Port Canaveral officials approve pursuing $46.5 million of work to refurb Disney Cruise Line terminals
Disney Cruise Line’s existing terminal at Port Canaveral is on track for a major refurbishment.
The Canaveral Port Authority Board of Commissioners approved pursuing contracts for firms to work on both Terminal 8, where Disney currently sails out of, but also adjacent Terminal 10, which would be able to support more Disney ships when the line’s new Trident class debuts in 2021.
The proposed work, which has been conceptually approved by Disney Cruise Line according to port officials, will be for both land and marine work on the two terminals. It has been under review in recent months with port staff offering recommended firms for the work.
The commission approved pursuit of a contract for a proposed $39.6 million for Terminal 8 work that includes renovating both floors of the Disney terminal, which has not had any major changes since 1998. That also includes 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.
Another $6.8 million is earmarked for Terminal 10 work, the terminal currently mostly used by Norwegian Cruise Line, but would be shared by Disney and Norwegian. Those improvements include a new seating and concierge area.
The recommended firm is BEA Architects out of Miami, which worked on the original design of Terminal 8.
Waterside improvements on both terminals would require more mooring fixtures and strengthening the pier deck plus geotechnical exploration and bathymetric and topographic surveys ahead of the arrival of the Disney Triton class ship in 2021. The recommended firm is Jacobs, which has several contracts at the port’s other piers.
Disney Cruise Line currently home ports Disney Dream and Fantasy, but also hosts older ships Disney Magic and Wonder seasonally some years. The new ship, which has yet to be named by Disney, but identified as Triton class in the port documents, will arrive in 2021 with two more ships slated for 2022 and 2023.
Port officials have previously stated that after the first new ship, at least one of two sister ships will also call Port Canaveral home, and that Disney plans to keep three ships at the port year-round, meaning on some days, two Disney ships would be in port at the same time.
“They’re working on fleet deployment now,” said Port CEO Capt. John Murray. “Nothing has been decided but we’re anticipating additional business here.”
To date, scant details about the new class of ships have been revealed, other than they will be powered by liquefied natural gas, be 140,000 gross tons, which is slightly larger than the 130,000 gross tons of Dream and Fantasy, but will have the same number of staterooms: 1,250.
One rendering for the new ship shows a water ride feature that Disney officials have said would be different than the AquaDuck water coaster that’s on Dream and Fantasy.
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