And next year he’ll be at the helm of the Dream’s sister ship, the Fantasy.

 Before coming to Port Canaveral this month, Forberg spent 11 months at Meyer Werft Shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, overseeing the construction of the Dream, as he did with the Italian-built Magic and Wonder.

 And even though he’s had a 30-year history in the maritime industry piloting ships all around the world, the native of Gjovik, Norway, calls it a “privilege” to work on the Dream.

 ”If you look at the ship from the outside, you can see how different it is right away: the lines, the design of the ship. It’s long, sleek,” he said in an interview Friday aboard the Dream, where the traditional maritime plaque and key exchange was held.

Image via CrunchBase

 ”And of course it has all of the state-of-the-art equipment that is needed for safe operation of the ship. It’s probably one of the most beautiful ships ever built.”

 Disney said the Dream has been designed to be “an even more hydrodynamic vessel than its predecessors.” It boasts an optimized propulsion system and hull for increased efficiency. It has a maximum cruising speed of 23.5 knots, not exactly a snail’s pace compared with other liners of similar size.

Image via Wikipedia

 The Dream also contains some “industry firsts” said Forberg, highlighting the AquaDuck waterslide. The slide is 765-feet long with a 4-deck drop over the open ocean and the first water coaster at sea. There are virtual portholes on the ship so even if you have an inside cabin, you can see what’s going on outside the ship.

Image via Wikipedia

 The U.S. Coast Guard also granted Disney special permission to paint the Dream’s lifeboats yellow instead of the traditional orange, in order to stay true to the liner’s Mickey Mouse color scheme of red, yellow and black.

 ”The attention to detail is far greater here than what you normally see on cruise ships,” Forberg said. “And when you walk the ship, it doesn’t matter what area you come into, it’s very well laid out.”

 To pilot a 1,115-foot ship, which is longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall, and that can hold 4,000 passengers and 1,458 crew members, takes a lot of experience. Ship captains are usually well-traveled, highly educated and, to some degree, fearless.

 Forberg is no exception.

 He said he got his grounding in the maritime world in the Norwegian Navy after high school. From there, he attended nautical college and captain’s school. And even after that, it takes some time to get the helm of a large passenger liner.

 ”Once you have all of your education, it doesn’t mean that you necessarily are going to be a captain,” he said. “You have to start off as a general officer, then you work yourself through the ranks.”

 The payoff has been good, and bringing a Disney ship for the third time to Port Canaveral has paid off for the local economy, as well, Forberg said. He said he recently spoke with a Macy’s employee at Merritt Square Mall who told him that it would be hard to survive without the crews on the ship.

 ”On this ship alone, we have 1,500 crew members, and they go to Merritt Square Mall to buy their essentials, whatever it is they need,” he said. “It makes a big difference, no question.”