S/S NORWAY Cabin Door Number

I just received the best Christmas gift today.

When I was a Senior in Highschool, I would carry around a 1983-1984 Norwegian S/S Norway brochure in my school bag. While in or out of my class, I would study that brochure from front to back, visualizing myself in the pictures of the public rooms and cabins. I just knew that I wanted so bad to experienced the Worlds largest Cruise Ship (at that time). After I graduated in June 1983, I took a part-time job and started saving up for my dream vacation for May 1984. I was traveling alone, so to save money on the cabin, my travel agents suggested SingleWorld Tours and I signed up for a Quad Share cabin. I was only 19yrs at that time, but no one with the cruise line ever checked to see how old I was or seemed concered (how things have changed in 25yrs). A couple of weeks before the sailing, I told my parents that I was taking the cruise. They were not happy about letting me travel alone for the first time for a week, but they knew how much I wanted to cruise on the Norway and agreed to let me go. I still remember flying into Miami and looking out the plane window and seeing the green-turf deck of the norway below in the Port of Miami, looking like a giant with the other smaller carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Dolphin ships. I was so excited when I pulled up at the pier and seeing for the first time just how big this ship was. I just couldn't believe that something that I have dreamt about for so long was now a reality. I had the biggest smile for hours as I stepped onboard and walked the halls and through the public rooms that I've pictured myself doing while looking at the deck plans in the brochure. When I got to my cabin (A-033), I was still excited to see how cool it looked even though i was a small inside cabin. My hand was shaking as I turned the key on the big blue keychain (yes keys before room cards). I also lucked out to only getting one cabin mate who turned out to be a very nice guy from NYC. SingleWorld was the best for single travelers since they seated us together in the dinning rooms and they also had a host/hostess (Julie) who organized other group activities both on and off the ship. I was pretty shy, so this made it easier to meet others onboard to hang out with. Of course I was the youngest in our group of about 15 of us, but ages from 25s-60s. I met a very fun woman in her 40's from Pittsburg that had me laughing all week. We exchanged numbers and stayed in contact over the year after and we booked with singleworld for the Norway sailing the following May 1985 and met up again. We continued to be friends and met up a few times on vacations since, and I would visit while I was in Pittsburg. Like I said, we were JUST FRIENDS and she was like family to me. We always talked about our cruises on the Norway and the group of fellow Singleworld travelers in our group. We also discussed cruising together again, but she was battleing cancer and was in and out of the hospital for the past 20+ years that I knew her. I travleled out to Pittsburg in March 2006 because she was very ill and I wanted to see her before anything bad happened. In Feb. 2007, she just got out from a 2weeks hopital stay, and she sounded great and whitty as I was speaking to her while I was on deck of the Carribean Princess as I was leaving out on a cruise. I was telling her how beautiful the sunset was and I wish she was sailing with me and my friends, but we would do it soon. I told her I would contact her when I returned to tell her all about the cruise (sailing to the same ports as the Norway 24years earlier). After beeing home for a week, I called and someone answered to tell me that Ilona had passed away during my cruise. What a circle our live together took...from cruise to cruise friendship over 24yrs. When I saw that the Norway was being dismantled, I found a web site that had pieces of the ship online for sale. I mentioned this to one of my family members last summer and today for Christmas I recieved an old plastic blue plaque with A-033 that was once glued to my cabin on the S/S Norway. I can no longer live my dream cruise over again, but I can now at least touch a piece of my S/S Norway dream and relive those great memories.

Great story. Its neat you were able to get he exact room number too!

Heres one of the casino chips used on the Norway....

Thank you. Very nice chips. A great find to have those in your hands.

Ross, what a wonderful story!

It's fantastic your family was able to locate and buy the item from your old stateroom. I've tried to buy Norway items but was hindered by online ordering issues.

My Norway collecton includes a ceramic ship model, casino coins, luggage tags and a huge framed "Biggest Week in the World" travel poster.

We'll miss the Norway, but she lives on in our memories. It's great you have something you can touch and transport yourself back to that special, magical time. ;)

What a fantastic and very thoughtful gift! Great story..Thank You for sharing!:)

Great memory , thanks for sharing. Just yesterday, I found the photo folders for our 1993 Norway cruise. One of our whole family and a second photo of me holding my 9 month old son on his first cruise. Brought back some fond memories of that cruise and of being able to hold him. Now he is 6 ft and almost as tall as me! I won't be holding him on our Alaska cruise this summer. The Norway was a great ship.

What a great gift!

One of the best gifts I was given last year was from a blog reader of mine who I helped with his application/hiring with my cruise line. As a thank you he bought me the same type of sign from the Norway but it says "Crew stairs" and I love it. I'm a huge SS Norway fan and I will always keep this!

Glad you got one also.

Very good story, that must have been very lucky to get the exact stateroom number u had