Disney Cruise Line May Make The Inside Cabins On Its New Ship

[opensource]

At the big Disney press conference in Orlando last week, very little was said about improvements to the Disney theme parks, leaving them vulnerable -- as I wrote last week -- to powerful competition from the new Harry Potter attraction opening this Spring at Universal Studios Florida.

Instead, the big news was about a feature of the new Disney cruise ship, the Disney Dream, going into service 11 months from now in January of 2011. In every one of its inside cabins, Disney will have simulated portholes where "windows" will be TV monitors showing live images of the sea and the ports outside. And periodically super-imposed on those actual, real pictures will be Disney characters commenting hunorously on the vistas and scenery revealed through those "portholes."

Photo credit: A Disney cruiseship/Rennett Stowe

In other words, the views of the world outside will be superior to reality. They will be cartoon-enhanced. And according to the Disney presenters, they will be so compelling that children will urge their parents to book them into the inside cabins. What has been regarded, until now, as inferior lodgings, will become highly desirable.

A tip to Carnival and Royal Caribbean: Why not improve on Disney? Why not provide 3-D videos of the world outside a cruise ship's portholes?

Which brings me back to the suggestion I've made for those new, giant cruise ships which are more like amusement parks than cruise ships. By replacing portholes with television screens, it will no longer be necessary to leave port and go out to sea. The ship can remain anchored to its dock and give passengers the illusion of being at sea by replacing portholes with tv-style monitors showing an improved, enhanced version of nature.

With all the bells and whistles inside, all the toys and games available to passengers, who will even be aware that the ship has not left port?

The savings in fuel and personnel will be enormous!

Source: Disney Cruise Line May Make The Inside Cabins On Its New Ship The Company's Most Attractive Lodgings

[Omolewa akinyemi benson]

that would be a massive one.