Premier Cruise Line
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Premier Cruise Line was a cruise line that operated from 1983 to 2000. It was at one time the official cruise line of Walt Disney World and used the trademark "The Big Red Boat" based on the color scheme of some of its ships.
Premier Cruise Line was formed in 1983 by the Greyhound Bus Company. The ships typically operated 3-day and 4-day Bahamas trips out of Port Canaveral, Florida. The company was earning in excess of $20 million annually on a gross revenue of $100 million during the 1980s.
Premier became the "official Disney cruise line", and marketed cruises as part of a land/sea vacation package including visits to the Disney theme parks in Florida. Disney decided to create its own cruise line in 1995 and ended its relationship with Premier. Premier then affiliated itself with the Looney Tunes characters to maintain its family friendly image, but Premier suffered without the Disney connection. The company also had an aging fleet of small ships unable to compete with newer and larger liners. The older ships were not designed for the handicapped and Premier was sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act for not making accommodations for people with disabilities. Premier Cruises eventually went into bankruptcy and folded in September, 2000.
Some Premier ships included the Majestic (the former Sun Princess of Princess Cruise Lines), the former Home Lines flagship Oceanic, the Atlantic (another former Home Lines ship), and the Royale, a former Costa liner known then as the Frederico C. The original four ships had the prefix "Star Ship" or S/S before their names. During Premiers' reorganization in the mid 1990s all but the Oceanic (Big Red Boat I) were sold off. Premier then became an amalgamation of Dolphin and Seawind Cruises. Later, the Rembrandt, formerly the Rotterdam of Holland America Line was added to the line.
The Oceanic (Big Red Boat I) is still sailing today for Spain based Pullmantur Cruises. The Big Red Boat II, formerly Eugenio Costa, was sold for scrap. The Big Red Boat III, formerly Carnival Cruise Line's Festivale was also sold for scrap. The former Federico C was to be scrapped at India but instead sank in a storm 220 miles off the Virginia coast. Lastly, the Rembrandt, formerly the Rotterdam, was purchased by the city of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, to be restored and kept as a historic landmark.
