Saga Rose Greenland Voyager August 2007

[Kapricorn]

I would think that the Sea Diamond would have foundered within half an hour had it not been for watertight doors slowing the progress of the inrushing water. I recall that it took something like 12 or 16 hours for her to sink.

 

As for lifeboat drills, on Celebrity the passengers are gathered in muster areas (casinos, lounges, theatres, etc.), shown how to properly wear lifebelts and the ideal way of jumping overboard. Then they are led out to lifeboat stations, though they are not actually assigned specific boats. That would be the decision of the crew, during actual emergencies, where to direct passengers from the muster areas depending on the circumstances. For example, if there is a fire in the area of a specific lifeboat, it would not make sense for passengers to gather at that lifeboat first. The whole drill usually takes 20-25 minutes.

 

On Holland America and Royal Caribbean, passengers gather under their assigned lifeboats, and their cabin numbers are marked off to make sure that everyone has showed up (this is not done on Celebrity, where cabins and public rooms are checked to make sure that all occupants are out). The whole drill usually takes 12 to 15 minutes. I am not sure what the procedure would be if there is a fire in the area of a specific lifeboat, but I suppose that the crew would direct passengers elsewhere.

 

My problem with Celebrity's procedure is that if the ship is sinking at a rapid pace, I would not want to first gather with others in an interior public room where people might get trapped or panic break out. I would rather be out on the open decks.

 

Donald.

[Druke I]

There have been some very interesting threads on various CC boards re Lifeboat Muster drills, and what different people feel is the"proper method".

 

I much prefer how Princess does it. Muster inside, usually in a lounge, and if and when it becomes necessary to abandon ship, they will lead you to an available lifeboat.

 

I find it much more comfortable inside, no weather issues, and I can sit.

 

Princess' rationale is that you don't know which lifeboats may or may not be available (due to listing, fire, etc!). Also, by not being outside, you won't be blocking ship's company who may be involved in launching boats, fighting fire, etc.

 

The older ships that some of you love so much have an older design davit, and may or may not be able to launch lifeboats from both sides should the ship develop a serious list. No point mustering at a boat station that is not usable.

[seabourndt]

i booked the sampler for june 2008 online. but still have not receive my confirmation despite them saying they sent them out twice, very strange. but got a mailing of their latest newsletter!

dave

[Saga Ruby]

i booked the sampler for june 2008 online. but still have not receive my confirmation despite them saying they sent them out twice, very strange. but got a mailing of their latest newsletter!

dave

 

Congrats on joining the Saga club. I hope your enjoy your Saga Ruby cruise and we look forward to hearing any complaints or compliments after your cruise.

 

Sorry, I can't help you with the confirmation procedure. In the States, we are required to use a Saga rep at a Massachusetts travel agency so it was always contact with a human being. Does anyone know if Americans can use the online booking system?

 

Ruby

[Conte Di Savoia]

On line booking is only available to UK or Eire residents.

[Kapricorn]

I read in this morning's newspapers about the British planning a hypersonic airliner that would fly from Belgium to Australia in five hours, maybe in 2025. So, when I am in my early 80s I may finally make these flights to distant ports! The current 10- or 20-hour flights would go the way of the 2-week transatlantic crossings by paddle steamers of the 1850s.

 

Donald.

[Druke I]

I rather doubt that I would be interested in flying anywhere in 2025.

 

Read this morning that another classic ship will start for the breakers tomorrow.

.

SS Independence, which has been down near Hunter's Point in San Francisco, reportedly will depart for Alang. Owned by NCLA, some had hoped she would be refurbished and updated for further service. I think NCLA worked a great con job, buying SS United States and SS Independence, and claiming that they would refurbish them - part of the deal allowing NCLA to American-flag some ships for the Hawaiin trade.

[Druke I]

Today's San Francisco Chronicle confirms that the SS Independence has been towed by a sea-going tug from San Francisco Bay, en route Singapore. Indy was towed under name Oceanic. It is common to change names of a ship when she is en route to the scrappers.

 

The Chron speculates that the actual destination is either India or Bangladesh, to be scrapped.

 

Perhaps she will be "lost at sea whilst under tow", the fate of her sister, SS Constitution.

[Conte Di Savoia]

Peter Knego published some pictures of her departure on Maritime Matters. While I never sailed on her I did take a three week Mediterranean cruise on board her sister, Constitution. While not the most elegant of ships they had an All-American appeal. It is always sad to see a ship sail away into the sunset but she had a very long and distinguished career.

[Druke I]

We also sailed on SS Constitution, San Francisco to Honolulu, 12-84.

 

She had been in The City having her bottom scraped; no drydocks being available in the Islands.

 

Great trip, although rough. A stowaway was taken off in handcuffs in Los Angeles (probably a drunk who did not heed the "all ashore" call before departing San Francisco).

 

Seas were rough enough that the lips were put up on the tables in the Dining Room, and the tableclothes wetted down in futile attempts to keep plates on the tables.

 

Had a "man overboard" call one night, ship turned, and commenced a search, while a headcount of passengers and crew was conducted. All accounted for, speculation was that unknown party saw a mattress or other garbage float by, and raised the alarm. (Dumping of garbage at sea was still fairly common then).

 

While still 24 hrs steaming from Honolulu, there was a helicopter evacuation of an ill passenger. Fascinating to watch. Ship's band "serenaded" the military choppers with martial music, and the Captain really laid on the ship's whistle (horn) in salute to a job well done. It was a joint effort, with a USAF tanker plane, a USCG chopper, and a USMC chopper.

[franu]

Seas were rough enough that the lips were put up on the tables in the Dining Room, and the tableclothes wetted down in futile attempts to keep plates on the tables.

 

I never thought that the lips were removable as on my honeymoon cruise, those many moons ago, they were on the entire cruise NYC to Bermuda and Nassau. It was a rough sailing. We were on Furness-Bermuda Lines "Ocean Monarch". Lovely send off and party.

Fran

[Kapricorn]

Wasn't either the Independence or Constitution in a "I Love Lucy" episode where Lucille Ball was winched to the deck from a helicopter after she missed the sailing in NYC?

 

I find the comedies of the 1950s much more hilarious than the current sitcoms (none of which I watch), but, then, I was much younger! Does anyone remember shows such as "This is Hollywood", "Our Miss Brooks", "The Loretta Young Show" (I remember the way in which she weekly swept through the double doors and swirled around in her long gown), "Playhouse 4" (I can't remember the four stars who featured in it per week, but wasn't Joseph Cotten one of them?), "The Millionaire" (at the end of each fictional episode Marvin Miller handed a cheque to the lucky recipient) , "Rin Tin Tin", "Roy Rogers Show", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (my sister and I were really scared by a spooky dark-house episode once), "Ed Sullivan Show" and all the rest? What about the daily "Queen for a Day"? I was embarrassed for the three losers who did not receive the most audience applause, and the winner won a variety of kitchen gadgets, vacuum cleaners, washers and dryers and various other household items.

 

Donald.

[franu]

find the comedies of the 1950s much more hilarious than the current sitcoms (none of which I watch), but, then, I was much younger! Does anyone remember shows such as "This is Hollywood", "Our Miss Brooks", "The Loretta Young Show" (I remember the way in which she weekly swept through the double doors and swirled around in her long gown), "Playhouse 4" (I can't remember the four stars who featured in it per week, but wasn't Joseph Cotten one of them?), "The Millionaire" (at the end of each fictional episode Marvin Miller handed a cheque to the lucky recipient) , "Rin Tin Tin", "Roy Rogers Show", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (my sister and I were really scared by a spooky dark-house episode once), "Ed Sullivan Show" and all the rest? What about the daily "Queen for a Day"? I was embarrassed for the three losers who did not receive the most audience applause, and the winner won a variety of kitchen gadgets, vacuum cleaners, washers and dryers and various other household items.

 

 

Is it any wonder that "Queen for a Day" is no longer on? Now it would be an insult to most women to receive appliances as a prize. Loretta Young Show was a favourite every Sunday. What ever happened to the tapes of that show? I would love to see them again.

 

About every 6 weeks a friend's uncle got us tickets for the "Ed Sullivan" rehearsals. It certainly was a different perspective.

 

Are you telling me that "The Millionaire" is over? I have been waiting with bated breath for him to reach my door. Oh well, I was hoping.

Fran

[Saga Ruby]

Some of my earliest memories are listening to the radio soaps with my nanny. I think they were only 15 mins. long and one of them was "One Man’s Family." On weekends, my family would hop in our brand-new Studebaker with the jazzy nylon seats and drive around Fort Worth.

 

My father had the radio tuned to "The Shadow" and "Inner Sanctum" while he would "phone ahead to the chief of police to change the signal lights." Those jazzy nylon seats were fun until winter when we slid across the seat to grab the chrome handle and . . . .

 

My sister "picked" Roy Rogers for her crush so I picked The Lone Ranger because I loved the theme music and his beautiful horse, Silver. I did not like them calling his sidekick Tonto which, in Spanish, means "stupid." Jay Silverheels was far from tonto.

 

Ruby

[Druke I]

What year was the brand new Studebaker? They had some very good looking ones in the post-war years.

 

The Shadow (LaMont Cranston) was a great program, as was Inner Sanctum.

I think my favorite was probably I Love a Mystery.

 

Didn't care much for One Man's Family - it was more of a "girlie" show!

 

I did enjoy The Lone Ranger, but didn't care much for Roy Rogers - he was too squeaky clean.

 

I had nylon seat covers on my 48 Plymouth ragtop, but they could be slippery at the wrong moments.

[Kapricorn]

Loretta Young Show was a favourite every Sunday. What ever happened to the tapes of that show? I would love to see them again.

 

Fran, I checked online and found that Amazon.com has a few DVDs of "The Loretta Young Show", including one with 30 episodes from the first season! Go to that site, in "Search" select DVD and then type Loretta Young Show in the next field. Read the customer reviews. Loretta's "dress-swirling entrance" was cut out of some of the programs.

 

"Playhouse Four" was actually titled "Four Star Playhouse", and I found out that it featured Dick Powell, David Niven, Charles Boyer and Ida Lupino. There even are a few DVDs from that program on Amazon.com!

 

Donald.

[Druke I]

The lips on the Constitution's tables were hinged - in rough weather they were put up to help keep the china on the table.

 

In normal seas, they dropped down, making the table two or three inches larger in each direction.

 

I had forgotten about Four Star Playhouse. It was very well done, most of the time.

[Saga Ruby]

What year was the brand new Studebaker? They had some very good looking ones in the post-war years. I had nylon seat covers on my 48 Plymouth ragtop, but they could be slippery at the wrong moments.

 

That Study was so long ago that it is on the edge of my memory, so it must have been late 40s or early 50s. I have a clear memory of us sitting in the car in the garage as my mother stood on the clutch to engage the starter button under the pedal. I clearly remember our Study was a beautiful deep emerald green with a bullet nose and a large chrome ring literally around the nose.

 

Some years later we had traded up to a pair of Olds but a friend of my father had bought a Studebaker Hawk (?) and liked to race it on side streets.

 

Fran, I also enjoyed watching Loretta Young sweep thru those double doors in her latest fashion outfit. I have a silk dress for dining on ships that I call my Loretta Young dress with a wide neckline and full skirt. It takes all my willpower to enter the dining room and not twirl gracefully around as I clear the threshold.

 

Ruby

[Kapricorn]

I did enjoy The Lone Ranger, but didn't care much for Roy Rogers - he was too squeaky clean.

 

If you didn't like Roy Rogers, did you watch The Rifleman? Chuck Connors with his square jaw, sneer and narrowed glinty eyes (like Clint Eastwood in his early westerns) was the antithesis of Roy.

 

I don't remember The Shadow, Inner Sanctum and I Love a Mystery, but I didn't start to regularly watch television until the late 1950s.

 

Donald.

[Druke I]

If memory serves correctly, the Studebaker with the "bullet nose" was the 49 & 50.

 

The later Studebaker Hawk was a screamer in its day- quit fast. It was latter sold under the Packard label, after Studebaker and Packard merged.

 

My dad had "a thing" about Lorreta Young, and Bette Davis too. Me - I liked BarbaraStanwyck and still have a crush on Maureen O'Hara. And Susan Hayward was pretty hot too!

 

Donald- Inner Sanctum, I Love a Mystery, and The Shadow were RADIO programs, pre TV. Our imaginations had to work much harder!

 

Yes, the Rifleman was a good show.

[Kapricorn]

My dad had "a thing" about Lorreta Young, and Bette Davis too. Me - I liked BarbaraStanwyck and still have a crush on Maureen O'Hara. And Susan Hayward was pretty hot too!

 

My favourite actress during the 1950s was Virginia Mayo. My father indulged me by taking me to some of the motion pictures in which she acted. Nowadays I never tire of Bette Davis movies on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). She was a fantastic actress. Barbara Stanwyck, Susan Hayward, Joan Crawford and Ida Lupino were great performers, too. Maureen O'Hara had a beautiful skin complexion. Last I heard, she is operating her late husband's small airline somewhere in the Caribbean.

 

Donald.

[franu]

I remember that we sat and looked at the radio as the program we were interested in was broadcasting. I guess that was practicing for television.

 

The Studebaker was remembered as the car that looked similar both coming and going.

 

I also enjoyed watching Loretta Young sweep thru those double doors in her latest fashion outfit. I have a silk dress for dining on ships that I call my Loretta Young dress with a wide neckline and full skirt. It takes all my willpower to enter the dining room and not twirl gracefully around as I clear the threshold.

 

Why hold back, Ruby? Let your inner Loretta Young come out. Don't worry about what others may think. After all people walk down the street using hand and head motions while speaking out loud to what looks like themselves. That would have someone institutionalised just a few years ago. Today we know this is the cell phone.

Fran

[Druke I]

Donald - Virginia Mayo was good, but she often played a Tart. She really was pretty bitchy in The Best Years of Our Lives.

 

FranU - I had to laugh about your line regarding cell phones and their users.

You're right, most of them would have been committed as delusional 20 or 25 years ago.

 

40 years ago, early morning joggers used to complain of being 'hassled" by the police, not realizing anyone running at 5am must be a burglar or peeping tom fleeing the scene!

[Saga Ruby]

I remember that we sat and looked at the radio as the program we were interested in was broadcasting. I guess that was practicing for television. Fran

 

In the 50s, we were visiting my aunt on York Island in PA, later to be reviled as Three Mile Island. She owned a TV which was a tiny round tube in a small cabinet. The only program she watched was the Liberace show. At the end of the show, when Liberace winked at the camera, my aunt literally swooned. I have visited the Liberace Museum in Vegas and was surprised at how well run it is and the outstanding quality of his collection of antiques.

 

I have been watching TCM and recently saw The Best Years of Our Lives. It was amazing how well Virginia Mayo was dressed for being such a loose woman. The movie that scared me as a child was Susan Hayward in I Want to Live which graphically showed the ultimate punishment for those on the "wrong side of the tracks."

 

Ruby

[Kapricorn]

I had forgotten all about the Liberace Show. I had watched it a few times, as he was a good showman. He was here in Vancouver for Expo 86, and wore a heavy sweater during hot weather. He claimed that he had lost weight on a watermelon diet, but we now know the actual reason.

 

I'll have to watch The Best Years of Our Lives next time it is on TCM. On that channel I enjoyed watching Virginia Mayo in her role as the moll of the gangster played by James Cagney - I can't remember the title. Of course, Cagney slapped her around in that film. Cagney sure filled gangster roles superbly, along with Edward G. Robinson.

 

Donald.