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TSS ATLAS..Epirotiki Lines


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In the early 1970's my family and I took a 5(?) night cruise around the Greek Islands and Turkey. Iwas a teenager. The TSS Atlas, part of the Epirotiki Lines, was a small ship but we had such a great time. It was an ecclectic group of Europeans and Americans. Being of Greek heritage made it all the more exciting. I have been on many of the newest large ships but have memories and memorabilia from that wonderful trip. Looking forward to doing Royal C in the Mediterranean some time soon.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The Atlas started life as Holland America's Ryndam in 1951. After being swapped from one HAL subsidy to another, she was sold to Epirotiki in 1972, and sailed with them until 1980. Sadly, the Atlas was destined for Alang in 2003, but sank off the Dominican Republic on the way over.

 

SimplonPC has a good postcard history of the Atlas & a little writeup of her history here:

 

http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/EpirotikiPCs.html#anchor668389

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  • 5 years later...

Our family took a 7 night cruise out of Piraeus, Greece on the TSS Atlas in the summer of 1982, and it was still a part of Epirotiki Cruises. We went to the island of Rhodes, Port Said, Egypt, Ashdod, Israel, Patmos, Greece, Kusadasi, Turkey, which is where we got off the ship because we were living in Izmir, Turkey at the time. The ship went on to Istanbul and then back to Greece.

We had a great time on her.

Edited by catlib55
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  • 4 months later...

Wow, this thread hasn't been used in a lot of years but I just found it when I was looking up info on the TSS Atlas. My family sailed on it over Christmas, New Years 1987-88. I have info in albums about the trip and it was still under Epirotiki. We sailed to St. Thomas, San Juan, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Cuba. What I remember most about the ship is stepping over each doorway and that our cabin was way down in the ship and the whole deck smelled musty.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 2 weeks later...
I remember the Atlas too. We sailed on it out of Santa Domingo on a 7 night, 8 day cruise operated by Regent Holidays, Toronto. It was our first cruise. Wonder what ever became of the Atlas?

It was our first cruise as well out of Santa Domingo now over 60 cruises later I still remember her with fond memories. Regent Holidays chartered her. Then they chartered the Oceania, Jupiter, Pegagus, Bolero & Triton. I think that was it and we went on all of them

Ontario Cruiser

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  • 1 month later...

I've been searching on the internet as to what happened to the Atlas and can't find any info. Does anyone know where to find info? I saw one site by "Nick" which said the ship was operated under Epirotiki cruises until 1986 and then was retrofitted to become a gambling ship. This is not correct because we sailed on it under Epirotiki over New Year's 87-88.

I would love more information on this ship. patriciavatta@hotmail.com

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I've been searching on the internet as to what happened to the Atlas and can't find any info. Does anyone know where to find info? I saw one site by "Nick" which said the ship was operated under Epirotiki cruises until 1986 and then was retrofitted to become a gambling ship. This is not correct because we sailed on it under Epirotiki over New Year's 87-88.

I would love more information on this ship. patriciavatta@hotmail.com

 

You'll find the best information here:

http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/EpirotikiPCs.html#anchor668389

 

b_223903.jpg

but to be clear, what they are saying is that although Epirotiki officially withdrew the ship from service in '86, she then fell into a sort of a limbo with rumors of her operating out of Mexico, until she ended up as a floating casino in Gulfport, Mississippi.

 

Like old unregistered cars, old unregistered ocean liners are often operated on the sly, and Epirotiki was never famous for slavishly following the rules ;)

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  • 1 year later...

I took a cruise from Spain to Africa to Cuba and Jamaica in November 1987. I met two show girls who were in the band IMAGES who played on the ship. I used the photo for my book Savage 1986-2011. It was a great cruise, I remember thinking there were portholes in the lower decks where the movie theatre was but they were just felt circles. The food was incredible and I enjoyed the swimming a lot. I always wondered what happened to her. I recall Ian the information desk guy was a real riot a guy from Australia must have been 20 or so at the time.

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  • 1 year later...

I may have been on that Christmas / New Year's sailing too in the late 1980's but pretty sure we sailed out of Barbados Christmas Eve and into Grenada Christmas morning as I was on deck as we entered the harbour and recall hearing a steel drum band playing Christmas carols in the back of a pickup truck winding down through the village as it made its way to the dock. One of my favourite memories

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

Hard to believe I found this thread but I was just thinking about this ship, as if was the first cruise I took (back in my early teens). I did a Caribbean New Year's cruise in the 80s (it may have even been the same one that Paddy41 took)... and had such a bad experience on it that I didn't do another cruise until 2006 (coincidentally also a New Year's cruise). And now I'm a big fan of cruises. Funny how life works.

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  • 5 months later...

Found this thread when searching for TSS Atlas.

Surprised at how many posters from Ontario here but, considering Regent Holidays chartered the ship for a few winters, I shouldn't be.

Our first cruise was aboard the Atlas in April 1987, a transatlantic crossing from Santa Domingo D.R. to Malaga Spain. We had a porthole cabin on second deck.

We met a couple on board who became lifetime friends. In retrospect it was the worst ship we sailed on after 34 cruises since but, we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

We made friends with the cruise director, band leader and our waiter all of whom we sailed with again on other Epirotiki ships through Regent Holidays.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I also found this thread when searching for Atlas.

The Atlas was our first cruise but we actually used it as a cheap(er) form of transport! I was working in Cape Town as a motor mechanic in a VW/Audi/Porsche dealer in 1982 (had my girlfriend, now my wife with me) and when it was time to come home in 1983, a three week cruise on the Atlas was much cheaper than a one-way airfare back home. Admittedly, I think we were below the waterline in a broom cupboard with a door like what a submarine has and when first shown to our cabin, I asked where the bed was and the steward folded two single bunks out of the wall! At the time, gambling was illegal in South Africa so the Atlas picked up passengers, went out into international waters and cruised up and down the coast allowing passengers to gamble in the casino. It did this for a few months I believe. We joined boarded the ship in Durban on 6th January 1983 and it was on its homeward journey. We stopped in the Seychelles, went through the Suez Canal, stopped in Israel and finally finished up in Piraeus. Skint! We stayed in a cheap hotel for a couple of days and went round bucket shops looking for a cheap flight home with no luck. At our last shop, the owner asked us if we were students. I said no. He asked again. I said no again. He asked one more time, slowly and winked. I didn’t know what he meant but this time I said yes and he said “Great, I can sell you a couple of student tickets now”! Apparently Greek 'students' got flight tickets at about a quarter of the price of regular priced tickets. Anyway, we arrived home about 13 months after leaving. Poorer in monetary terms but richer for the experience.

Anyway, here a few pictures I’ve just dug out for those who remember it. Not exactly the height of luxury nowdays but we had fond memories all the same. One thing I’ve never seen on any other cruise I’ve been on, is the deck being hosed down every morning, very early, to clear it of all the soot and ash that came out of the chimney stack overnight! Those were the days. :')

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pic upload

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  • 2 months later...

Hi, this brings back some memories...

I worked on the TSS Atlas as a cruise photographer soon after leaving college. I stayed on board for about 6 months starting in April 1979.

 

For the whole of that time the ship was chartered out by Tui. My first cruise was from Amsterdam up the west coast of Norway to the Nordkapp. Eye popping scenery for someone from Devon in the UK and who had only been abroad once before, and that was to Belgium!

 

After Scandinavia, the Baltic and two trips to Iceland we moved to the Eastern Med for one week cruises out of Piraeus.

 

I remember being told that the elderly captain was a Greek war hero who had sunk a German submarine during the war (?).

 

Our darkroom was a tiny space near the engine room and was so hot we had to cool the developer down with ice cubes before we could process films. Our cabin however was luxurious, it was actually the isolation ward of the unused hospital, near the stern of the ship close to the waterline. We had a porthole and even a bath! Taking a bath in rough weather was a always a surreal treat.

Remarkably, I still have one of the blue Atlas jerseys issued to the actual crew. I think I swapped some photos of a crew member for it, a prized possession.

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