Disney Wonder Ship Experts I have a ?

I was one of the many fans here that followed the recent Dry Dock of the Wonder and all her many improvements and updates and was scouring the web for pictures and posts about it. I have a question though that has been nagging me since I saw the ship after it reached Cadiz and was stripped and the major work started. On the rear funnel, there is a spire that appears in all the pictures and other shots of the ship prior to dry dock, but during the refit the spire disappeared, but when the ship sailed for Lisbon, it had magically reappeared (Disney Magic pun not intended even though she has the spire too) Can anyone speak to what that spire is for? Does it have a function for the ships? And Why does it appear that the Dream Class not have this feature? Maybe this is something too esoteric for this board but I am definitely curious about this feature.

not exactly sure what 'spire' you are talking about

but on M and W there is a 'mast' on the rear funnel that provides the necessary elevation for the after masthead light .... a type of light described in and required by the international rules of the road.

A simple (and incomplete) description: a power driven vessel over 50 meters in length displays two masthead lights on the centerline, the after light being higher than the forward light.

At night one can tell what aspect or angle they are seeing of another ship by the orientation of these two lights which form a 'range' or 'transit'

It is not required that either of these lights be on a mast, just that they meet the requirements for height in general, arc of visibility, and vertical separation all of which are detailed in the rules. D and F may meet the requirements without use of a mast for the after light ....

IF this is the case the mast may have been replaced, refurbished, removed for clearance issues and may even be 'retractable' .... dunno .....

I agree with Capt_BJ.

Bartman, I believe this is the mast you are referring to?

I can't see anything on the Dream or Fantasy's Aft funnel as the Magic and Wonder have, but maybe the Aft ventilation stack has them on it?

While Googling, I did find this very cool shot of the Dream taken from a helicoptor high above!

http://jeffreymilstein.com

ex techie

Yes, that's the mast/spire I was talking about, I guess the lighting requirements is why it's there. i just thought it was funny they removed it during the dry dock and then restored it once it was finished. Maybe it is retractable due to passage under some bridges, I know when we sailed in to San Francisco Bay on our 2013 LA to Vancouver trip I thought we transited under the Golden Gate bridge pretty closely.

Hi there,

No need to scour! I was just onboard and here you can find my live blog, while here you can find the Facebook album. The ship review has been rewritten and is currently in edits, should make it to the site in the coming weeks.

Happy Cruising!

~Brittany Chrusciel, Associate Editor, Cruise Critic

Looking at the below image, it appears that the Dream has the forward masthead light all the way forward on the bow and the 2nd masthead light on top of the Currents bar / Concierge sun deck area. That would satisfy the 1st masthead no further aft then 1/4 the length of the ship and the min 100 meter separation.

If the 2nd masthead light was placed on the more normal second smoke stack, the masthead would have to be unusually tall to meet the visibility requirements at 1/2 nautical mile at sea level due to the length and height of the ship.

Also visible is the Green side light directly above the lighted "Dream" name.

Good find Arthur!

Here is a clear shot of the bow masthead lights on the Dream class:

And nothing similar on the Magic class:

ex techie