-end suite inspired by Epcot.

Like Disney Wish, it will have a version of the combination dark ride and water coaster AquaMouse, the children’s play area Oceaneer Club with venues tied to Marvel, Star Wars, Disney Imagineers, Disney Princesses and Mickey and Minnie; and new iterations of both the Worlds of Marvel and 1923 restaurants.

The Haunted Mansion Parlor takes the place of the Star Wars-themed bar found on Disney Wish.

Freedom has been sailing without the iconic red-white-and-blue smokestack funnel since it became engulfed in flames in May 2022 while docked in Grand Turk. Video of the inferno was taken by passengers aboard Carnival’s Mardi Gras, which was docked alongside, showing half of the tail disintegrating amid billows of black smoke leaving behind a charred husk.

Carnival Freedom caught fire in Grand Turk while docked this morning. Praying there are no injuries and everyone will be safe. #carnival #fire #grandturk pic.twitter.com/G8p3karGsp

— Enjoying Life (@AirborneJM) May 26, 2022

A quick fix was enabled at a Bahamas shipyard that stripped off the scorched remains of the whale tail but left it with a functional exhaust so it could continue its normal four- and five-night sailing duties from Central Florida.

It wasn’t until it left for the Navantia shipyard in Cadiz, Spain, in September that it would undergo a 16-day dry dock that would give the ship a new funnel often referred to as the “whale tail” because of its winged shape.

“The ship’s vibrant transformation is a significant milestone for the shipyard,” reads a Carnival press release. “While the yard’s team members have worked on other projects across the fleet, this is the first time they have designed and manufactured a Carnival funnel.”

Ships head in for a required dry dock every five years under international maritime law, during which cruise lines often install new features. The ship’s last dry dock was in 2019, but headed in early to get its replacement funnel.

For Carnival Freedom, new additions include the addition of the Heroes Military Tribute Bar, a venue that debuted on Carnival’s Panorama in 2019 and has since been installed on new ships Mardi Gras, Celebration and Venezia. The ship also received Dreams Studio, where ship photography can be married with keepsakes, an expanded casino with more slots, new betting tables and more ADA accessibility, and other touches to the staterooms and public areas.

The 110,000-gross-ton, 2,980-guest ship that debuted in 2007 welcomed passengers back on board this week and is now on a 14-night transatlantic voyage back to Port Canaveral, where it will return to service Nov. 6.

Carnival offers the most sailings from Port Canaveral with four ships offering a projected 270 homeport calls in the next year sailing year-round on a variety of itineraries. Freedom rejoins, Mardi Gras, Carnival Vista and Carnival Liberty, although Liberty will be switched during the year with Carnival Glory.

In late 2024, that will expand to five ships with the arrival of the Italian-themed Venezia, a rebranded ship originally built for sister cruise line Costa Cruises.