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What is your all time favorite ship that no longer exists?


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hi queenie!

 

we missed the mardi GRASS and tropicale, though we saw them often, we did take our first carnival cruise on the carnivale but not a fav of ours

 

young and going on the cheep! my wife working for the airlines we did one of those close in deals offered in the good ole days and were ENTOMBED don't on main I think, main 11 for some reason rings a bell?

 

my bathroom here at the house is bigger than that cabin we had! back in the day many may remember the old threshold doors you'd always trip over to get in the room, and when the door was shut and the lights off, you might have thought you were in the tomb waiting for someone to roll the stone away, ZERO ambient light!

 

somewhere, here in the close proximity, is our original credit card receipt and booking info for that very cruise booked thru hallmark travel - HAH! feb 1987 booking for a march 17 sailing date 3 nt cabin M-118 almost had it right!?! paperwork is the book mark in my cruising logbook....

 

they had great cheese, stiff drinks, pushy waiters and lots of woodwork on that ship!

 

They were great ships, I remember thinking how huge they were! Threshold doors, all the woodwork including outside that had a distinctive odor, those monster midnight buffets, the chimes at dinnertime.

 

My first cruise on Mardi Gras was in March and I do remember the cabin was R117 (deck names instead of numbers!). Nothing from that trip but I do have a small handful of pics from a 1982 sailing on the Tropicale.

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on the carnivale our tablemates were a couple from new York or new jersey, their daughter and son in law, ( not sure if it was a honeymoon for them, and a couple I think from Wisconsin or maybe Minnesota, the airlines had lost their luggage so until they got to Nassau and bought clothes they only had a couple things they'd bought on board to change into

 

the family were car dealers, not sure if it was new or just used cars

 

what really aggravated us, was that every ding dong meal in the dining room we had to listen to the waiter, busboy, etc all give us this speil about good customer ratings - that was pretty offputting by the end of what was only a 3 day cruise

 

 

also at the time it really seemed believe it or not that carnival was a lines for old fuddy-duddies compared our first two cruises on NCL's Sunward II - with their Bahamarama Monday campaign they were getting really popular at that time

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have to be one of the luckiest people on this thread. My first voyage was on the original Queen Elizabeth (running mate to the original Queen Mary) in 1965!! That was a very special ship. Later years would see us honeymoon onboard the Bremen, one of the best ships ever. We loved the SS France, which would later become the Norway and we had a great cruise on her too. One of the all time best and our definite favorite was the Leonardo DaVinci. She was and is the ship that we measure all others against. She had it all...incredible food and the best service in the world and dripping in romance. What great memories.

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Well, technically she exists but, I miss the QE2. We had many great voyages on board the ship over the years.

 

I wish someone would purchase the beautiful ocean liner and restore her to former grandeur as a floating hotel. It's a shame to see this lovely ship just rotting away.

 

Jonathan

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Well, technically she exists but, I miss the QE2. We had many great voyages on board the ship over the years.

 

I wish someone would purchase the beautiful ocean liner and restore her to former grandeur as a floating hotel. It's a shame to see this lovely ship just rotting away.

 

Jonathan

 

I share your sentiment, but for a different reason.

 

My absolute most disappointing cruise was a trans-Atlantic on QE2 during the Summer of 1980. It was not the fault of the ship, however. There were labor problems aboard that impacted us in Tourist Class as well as some folks we knew in First Class.

 

I would like to see QE2 preserved just as RMS Queen Mary has been for posterity's sake. Given the reported deteriorating condition of the Queen Mary, it is unlikely that her steel will not need to be re-cycled in the not too distant future. With her loss, if it happens, another link to the "Golden Age of Ocean Travel" will be gone. Preserving QE2 would still provide such a small link of history for recent generations of Americans (maybe even citizens of other nations) whose knowledge of history is woefully lacking, in my opinion of course.

 

Thank goodness there have been those in the Netherlands who have helped to preserve and return, I think, to useful service S. S. Rotterdam V.

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SS Norway. My very first cruise in 1988, then on my honeymoon in 1995. Lived in Miami by then, just drove to the dock and got onboard. So sad the day the boiler blew. We knew that was the end of her, even though NCL said she'd be towed to be repaired. Such a shame.

Breaks my heart to see the photos of her skeleton on the beach in Indonesia. At least her 2 tenders, Little Norway I & II are still in use in the Bahamas.

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yes and we got to ride one of the small tenders a few years ago while on the Norwegian majesty, that ship has wandered off to Europe for ...... maybe Thomson for a while or one of the other companies, and now I think its moved again to someone, ( maybe pullmantur or celestial? ) well it seems its still Louis owned but leased to Thomson still.... maybe......

at least that's what wiki says

 

so, doubtful that that ship is anyone's favorite but we did sail on her twice under NCl for 7 days out of Charleston and its kind of a neato ship, there's a small hallway of really nice cabins opposite their gym and spa area, neat hall with two ways out to an outside and easy access to the elevator lobby on that deck too, great until some potheads from new York stink up the whole end of the boat and customs and the drug dogs come aboard in key west!

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First ever cruise was a transatlantic on the QE2, 2nd cruise was on the SS France that became the SS Norway. Everything since has been nice, but not majestic as the first 2 experiences.

 

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk

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  • 2 weeks later...

atlantic, one of the home lines white ships! we sailed oceanic as premier's big red boat - just before her arrest in the bahammas where she languished for quite some time........

 

....then, she returned to service for Pullmantur for several years before becoming the Peace Boat for a few years.... yea.....old ships are cool!

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never sailed on the holiday but we did hit up celebration and jubilee! both sisters to holiday:)

 

I think the only sketchy thing about them is the low low ceiling in the buffets

 

celebration is now sailing on the Freeport run for celebration cruise lines replacing the Nassau celebration!

 

took pics of it in costa livery right after it arrived in Freeport before converting to the new line

 

http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/kellisnc/media/DSCF2431_zps4f5f62db.jpg.html?o=12

 

hope this link works, if it gives total access to my folder then you can see a few pics of the celebration, the airport 747 club in jax and a chefs table menu and some of the courses on fantasy a couple years ago

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  • 4 weeks later...
MV Atlantic - 1984. It was my first cruise. My family took us to Bermuda ... will never forget it!!

 

My first cruise was on the MV Atlantic to Bermuda too, in 1982. It remains till this day, my most favorite cruise ship and Home Lines was incomparable, even till today....The absolute best!!<3

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

Our first cruise was on Royal Caribbean's Song of America. Loved the romance of it all then in the 80s. Also loved the Bahamas before Merv G got hold of it and turned Paradise Island into Atlantis. Beautiful and tranquil place! We went to San Juan and St Thomas also. Been hooked ever since!

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Its nice to reminisce from the good old days, when cruising was actually classy. You can't compare these ships to todays standards, yes some good did come with time, but you can't replace the mahogany and brass, the intimacy, the interaction between passengers and crew...how many of you danced with the captain or officers at the cocktail parties where caviar was served, and the champagne flowed.

 

I sailed the Seabreeze and Britannis a couple of times, but mostly we sailed the Regal Empress. Most of the time Captain Rolf was at the helm, and boy did he like the ladies. That ship smelled like diesel fuel and old socks, but it was pure class.

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I also loved the Norway - not at first as we'd previously cruised on the maiden season of the Enchant,net of the Seas which was new and sparkling.

 

The Norway, in contrast, seemed old and a bit run down. But by chance we were given the upgrade of all upgrades by no less than the Chairman of NCL who was onboard the Norway with his family on this transatlantic cruise. We had a few problems with our cabins and he invited us to a cocktail party in the Royal Suite and offered it to us for the duration of the cruise, it was magnificent and so full of history, a once in a lifetime opportunity. We grew to love her and the sight of her from the tender was something to behold. She was a classic liner with beautiful lines despite the additions,by NCL.

 

But my first love has to be the SS Australis, once the SS America. She was my first cruise ship and I fell in love with her and cruising there and then. She didn't have all the bells and whistles and the food was very average but it was so exciting to sail on her. We also loved Ellinis and Britannis which we sailed on later, and both of these exuded elegance.

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SS Norway. She was a beautiful ship. My now husband and I both worked on the Norway 1991-1992 and got engaged during that time. I was so sad when I heard she went to the scrapyard.

 

We honeymooned on Norway in 1991 also cruised her 7 Times , more than any other ship

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sitmar's Fairwind. Our first cruise was 10 days with Mel Torme as the star attraction back in 1976. Two formal nights where just about all of the men were in tuxes. We thought it was huge, got lost daily with those lomg corridors where you had to climb to another deck to continue forward or aft.

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