bearing

Here is a photo of the Starward recently: (thanks to chasetf!)

 

OK, here is the photo of the Starward in her new clothes.

Hmmm, I wonder why the photo didn't come along with the quote?

I was on the cruise with chasetf when he took the photo.....as we departed Mykonos in 2005

Wow that's amazing. I was on this ship back in the early 70's when it was with NCL!

Mine was on the NCL Starward in 1970. I actually have a picture of me and my family on that cruise in my avatar. I'm the little guy!

Song of Norway my my first RCCL cruise too. I loved that ship... who am I kidding I love all cruise ships - LOL, anyway here is a picture of me and my family on her in 1985.

I just took a closer look at that picture, LOL LOL LOL! What were we all wearing! Well it was the height of the 80's! Gotta love the ruffles in my tux shirt. LOL :eek:

Song of Norway my my first RCCL cruise too. I loved that ship... who am I kidding I love all cruise ships - LOL, anyway here is a picture of me and my family on her in 1985.

Hey I found another Starward picture. This one was from 1975, my second time on the Starward. My family loved the NCL "white ships" as I've heard them called. We did:

Starward in 1970

Skyward 1971

Southward 1973

Southward 1974

Starward 1975

Southward 1979

The Starward was actually my first cruise too! - 1970! I actually have a picture of me and my family on the Starward in my avatar. I'm the little guy. I'll attach the pict here too.

There's a lot to know about her!

 

She's a very historically significant vessel, as some claim that she was the very first purpose-built Caribbean cruise ship, ever. Personally I attribute that to her sister SKYWARD, because I consider STARWARD in her original form to have been a cruise ferry (and indeed her designer, Tage Wandborg, describes her as "a cruise/ferry hybrid") and thus ineligible for the title.

 

Most passengers never knew it, but in her very early years (from her entry into service in 1968 through the mid-1970s), STARWARD had a car deck. She was an evolution of the very first NCL ship, SUNWARD of 1966, which was originally built by Knut Kloster (whose family controlled NCL until their mid-1990s financial crisis) for a cruise ferry service from Britain to Spain and Portugal, a venture called Klosters Sunward Ferries. This did not work out and Kloster teamed up with Ted Arison (who later left and founded Carnival) to form Norwegian Caribbean Line. SUNWARD ran a 7-night cruise/ferry service from Miami to various Caribbean ports, carrying both cruise passengers and, on her car deck, trailers with cargo bound for the islands. The larger STARWARD was indeed built for the Carribbean, but as she too had a car deck, I do not consider her to truly be the first purpose-built Caribbean cruise ship. SKYWARD was built without the car deck, and by the mid-1970s NCL was out of the business of carrying trailers, but the design of the ships clearly carries on the legacy of ferries. Modern cruise ships, in their design, owe far more to ferries than to the ocean liners of yore, and ships like SUNWARD, STARWARD, and SKYWARD are direct links between ferries and cruise ships. (The design history of ferries and cruise ships continues to be intertwined to this day, to the point where it is almost impossible to say whether the cruise ship evolved from the cruise ferry or vice versa - it's almost a "chicken/egg" dilemma with each one borrowing from the other with 40 years of cross-incubation.)

Good info, Thanks :)

Here I am with my family aboard the Festival in 1986! Gotta love those red pants I'm wearing, LOL. Hey it was the 80's! :D

I see there are quite a few of you who have sailed on the Festivale around, if not in 1989. Well, this is my problem....

 

That was the last time I sailed with CCL till this upcoming cruise (Jan. 27th) on the Ecstasy. I booked my cruise with an outside TA online not CCL. I have not been able to get through my TA or CCL a past guest code cause CCL said that they did not keep records that far back. In fact I talked twice on the phone with CCL and their operators were useless and not at all helpful on this topic. One said I could just tell them at the terminal when I get on the ship that I was a past guest and they would give me a code...then another CCL operator said I would have to send them a copy of my old tickets! I didn't keep those tickets these past 18 years! GEZZZZZZZZZ.:mad:

 

So have any of you been able to get a past guest code if your last cruise with CCL was on the Festivale? If so...how did you do it?

 

I am running out of time and I want to be able to attend the past guest party on board and as of now, I will not receive an invitation to the party. GRRRRRR!:mad:

 

To late now to worry about a past guest discount...I have been upgrade from a 1A (bunk bed) to a 5A 2 twins with 2 portholes, so I am happy with that!

 

Any help would be appreciated!

 

Thanks!

I believe you can send them a picture of you on the cruise, and that will get you credit for that cruise. If you have the welcome aboard picture with the date it's a slam dunk. Contact the loyality department for more info on this.

 

WOW!! Look at how small that slide is!!!

 

It's a shame to know that my first ship, the Celebration, will be retired in a couple weeks. And within a year or so the Holiday will be gone. I love these smaller ships and will be going on the Inspiration in November and might actually do a b2b(10 day) on the Fascination in January over the 8 day on the Spirit.

Funny thing is that carnival stayed with the slides in the pools. That picture may represent the birth of a trend. I don't recall if the Mardi Gras had a slide too? As the ships got bigger so did the slides. :)

:cool: here are some pics of the ship.;) hope you like them:confused:

Oh man those pictures are classic! Thanks for the memories. I was on the Festival in 1986, she was one of the longest ships afloat at the time. I really liked that ship! It was my first CCL cruise. Good times! :D

We cruised on the Carnivale & Mardi Gras back in the early 80's and IMO it was a very different experience vs. today.

 

Dinning - One waiter/bus boy pair per two 6 person tables, Waiter & bus boy became your best friends by the end of the cruise, Waiters would tell adult jokes & do table tricks while waiting for food to be ready. Even today I still miss some of the waiters from my cruises in the 80’s and wonder what they are doing now.

 

Staff - All of the staff went out of they way to make your cruise special. it was like they were out to prove the Carnival was the best and most fun cruise line. One example I remember was when we were in Nassau docked next to a competitors ship Carnival had a loud deck party going on when the Cruise director had all the passengers taunt the other ship to show how much more fun we were having.

 

Environment - Much more of a party atmosphere - not falling down drunks - just every lounge & bar packed with people having a good time. The bars wouldn't shut down until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. We would get up at noon to start the next day.

 

Room steward - Lots of interaction would get anything you wanted - tried to be your best friend.

 

Ship layout - If you look at a layout of the older ships they look like a maze in many ways. Sometimes you had to make several turns down a dead end hallway to get to your room. Much smaller (~20,000 tons) but the ships seemed big at the time. The ships were converted ocean liners so many of the amenities we expect today were nonexistent. The rooms were tiny, no TV, had a central movie theater, small cramped theater with columns that blocked your view.

 

Enjoyment - I have been on 19 cruises (14 on Carnival ships) and remember the cruises I took in the 80's better than the ones I took last year. I would give anything to be able to take a cruise on the Carnivale or Mardi Gras if the staff and attitudes were the way it was back then.

 

In the early 90’s the whole atmosphere started changing to be more mainstream and more like it is today. I asked a waiter in 91 what had caused the change and was told Carnival was getting too many complaints about the waiters being too personal and the adult jokes/tricks offended too many people.

 

I cruise today because I feel it’s a great value. I pay significantly less today for a cruise than I did back in the 80’s & 90’s. I guess that’s why the service is the way it is and why they try to hawk everything they can to get the revenue they need to make a profit. Every time I take a cruise I think back to the 80’s and wish this cruise could be like one of them but of course that’s not possible. I would gladly give up the big ship experience to get the service and staff interaction like it was back then.

Wow, I felt like I wrote that myself! You nailed it. Totally agree, very accurate. :)

PS - Karter... do you race Shifter Karts?

I sailed the Southward in 1980 and remember the hammocks they had on the in between open deck area.I loved that section of the ship and spent many hours in the hammock having afternoon cocktails.

Does anyone remember the hammocks?

Ginnie

OMG talk about bringing back a memory! My sister and I loved those things! We were on the Southward three times - 1973, 1974 and 1979. I totally remember the hammocks! There I am with my family at dinner -1979. I'm the King! LOL

I believe my wife and I experienced the Southward before any of you!:)

 

We honeymooned in June, 1973 on the Southward. It was a 5 day cruise out of Charleston to Nassau. It was our first cruise. We were just married, with newly minted college degrees. I had nothing to compare to, as it was our first cruise. We had a good time.

 

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I might have you beat, I too was on the Southward in 1973. I have to dig a bit to find out what month. I'm the little guy.