Jump to content

SS Cristobal


Recommended Posts

Our family sailed back from Panama in 1953. My siblings and I were very young and have very little memory of her. We do have a menu and a mechanical pencil with the ship floating in liquid. Does anybody have any memories of life on board the SS Cristobal or SS Panama?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Have a lot of memories of her as well her two sisters, the Ancon and Panama. I last sailed on her back to Panama from New Orleans in the summer of 81. She was taken out of service that September and later scrapped in Texas.

 

Ancon served as the school ship State of Maine for the Maine Maritime Academy.

 

Panama, sold to American President Lines, sailed as the President Hoover. Then sold to Chandris, sailed as the Dawn Regina until sometime in the 80s.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have a lot of memories of her as well her two sisters, the Ancon and Panama. I last sailed on her back to Panama from New Orleans in the summer of 81. She was taken out of service that September and later scrapped in Texas.

 

Ancon served as the school ship State of Maine for the Maine Maritime Academy.

 

Panama, sold to American President Lines, sailed as the President Hoover. Then sold to Chandris, sailed as the Dawn Regina until sometime in the 80s.

 

I thank you for your response. I hope your memories are good ones.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess I have that ship to blame for my cruise addiction that I'm afflicted with now! The only cure seems to be more cruises. Here is a picture of the Cristobal leaving Pedro Miguel Locks back somewhere around 1968. It was a rare sight because in the ship's normal service to the Canal, she never went through the Canal. I thought the ship was huge, against todays ships, she was on the small side only carrying 225 passengers.

 

1z5rymr.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As far as the cabins, I'm sure they were not bad for the period....... but they were not air conditioned! Of course back then we did not know any better. All beds were the pullman type, folding out of the wall and then folded up during the day to give a little more room during the day. Most of the cabins were in a cluster of four, around what they called a veranda, which had some large windows and was a common seating area that those four cabins could use as well. The public rooms on the ship were air conditioned, the main lounge, bar, writing room and most importantly the dinning room!

 

When it came to meals, they were fantastic! Absolutely great food and elegantly served and of course all you could ever wish to eat. At dinner gentlemen would wear a jacket, as a youngster that probably was not my most favorite thing to do, but the meal was well worth the inconvenience.

 

Entertainment was by today's standards fairly bland. Each evening there would be either a movie, bingo or horseraces. Only occasionally would there be a small musical group on board. Of course there was always swimming, shuffleboard and ping pong. Loved every minute of it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Another blast from the past. I remember cruising her from Panama to New Orleans. It was so much fun hanging out with all the other kids. Nothing like it today. Those times were some of my favorite. Thanks for the memory.

DJ127

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Another blast from the past. I remember cruising her from Panama to New Orleans. It was so much fun hanging out with all the other kids. Nothing like it today. Those times were some of my favorite. Thanks for the memory.

DJ127

 

Happy to meet another pax

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was born in Margarita and lived there until I was 16 at which time my father retired and we moved back to the states. We spent all our summers in Mass. so, we sailed every year on the Panama Line ships. I estimate I did approximatley 29 sailings. In the early years the ships sailed Cristobal to New York stopping at Port Au Prince, Haiti enroute. The last two years (1962 and 1963) we sailed Cristobal to New Orleans. Have many fond memories of those "cruises". As was said before, these small ships cannot compare in size to the "floating cities" that we sail on now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
I guess there are at least 3 former passengers here!

 

Greetings!

 

Make it 4........ I first sailed on the Cristobal to New York in June of 1958. I still remember the stop in Port Au Prince with the Haitians surrounding the starboard side in their dugouts and bartering their wood products for soap, fruit, etc, and diving for coins. After a while, the crew would drive them off with a fire hose.

 

We lived on the Pacific side in Balboa and later in La Boca, and sometimes we would take the boat train. When the train arrived in Colon, they would uncouple the extra cars and deliver you right onto the pier beside the ship, which I really thought was cool. We did that whenever we had sold our car and were going to buy a new car in the states for our vacation.

 

As someone mentioned earlier, the food was fantastic. Usually my mom would have to call me to eat several times at home before I would come, but she never had to call me at all on the Cristobal! When I would hear the steward with the bing-bong xylophone in the morning, I was ready in a flash! I hardly ever saw a kid refusing to eat something on that ship.

 

My dad sailed on the Ancon once, but the rest of us only traveled on the Cristobal. They fitted screens on the portholes and the door leading out to the pool from the upper cabins so the mosquitos wouldn't be a problem going up the Mississippi to New Orleans. It was really neat when you saw the ocean turn muddy since you knew the mouth of the river was just a couple of hours away. The trip up or down the river was fascinating too, especially when you met oncoming ships headed the other way.

 

Those are some fantastic memories.......................

 

Regards,

Jeff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Jeff,

 

I had not been on this section of the board for sometime and just thought I 'd drop by and see if anything new was going on! I too remember well the boat train and that dinner xylophone.... those meals were the fabulous. Those stops in Port au Prince were a riot, as mischevious kids we would wrap pennies in tinfoil! Did not please the guys diving off the rowboats!!! That was when some not so polite verbal exchanges developed:rolleyes:.

 

In the years I was down there, I travelled on all of the ships, but mostly on the Cristobal. Heck our honeymoon cruise we on the Cristobal:D. The Cristobal stayed in service with the Canal until 1981. Somewhere around 1970 she was used as a cargo ship and only carried 12 passengers. The last trip I made on her was in 1981, about 2 months before they laid her up and latter scrapped in Texas. I have a picture somewhere of the last time she left from Cristobal, I'll try to find it and put it up here in the next few days.

 

I guess I can blame my desire to cruise on the Cristobal!! Great fun!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As promised.........

169px0z.jpg

 

Leaving Cristobal, Panama Sept. 1980. At the time she was the oldest seagoing ship under the US flag. There were some older ships at the time but they were up on the Great Lakes and not seagoing.

Edited by BillB48
Link to comment
Share on other sites

While I was looking for photos I found this one .... it is the Panama, taken from either the Cristobal or Ancon. My Dad took the slide using Anscochrome film, I believe, not very good color. The ships met in Port-au-Prince. The date was sometime in the 50s.

 

24wbvbt.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Bill,

 

Sorry to be so slow in answering. My older brother went down to the CZ from New Orleans in early 1969 with his car and then returned to the States in April. Since it was not summer she was not very full. I'll have to ask him what life was like on board without a bunch of kids. He had temporarily dropped out of college and was considering going into the apprentice program out at Miraflores before returning to college, but then Uncle Sam sent him greetings, so those ideas were dropped and he joined the Navy. Those were his last trips on the Cristobal. My parents rode on her one more time in June 1973 when they retired and came up to the States for the last time. What fond memories we all had of riding on her!

 

I think the Cristobal was converted over to the 12 passenger and mostly cargo role because there was so little traffic riding her most of the year since she could not carry any non government passengers anymore, and that was also part of the reason for changing from New York to New Orleans in the early 1960s. The other reason was that since she was the primary means of getting Supply Division goods to the CZ, the voyage time was three days VS five days. Ships are limited by law to 12 passengers if they don't carry a doctor, so I assume that they stopped carrying one as another means of economizing.

 

What was it like with so few shipmates? It must have been kind of boring without all of the activities. Where did you get married and where did you go on your honeymoon? I'm 57 and you must have a few years on me!

 

Regards,

Jeff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I only have a few years on you, not that many actually! Comfortably between being able to draw on the IRA and not able to get Soc. Sec!!! I don't remember exactly when she went to 12 passenger,, but it was sometime in early 70s. There certainly was not the same level of activity when took a roundtrip on her in 1974, but it was still very enjoyable. All the passengers were up on the pool deck staterooms and they were air conditioned.. WOW.. what an improvement! The pool was still in use and at least it wasn't crammed with kids. They turned the promenade deck into an area in which they shipped vehicles and more of the crew stayed in the former passenger staterooms. The upper and lower lounges were still intact, in fact with advent of video tapes, they had a huge tape player in the purser's office where you go and select a movie that would play in the upper lounge on a giant 21" TV. The machine used a 3/4" tape.. it was huge. The food wasn't as elaborate, but it was still very good. One evening just below the pool I saw the Captain and a few other crew grilling the biggest steaks I have ever seen on a BBQ, no more startched white uniforms at the Captain's dinner:rolleyes::D. It was different but still great.

 

We were married in Ft. Clayton, flew to Miami and took a cruise on NCL to the Bahamas. We then drove to New Orleans and went back to Panama on the Cristobal while she was still a passenger ship.

 

I don't recall how many times I sailed on those ships but it was all great!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 10 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

The name sounds familiar but I can't say I actually remember him as I was a bit young. In the photo the fellow on he right was the last master of the Cristobal, last name was Craig. Don't know the other person. The pic was taken on the just before the Cristobal's final voyage from Cristobal on her way to New Orleans, in 1981.

 

wheelhousejoe.jpg

Edited by BillB48
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...

For Captain Jensen's daughter... I knew Bob Jensen. I was sailing on a 30 foot sailboat from New Orleans to the South Pacific at age 22, in 1976. I was sailing with two friends. We stopped in Gulfport and met Bob Jensen who was sailing his pocket cruiser and was tied up at the wall astern of us. He was very encouraging of our plans which meant a lot to us at the time. He told us to look him up in Panama, which we did. While the Cristobal was in port at Colon, he would spend time at the bar at the Yacht Club, where we got to know him better. I believe that there were 2 captains who alternated runs between New Orleans and Colon. He took us on a personal tour of the Cristobal, showing us the bridge, the engine room, and much more. He was very friendly and supportive. He even bought us some drinks at the Yacht Club.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 years later...

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...