Re Southern Cross

Hi can anybody tell me which company the Southern Cross used to sail under in Australia.

Regards, Robert:)

Is it this one, built by Harland & Wolff?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Southern_Cross_%281955%29

thank you very much for that link very interesting:)

I believe it was CTC cruises - now long gone of course.

I believe it was CTC cruises - now long gone of course.

Hi Guys and thank you would you know if CTC were with any other company or stand alone.

Warmest Regards, Robert

CTC Cruises were a company based in Regent St, London who used to charter ships from the Black Sea Shipping Company (at the time Russian and part of Morpasflot, ) who were based in the Ukraine. Some of their ships were named the following: , Alexandr Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontev, Gruzia, Kazahkhstan, Odessa and Leonid Brezhnev which was later named Kareliya. They acquired the Southern Cross in1995 after their ship named Belorussiya was lost in an accident. I believe Southern Cross was previously named Star Ship Majestic and was with Premier Cruise Lines.

We had several holidays with CTC - very happy family holidays. They were popular in UK and departed out of Tilbury to various destinations. The Southern Cross made several voyages before the company closed in the mid 90's. I think that some of their staff may have gone on to form Cruise & Maritime Voyages which is a company based in the UK and has offered somewhat similar cruises, sailing out of Tilbury and various UK ports for the last few years.

Good Morning Dave & Marge Morgan

Once again thank you that was very interesting we sailed on her from Vanuatu to Australia.

So are you still cruising or not.

Warmest Regards, Robert:)

Indeed we are Robert. We try to cruise at least once a year and have visited some lovely places over the years.

Cruise and Maritime also offer cruises to/from Australia, from Tilbury, very like that of the Southern Cross.

Happy Cruising,

Marge

I think there is some confusion over this Southern Cross question.

The REAL Cross is identified in the link given in post #2, the Shaw Savill liner (not a cruise ship) launched by the Queen in 1954. 1100 passenger capacity.

Joined later by slightly larger (1600 passengers) sister ship Northern Star. Each ship made four round the world voyages per year. Southampton>South Africa>Australia>New Zealand>Panama>Southampton. Southern Cross usually sailed westbound, Northern Star eastbound.

The Boeing 747 Jumbo put an end to this service in the early 1970s. Shaw Savill tried to use the ships for cruising, but they were not experienced and the venture failed. Northern Star was scrapped after only 13 years service, but Southern Cross was sold and had a long career as a cruise ship, sailing as Calypso,then Azure Seas and finally Ocean Breeze before being scrapped just short of her 50th birthday.

The CTC operated Southern Cross was a totally different, later ship. But because they were of similar size and general layout and carried passengers, they tend to get mixed in people's memories. But not mine, I am an old Shaw Savill sailor!

Thank you for the clarification. Apologies if we've confused people. There are several similarities between the two, not least the name!

CTC Cruises were a company based in Regent St, London who used to charter ships from the Black Sea Shipping Company (at the time Russian and part of Morpasflot, ) who were based in the Ukraine. Some of their ships were named the following: , Alexandr Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontev, Gruzia, Kazahkhstan, Odessa and Leonid Brezhnev which was later named Kareliya. They acquired the Southern Cross in1995 after their ship named Belorussiya was lost in an accident. I believe Southern Cross was previously named Star Ship Majestic and was with Premier Cruise Lines.

We had several holidays with CTC - very happy family holidays. They were popular in UK and departed out of Tilbury to various destinations. The Southern Cross made several voyages before the company closed in the mid 90's. I think that some of their staff may have gone on to form Cruise & Maritime Voyages which is a company based in the UK and has offered somewhat similar cruises, sailing out of Tilbury and various UK ports for the last few years.

We sailed on the Southern Cross' last Christmas Cruise in 1996 up to Noumea and Vanuatu. Spent the whole cruise being chased by three cyclones! The Fairstar bore the brunt of the cyclones and scores of passengers disembarked in Noumea (by tender) and flew home.

I remember flying back to NZ on New Years Eve on an earlier flight than planned and being told if the storm (cyclone) was due to hit about the time we were to land we would be diverted to Christchurch.

No long after that CTC went under. Another of their ships was impounded somewhere down under for not paying port taxes. We were just relieved that the Southern Cross had not suffered the same fate!

Our cruise was only at about 50% capacity and TA's were selling the cruise at rock bottom on the days before sailing. Poor us paid full price. We were the only passengers on our deck (behind the cinema) as the deck was being refurbished! It was very quiet!

Hi and thanks