Levon71

We just got off the Mariner yesterday. The two slides, Typhoon and Cyclone, are very good. We went on them everyday and the wait times were never longer than about 5-6 minutes.  

We were in Port in Nassau directly next to the Navigator (sister ship to Mariner). We noticed the different slide configuration and I looked it up. One slide uses a mat and is apparently the longest water slide at sea. So of course now we want to sail on Navigator (water slides are one of our biggest factors in choosing a cruise ship).  

Me too.

Can you tell me how to post pictures within my text instead of as attached thumbnails? If so I will post more of the pics my parents took last week.

I have the answer for the United States: Donald Trump.

Think about it...he knows real estate, he loves New York, he has billions of dollars...and he wants to "make America great again." Maybe he could make the United States great again instead.

It was a thrill for my mom to be back aboard after all those decades. She is an artist and said she would like to put a piece in the auction next time...if there is a next time. My dad said the gala raised enough money to keep it afloat for another month or so. He said the hull doesn't appear to be taking on water but there are exposed areas that are so rusted and corroded he is not optimistic it can be saved. :(

How do I post these pictures larger? If I click on the yellow icon with the mountain on it, my whole browser (iPad) closes.

Remains of first class staterooms

My parents went aboard the United States today. So far they have only sent one picture...sorry I don't know why it is rotated

Cool pic. Your grandmother looks familiar. Was she in the "SS United States: Lady in Waiting" video?

I don't know...I have never seen that video. It is possible, given she was on the ship at least three times, including the July 1952 return to New York.

Here she is coming to America for the first time in 1947 aboard the Queen Mary:

(She is in the center in line with the column)

My mom and grandmother on a later voyage aboard the United States

Yes, you are quite realistic. Scrap prices are indeed way down. I am in the auto repair industry, and scrap cars as well as things like catalytic converters bring way less money than they did just a few years ago.

It is also real from what I can see on the interwebs and read from people who have been to the United States that other than the shell, there is really nothing original left about this ship. To recreate the way it was, even part of it, would be difficult and expensive...and judging by the Queen Mary, probably just not that interesting to enough people to make it financially viable.

I am personally interested in it and maritime history in general, and my mom was on the record-setting return voyage to NY in July 1952...so I would love to see it return to glory in some way...but I am not sure that can actually happen.

Hello everyone. I just read all ten pages of this thread after learning just a few days ago that my mom was aboard the United States for its July 10, 1952 return voyage that set the speed record and earned the Blue Riband. She was on the ship again in 1959 and 1965.

After reading all of the posts it seems there are only three real possibilities for this once mighty vessel...scrappage, which is probably the most realistic option sadly; continued delays of scrappage through donations to pay the monthly storage and maintenance fees, which is what is currently happening; or repurposing in some way. I am glad there is no talk of actually returning the ship to active cruising use, as that is clearly absurd for a number of reasons.

In 2013 I visited the Queen Mary in Long Beach, which my grandmother traveled aboard in 1947. We had lunch aboard and toured the museum. It was really nice, but it is sad (but not surprising) to hear that it is not a profitable endeavor. I would like to see something similar done with the United States, but for it to be viable and remain so, it will require the right plan and location. Time will tell...unless it is turned into razor blades first. Or, perhaps it will sink as it is being towed to scrapping as a ship I once sailed on, the SS Britianis (formerly Monterey/Matsonia/Lurline) did in 2000 off South Africa en route to India.

My parents are planning to attend the fundraiser next week in Philly. I will share any new info I can.

I just found out yesterday that my mom was on the record-setting return trip on July 10 1952. She was on another transatlantic journey aboard the United States in 1959. She made a third trip aboard the ship in 1965. She is planning to attend a fundraiser on October 29.

I asked my dad if we had two staterooms, as we had five people...he said yes, and though they were supposed to be next to each other, my brother (6), sister (9) and I (13) were on a lower deck than our parents! Crazy!

My sister does not have good memories about it as she got VERY seasick. My brother was very young but remembered the tomatoes each night and lots of shuffleboard. My parents haven't been on a cruise since.

Full set of daily "Seascape" papers from my cruise May 14-18, 1984

This thread is so great, I joined the forum just to post in it!

I just returned yesterday from my second ever cruise, a five nighter aboard the Disney Magic from Miami to Grand Cayman and Castaway Cay. It was amazing in every way. I will be going again.

My first cruise was in May, 1984...a four nighter from Philadelphia to Bermuda aboard Britanis.

I was 13 and had flown to Europe previously, but this was my first journey at sea. I had no idea at the time that Britanis was over fifty years old at that point...it seemed huge and grand, with cool deck names like Aruba and Dorado, and a pool! We had an outside stateroom, fairly high up, with a portal. I really don't remember much else about the cabin unfortunately. We did have a private bath.

Well, the seas were angry that week my friends. Stormy waves pitched the ship up and down, side to side, and turned us green with nausea. We were late to Bermuda and got all of four hours to enjoy that beautiful island (I went back by plane on my honeymoon in 2003 for a week :)

Being the packrat that I am, I still have the daily morning navigator papers from that cruise. I remember the tiny pool was too cold to swim in (and the Atlantic was too rough anyway). I remember playing lots of bingo at the back of the ship and watching movies in the little theater in the very bottom of the ship where the motion sickness seemed to lessen for me. I remember a casino that I was not old enough to be in. I remember the great dinner service each night, and our server bringing my younger brother a plate of sliced tomatoes every night (his favorite).

It was a great adventure all in all, one I would never trade. I wish the weather had been better, but that's how it goes sometimes.

Five years later, in August of 1989, I flew to Miami with my best friend in high school (we had just graduated and were visiting his dad there). As we drove towards his house, I looked over to the cruise ships at the port and saw a white ship with two blue stacks with big Xs on them...it was Britanis!

I was sad to learn of her fate a year or so ago, but I agree with others that it is better to be at the bottom of the ocean than dismantled for scrap. Great to read about so many memories of this great old ship.