TSS Sitmar Fairstar - Jungle Room

[leluka]

Sailed as a kid roughly around 1979 - 1983 on Sitmar Fairstar.  Jungle Room was THE hang place....anybody remember it or have photos of it?  I know it was changed to something else along the line and they shut it down.   Also was bit of a scandal attached to the room too if anybody remembers?

[PerfectlyPerth]

If you type "TSS Sitmar Fairstar" into Facebook search I found at least 6 active groups with past passengers and crew - so it might be a better place to ask your question for a more immediate response. 

[Chiliburn]

10 hours ago, leluka said:

Sailed as a kid roughly around 1979 - 1983 on Sitmar Fairstar.  Jungle Room was THE hang place....anybody remember it or have photos of it?  I know it was changed to something else along the line and they shut it down.   Also was bit of a scandal attached to the room too if anybody remembers?

I did a couple of cruises on it about then , I think the first was 1977.

I vaguely remember a jungle room, 

Cruise ships have come along way since then.
I remember you could bring friends onboard for a few drinks before the cruise and some would even stay onboard.

 

[mr walker]

I recall going onboard to see my sister off in the late 70's. From memory it was pretty basic & they had a 4 bunk cabin, and I guess a shared bathroom.

My only 'cruise' experience back in those days was the Empress of the Sea ferry Sydney to Launceston & return around 1970, again very basic. 

 

Little wonder it was 2011 before we took our first cruise 🙂 

[NSWP]

3 minutes ago, mr walker said:

I recall going onboard to see my sister off in the late 70's. From memory it was pretty basic & they had a 4 bunk cabin, and I guess a shared bathroom.

My only 'cruise' experience back in those days was the Empress of the Sea ferry Sydney to Launceston & return around 1970, again very basic. 

 

Little wonder it was 2011 before we took our first cruise 🙂 

My first cruise was on Her Majesty's Troop Ship HMT Nevasa, in 1956 !!!  from Southampton to Hong Kong, family cabin (i was 8 lol) , toilet down the corridor. But when I did Iberia around the Pacific Island in 1970, I was on F Deck,  6 berth cabin, bathroom down the corridor. 

 

 

[By The Bay]

13 minutes ago, NSWP said:

My first cruise was on Her Majesty's Troop Ship HMT Nevasa, in 1956 !!!  from Southampton to Hong Kong, family cabin (i was 8 lol) , toilet down the corridor. But when I did Iberia around the Pacific Island in 1970, I was on F Deck,  6 berth cabin, bathroom down the corridor. 

 

 

Nice looking ship. I just read that she ended up with P&O.

 

[Chiliburn]

It was a very basic ship,2 bunk beds a shared bathroom, bath only.

Cockroaches galore and when the sea come up the a lot of green faces.

I remember a constant stream of rubbish out the back of the ship, even those days people complained.

 

I believe it was a old Catapult ship from the war ,so my dad was told on a ship tour.

 It would launch small planes and then recover them floating in the ocean.

But there’s no proof.

 

[By The Bay]

5 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

I believe it was a old Catapult ship from the war ,so my dad was told on a ship tour.

 It would launch small planes and then recover them floating in the ocean.

But there’s no proof.

 

Not correct according to link in Wikipedia

 

"SS Nevasa, also known as HMT Nevasa, was a British troopship built on the River Clyde, Scotland, in 1955 by Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd. with financial support from the British Government[3] and launched on 30 November 1955.[4]"

[Chiliburn]

9 minutes ago, By The Bay said:

Not correct according to link in Wikipedia

 

"SS Nevasa, also known as HMT Nevasa, was a British troopship built on the River Clyde, Scotland, in 1955 by Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd. with financial support from the British Government[3] and launched on 30 November 1955.[4]"

Maybe the catapult was used for the troublesome pommies when it was a immigrant ship.

[Aus Traveller]

6 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Maybe the catapult was used for the troublesome pommies when it was a immigrant ship.

The Nevasa was never an immigrant ship. She was a British troopship and also used to transport military families to their new posting. That would have been how Les was on the ship - when his father was transferred to Hong Kong.

[possum52]

1 minute ago, Aus Traveller said:

The Nevasa was never an immigrant ship. She was a British troopship and also used to transport military families to their new posting. That would have been how Les was on the ship - when his father was transferred to Hong Kong.

Then in 1965 she became an educational ship for British school children doing 20 cruises per year to ports around Europe - there were 900-1000 students onboard.

[By The Bay]

However, I think you might me thinking of the T.S.S.Fairsky, which was previously HMS Attacker. See here a great article about her life.

[Chiliburn]

Well with pommies onboard a catapult would be very handy.

 

 

It was a few years ago but we where told something about a catapult ship.

Maybe it was a wartime designed ship that was converted.

[Chiliburn]

2 minutes ago, By The Bay said:

However, I think you might me thinking of the T.S.S.Fairsky, which was previously HMS Attacker. See here a great article about her life.

It was the fair star , maybe the hull was originally designed as a catapult.

[possum52]

3 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

It was the fair star , maybe the hull was originally designed as a catapult.

The Fairstar was not around during WW2. She was competed in 1957 as the troopship Oxfordshire and then became the Fairstar in 1964 for immigrant voyages and then in 1974 became a cruise ship.

[Chiliburn]

5 minutes ago, possum52 said:

The Fairstar was not around during WW2. She was competed in 1957 as the troopship Oxfordshire and then became the Fairstar in 1964 for immigrant voyages and then in 1974 became a cruise ship.

What I saying is maybe it was a left over design from the war that they used,lots of spare parts.
‘Maybe I was dreaming , I was to young to be drunk  but I remember asking my dad what a catapult ship was.
 

Its a ship I would rather forget to be honest  .

[NSWP]

44 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

The Nevasa was never an immigrant ship. She was a British troopship and also used to transport military families to their new posting. That would have been how Les was on the ship - when his father was transferred to Hong Kong.

Correct, the ship was new and my father's regiment - The Northamptonshire Regt was posted to Hong King to deal with the Chinese riots. The entire Regiment travelled on the ship, which was small compared to todays ships. Sgts and above could take their families, my father at that time was a Colour Sergeant. We stayed in HK, well we lived in the New Territories for 2 years then sailed back to UK on the same ship.

 

Post trooping Nevasa was an Educational ship taking Brit schoolkids around. Now scrapped of course.

[NSWP]

33 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Well with pommies onboard a catapult would be very handy.

 

 

It was a few years ago but we where told something about a catapult ship.

Maybe it was a wartime designed ship that was converted.

The Romans had Catapult ships, so did the Spaniards.

[Aus Traveller]

I remember the Fairstar. The official name of the room referred to might well have been the 'Jungle Room' but I remember it being referred to as 'The Animal Bar'. Drunk passengers used to carve their names into the wooden tables.

[possum52]

6 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

What I saying is maybe it was a left over design from the war that they used,lots of spare parts.
‘Maybe I was dreaming , I was to young to be drunk  but I remember asking my dad what a catapult ship was.
 

Its a ship I would rather forget to be honest  .

The Oxfordshire (Fairstar) and Nevassa and some others were the biggest ships built solely as troopships during the 1950s. Catapult ships were freight ships converted for the purpose and carried a single aircraft. 

[Chiliburn]

33 minutes ago, possum52 said:

The Oxfordshire (Fairstar) and Nevassa and some others were the biggest ships built solely as troopships during the 1950s. Catapult ships were freight ships converted for the purpose and carried a single aircraft. 

You are right Leigh, I might be getting dementia.

 

I will wipe the fairstar from my mind ,probably the best for a ship like that.

[Shiprobbo]

Regarding Fairstar,

 

The Jungle Room was not the 'Animal Bar'. Officially the 'Animal Bar' was called 'The Tavern' and it was removed in the mid-1980's and replaced with a casino, the original casino having been converted into a shop. The Jungle Room was a children's facility located forward, at the same time that The Tavern (Animal Bar) was removed the Jungle Room was converted into an adult space known as 'The Sharp End Bar'.

 

As noted elsewhere, Fairstar was not a converted aircraft carrier, she was built as Oxfordshire for Bibby Line of Liverpool to service a UK Government Troop contract, her near sister Nevasa was built for British India (part of P&O Group) for similar purposes. When built it was expected that trooping by sea would continue for at least 20-years, this did not prove to be the case and in the early 60's the near-new Oxfordshire was chartered to Sitmar for conversion to a migrant ship. During the course of an extensive re-build there was a dispute between Bibby and Sitmar and ultimately Sitmar bought the ship. Nevasa was much less altered but was moved to the British India school cruise program to replace older ships that were being used.

 

Ultimately Sitmar was bought out by P&O/Princess in 1988 and she was rebranded at around the same time. As originally built Oxfordshire and Nevasa looked very similar.

 

 

[Chiliburn]

57 minutes ago, NSWP said:

The Romans had Catapult ships, so did the Spaniards.

Didn’t the Romans occupy GB for a while and they invented the catapult.

[OzKiwiJJ]

33 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Didn’t the Romans occupy GB for a while and they invented the catapult.

Yes, they did, and they even build a wall right across the top of England to keep the marauding ancestors of the Scots out.

[Chiliburn]

57 minutes ago, Shiprobbo said:

Regarding Fairstar,

 

The Jungle Room was not the 'Animal Bar'. Officially the 'Animal Bar' was called 'The Tavern' and it was removed in the mid-1980's and replaced with a casino, the original casino having been converted into a shop. The Jungle Room was a children's facility located forward, at the same time that The Tavern (Animal Bar) was removed the Jungle Room was converted into an adult space known as 'The Sharp End Bar'.

 

As noted elsewhere, Fairstar was not a converted aircraft carrier, she was built as Oxfordshire for Bibby Line of Liverpool to service a UK Government Troop contract, her near sister Nevasa was built for British India (part of P&O Group) for similar purposes. When built it was expected that trooping by sea would continue for at least 20-years, this did not prove to be the case and in the early 60's the near-new Oxfordshire was chartered to Sitmar for conversion to a migrant ship. During the course of an extensive re-build there was a dispute between Bibby and Sitmar and ultimately Sitmar bought the ship. Nevasa was much less altered but was moved to the British India school cruise program to replace older ships that were being used.

 

Ultimately Sitmar was bought out by P&O/Princess in 1988 and she was rebranded at around the same time. As originally built Oxfordshire and Nevasa looked very similar.

 

 

It’s good to see someone with a positive input to the thread.