CGTNORMANDIE

18 hours ago, norboy76 said:I'm trying to do research, but not finding much information on this postcard, so going to keep searching to find out why it was printed

The public was hungry for any pictures they could get of the AD.  There were a lot of pictures of the wounded AD being sold.  Your postcard does not surprise me.  Back in the 1950’s the news wasn’t like it is today.  The first news films appeared the following morning when planes flew out to the wreck.  The big news was the Ile de France landing in NY with over 700 survivors.  The news stations broadcast that live.  We were glued to the TV all night and all the next day.  There were some sad stories of pax losing their lives.  The most amazing story was Linda Morgan who was sleeping in her bunk on the AD and ended up on the Stockholm during the collision.  The last survivor to leave the AD was a construction worker who had injured his back and been assigned to a bed in the AD infirmary.  He had been forgotten and was sleeping in a drug induced stupor.  When he woke up the ship was almost under the waves.  Nobody had remembered to get him out of the infirmary.  He crawled up to a point where he saw daylight and painfully made his way out to the rail and into the water.  He was spotted and picked up.

16 minutes ago, norboy76 said:

You're welcome, did you check out my Italian liners post on the forum? I posted more photos of my various Italian Liner items

I did...very nice.  Thanks for posting.

Very nice NB...Thanks!

21 hours ago, norboy76 said:

I hope enjoyed the photos of my Andrea Doria items I posted in here

I loved your Andrea Doria ephemera...great viewing.

Thanks!

1 hour ago, norboy76 said:

I also have a thread for the various Italian lines you can check out too if interested under the what ever happened to section in the forum

Thanks NB...will do.

Great menus NB!  Caviar, lobster, filet mignon and pheasant...what could be better.  You won’t see that on any of the luxury lines these days.

As long as you can get to Barcelona on the 4th. and there is no reason why you can’t...there are plenty of flights...preferably Gatwick to BCN.  

11 minutes ago, norboy76 said:

I have 2 postcards from the Andrea Doria, one is pre-maiden, it's stamped 1952, I also have a 1953 daily program, 1953 menu and a 1953 brochure for her that liner. I'll be starting a new topic on the Andrea Doria, including photos of my Andrea Doria Items.

Can you post them here?  We’d love to see them!

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Never had the "pleasure" of this beverage.  I prefer my New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc or a CC and 7.  

RK, time to spread your wings and fly!  

Thanks CS.  Great memories...loved the menu.

I always find the tipping debate to be quite ironic.  The American habit of tipping and over tipping started way back in in the mid 1800’s.  The Americans have been blamed for the tipping conundrum ever since. It is interesting, from a historical perspective, that all the shipping lines, where these tips were offered, were European...British, Dutch, French, Italian, German, Swedish, etc.  Which came first...the chicken or the egg? LOL.

Thanks BB...loved those copper cups!  
 

MOSCOW MULE

2 oz. vodka

1/2 oz. lime juice

6 oz. ginger beer

This is your basic MM.  Ginger beer is readily available these days.  

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Tea service on QE2:  wherever it was, it was a disappointing experience.  Cracked china, no tea spoons (my traveling companion stirred his tea with his pocket knife), labor problems aboard during the Summer of 1980.  This was just one example of such.  We were in Tourist Class; friends in First Class were not pleased as well.  

Reminds me of 1975 and 1978...the same experience as you had.  Things were so bad in 1978 that we never went back.  Now...back to favorite cocktails.  How about a Moscow Mule??  

7 hours ago, norboy76 said:

I can do my best to take photos of the Michelangelo menus and hope they'll be readable lol, ill do that on my next post for you and the others to see what the food's were. For the Michelangelo, I have:

Gala Dinner Menu, Atlantic Dinner Menus, Breakfast Menu, Lunch Menus, Dinner Menus, A Farewell Dinner Menus (All First Class)

 

I wont be selling these menus, I'll prob keep them until I'm gone lol, and I already sorta have them in a museum, as I have my own online museum for my entire ship collection, but it's on a site you have to create an account for, even to visit, but it's free to join. I'll also post some of the things listed on the daily programs too like events, movies in the ship's theater and such.

Thank you NB.  Looking forward to seeing the menus.

Thank you Norboy!  Any chance of seeing the inside of some of the menus?  You have a great collection.  I hope it ends up in a maritime museum.

2 hours ago, Bgwest said:

Fair enough. As I said, I’ve always been of a similar mind. 

That said, how is it that our friends from Australia, UK, etc., are able to cruise with regularity if, as you say, “if the cruise lines were paying a living wage very few of us would be able to  cruise”?

 

In these cases, aren’t the cruise lines simply bundling the grats into the basic fare? Yet these passengers continue to cruise. What am I missing?
 

For reasons I don’t understand the cruise lines have made what is obviously a conscious decision to bundle grats in some marketplaces and to break them out for direct payment by their passengers in others. 

I understand the fact that business in many countries around the world pay their service employees a living wage and thereby have created a culture that does not include service tipping (other than “rounding up”). In the US, on the other hand, tipping is fully ingrained into the culture. Is it this disparity of cultural bias that leads the cruise lines to force different rules on different cultures? If so, why is this? 
Could it be a case of the cruise lines exploiting “what the market will bear”?
 

The grats are paid by the passenger one way or the other, aren’t they?

The grats are paid one way or the other...for sure.  In some countries the DSC is wrapped into the cruise price.  In places like the US where competition is stiff they price the cruises cheaper and then get the DSC at the end of the cruise.  The luxury lines just wrap the DSC into the cruise price...and you pay thru the nose.  Bottom line...you are going to pay no matter what.

4 hours ago, BklynBoy8 said:

Don't Remember the Name before Yacht Club but is was not in the area of the Double Down Room.

 

The Double Down Room was later called Grand Lounge. The top level over looked the Grand Lounge and was surrounded by the Royal Promenade Shop.

The Yacht Club was located behind the Lower level Grand Lounge.

 

The very first sailing we saw and used the winding staircase to get to the shops. Later when refit they removed that stair case  and place staircase on each side of the new Grand Lounge Stage. The Orchestra was place btw the staircases.

 

We remember that room well. When someone was very popular in the Grand Lounge, they placed additional chairs around the railing on the upper floor to look over down. 

Thank you for the clarification BB.  The last time I was on the QE2 was 1978!  Time flies when you’re having fun!

The reality is if the cruise lines were paying a living wage very few of us would be able to  cruise. The system in place has been working for the past 175 years.  It strikes a balance.  The lines get to save on labor and the labor is required to work hard in order to be rewarded for excellence.  The working conditions on a ship are hard...7 days a week at all hours.  The passengers are very demanding.  Many of the workers onboard are from third world countries and have been able to save enough to start businesses when they retire on land.  The training and work habits they learn at sea pay big dividends for them on land.  Bottom line...the system works...”If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”  

2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Any recollection what the lounge was named?  

It was something like The Double Down Room??  This goes back to 1975 and my memory is vague. There was a big winding stainless steel staircase and the bar was on the lower level behind the stairs.  There was a steward who was in charge of the room...Pedro...Carlos??  He had worked for Home Lines and really knew how to run that room.  We had a lot of fun there.  Endless conversations with interesting and fun people.  

On 3/5/2021 at 7:50 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

Personally, I would like to cruise anywhere again.  Cuba would be "different".  It's not high as a destination that I want to visit, however.  

I promised my Cuban friends in Florida not to set foot in Cuba until there’s a regime change...Cuba Libre!! 

On 3/5/2021 at 10:49 PM, BklynBoy8 said:

 

I remember how we liked the YC on the QE2 in the rear of the ship especially at night when the band and disco was alive.

 

The room was so inviting and alive with those latenighters. Enjoy the lighting they used.

 

Those were the days. 

I remember that room on the QE2 before it was the Yacht Club and it was still the go-to bar.  

RK, that was on the Leonardo Da Vinci.  The service was superb it was like every steward and stewardess was trained to the level of an MSC butler.  Then add that Italian ambiance with La Dolce Vida along with the most likable personalities...the perfect combination.  
 

Yes I’ve known of the HAL training schools.  There is a passage in a John Maxtone Graham book...might be “Crossing and Cruising” or “Liners To The Sun”.  Graham tells about the transition of the Philippinos taking over for the Dutch.  He told of one steward who refused to wear shoes...he used shoe polish on his bare feet.  HAL wisely set up a training center to prepare their workers before they got on a ship.  

I have looked at many menus...Grill Class on Cunard included.  So far I would think that Oceania takes the lead in breakfast menus.  Cunard does a good job with breakfast...after all they are British.  Oceania’s breakfast buffet is also a first place.  
 

I did have breakfast in the First Class restaurant onboard the original Queen Elizabeth in July 1965!  Now there was a breakfast menu...3 types of bacon, 2 types of sausage and you name it!  I had my first English sausage (banger) and I’ve been hooked ever since.  I just can’t find bangers here in the US...sighhhh.  

33 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

A cruising regret of mine is not having sailed on the Italian Line.  I had "tastes" of Italian cruising by sailing on Home Lines and Sitmar.  Costa has been on my radar for years, but keep deciding to book someone else.  MSC had a bit of the Italian "flavor", but I am fairly sure that the Italian Line experience would have been different.  

The Italian Line experience was like no other.  Home Lines was probably closest but still not the same.  The Italian Line had a style all their own.  I think the thing that stood out to me was the high level of service no matter where you went onboard.  When we first got onboard we were stunned at the small cabin.  So I went to the Purser to see if they had anything else.  After explaining my aversion to claustrophobia the Purser immediately took me for a personal tour of three different cabins.  We settled on an inside quad with a bath on a lower deck.  Try getting that kind of service on a ship today...LOL.  The waiters were also highly trained.  The Italian Line had a training school and the waiters were all sent there for further training.  They thought nothing of setting up table side service to prepare a special dish that you had requested.  They were actually eager to do so.  We will never see anything like that again.  

Which line has the best breakfast??  Can we see some menus so we can compare??