Introducing Remy, a new French-inspired restaurant,

Disney Cruise Line (DCL), at an event at Le Bernardin restaurant in New York on Thursday night, said it would introduce Remy, a new French-inspired restaurant, on Disney Dream, the 128,000-ton, 4,000-passenger ship set to debut in January 2011. Remy will be DCL’s first premier dining option. The top restaurant on both Disney Magic and Disney Wonder currently is Palo, featuring northern Italian cuisine.

Disney Dream will also feature a Palo restaurant, as well as three innovative rotational dining restaurants – Animator’s Palate, Royal Palace and Enchanted Garden. But the new Remy is clearly aimed at taking DCL’s culinary offerings to a new level. The restaurant will feature menus created by a team of two top chefs – Chef Arnaud Lallement from L’Assiette Champenoise, a Michelin two-star restaurant located just outside Reims, France, and Chef Scott Hunnel, from Victoria & Albert’s restaurant in the Grand Floridian hotel in Walt Disney World, an AAA Five-Diamond establishment. Also contributing to the cuisine will be Master Pastry Chef Erich Herbitscheck of Victoria & Albert’s and Chef Mattieu Gerard Siegrist of L’Assiette Champenoise. French-trained Chef Patrick Albert, executive chef for Remy, will oversee the onboard culinary team of 15 chefs and sous-chefs dedicated to the restaurant.

“Remy, a first-of-its-kind onboard experience, takes Disney Cruise Line dining to new heights,” said Ozer Balli, vice president of Disney Cruise Line Hotel Operations. “The extraordinary success of Palo on the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder encouraged us to create this elegant, upscale and even more intimate dining experience for the Disney Dream.

Dinner at Remy will start with a signature chilled champagne cocktail made tableside, followed by eight to nine small courses complemented by a selected wines. Lallement’s cuisine is described as modern, simple and stylish, featuring such selections as roasted lobster with cream and fresh asparagus with black truffles and vin jaune. Hunnel’s innovative dishes offer small tastes of everything from wild caviar to Kobe beef and Japanese Wagyu strip loin.

Remy is named after the animated character in the Disney film “Ratatouille.” In the animated film, Remy is a rat who lives in Paris and dreams of becoming a master chef. The restaurant Remy, which will be located on Deck 12 next to Palo, will seat 80 in a room designed Art Nouveau style with a palate of soft greens, deep reds and rich gold. The restaurant features classic French design, including sinuous lines on chair backs, etched in glass and in wall treatments. The Remy character will be integrated into the design. Tables will be set on Frette linens with Riedel glassware, Christofle silverware and china made exclusively for Remy.

Remy also will feature a private Chef’s Table dining room seating 16, with service from the kitchen staff and a special multi-course menu. The room has its own entrance to the kitchen to allow chefs easy access to dining guests. A glass-walled wine room with marble flooring will have seating for up to 16 guests amid more than 900 bottles of wine.

Guests of Disney Dream will be able to make advance reservations at Remy 75 days in advance. If they are members of Disney’s Castaway Club, DCL’s past cruiser group, they can make reservations from 90 to 120 days in advance, depending on their club level. There will be a surcharge for Remy though that has not been determined yet. Surcharges for top restaurants aboard most cruise ships range from $20 to $35. The surcharge at Palo is currently $15. There will also be a higher surcharge for dining at the Chef’s Table, though again that has not been determined.

Disney Dream will offer three- and four-night sailings from Port Canaveral to Nassau in the Bahamas, including a stop at Castaway Cay, Disney’s private island. In summer, the ship will offer slight longer sailings of five and four nights. For more information about DCL, travel agents can call 888-325-2500