Your first cruise ship

[Copper10-8]

Hey John... you think you can pull a Princess Carla out of your hat? I think Princess chartered her in the 70's or something, but that was my Mom's favorite ship. That and the Cunard Countess (I think it was called the Countess)... they also did a couple Sitmar cruises, but I'm drawing a blank on names.

 

Thanks SO much for the amazing memories and fabulous photos.

 

Especially brings a tear to my eye to see my old favorite, Noordam III. :)

 

 

s/s Flandre (1952-1994) Delivered as Flandre in 1952 to the French Line or Compagnie Generale Transatlantique (CGT). Originally designed for Caribbean service, she was modified during construction for services between le Havre and New York instead. In 1963, her hull was painted white and she switched to the West Indies service for which she was designed. Her last voyage was in January 1968 as she had been sold in 1967 to Costa Cruises who renamed her Carla C.

After a major rebuilt, she was handed over to Costa in November 1968 but was immediately chartered to Princess

Cruises. Marketed as Princess Carla and entering service from Los Angeles, her official name remained Carla C throughout this charter. The charter was cancelled in 1970 and she finally appeared in her Costa colors operating Caribbean cruises until 1974 when she developed engine problems. After repairs, she returned to Caribbean cruises. She received another major refit in 1984, but was sold Epirotiki Line (Greece) in 1992 and renamed Pallas Atherna. In 1994 a fire broke out onboard which caused her superstructure and funnel to cave in on themselves. She arrived at the Aliaga Company scrapyards in Turkey in December of that year and was broken up.

 

 

 

 

[Copper10-8]

First cruise- August 1987 (no hurricane, thankfully)

Ship Line- Costa

Ship Name- Daphne

Itinerary- 7 day, RT San Juan, PV. Ports included Antigua, Barbados, St. Thomas, Jamaica. That's all I remember.....lots of alcohol:eek:.....husband won trip as sales incentive and we traveled with a group of top sellers and the host.

 

Loved cruising from that day forward. We tried to cruise at least once a year since then, but had to take a break when our daughter was born in 1995. We waited until she was eight and took her on her first cruise (short one, RT Long Beach, CA), and now she has five under her belt (so to speak).

 

I can remember the ones we have been on with her, but the ones in between, not so much. What's with that????

 

Maybe more than you asked, but while I could remember......:rolleyes:

 

Cheryl

 

Port Sydney (1955-present) She was built in 1955 as Port Sydney, a refrigerated fast cargo ship and operated on the London to Australia run for Port Line. She then became Akrotiri Express in 1972 after she was purchased by Greek interests (Karras Cruises)for conversion to a car ferry. These plans changed however, and she emerged instead as up-market cruise ship Daphne for Delian Cruises in 1975. When this turned out not to be a succesfull venture, she was chartered to Lauro Lines between 1978 and 1979. In 1979, Costa Lines came calling for which she sailed under charter until 1984 when they purchased her outright.

 

In 1990, she was transferred to Prestige Cruises, a joint venture between Costa and Sovcomflot until returned to Costa. In 1996, she was purchased by Swiss interests and managed by Leisure Cruises (owned by Swissair) under the name Switzerland. When Swissair went bankrupt in 2001, she was sold to Majestic International Cruises who renamed her Ocean Monarch. She also sailed for a short period as Ocean Odyssey during this time and undertook charter cruises for Page & Moy, Hansa Kreuzfahrten and once again Page & Moy. When a Tsunami struck in the Indian Ocean, she was moved to Sri Lanka as hospital ship Hellenic Aid. In 2006, she was laid up in Eleusis Bay, and put up for sale. Later on that year, Golden Sun Cruises needed a replacement vessel for their ship, Aegean I, so she was chartered to them as Ocean Monarch. In 2007 Majestic's subsidiary, Monarch Classic Cruises, took over and she is currently sailing three and four-day classic Aegean island itineraries for them from Piraeus.

 

 

[Copper10-8]

It was for our 25th anniversary. December 2005 on the Zuiderdam. When we were dating we loved to watch "The Love Boat" and we always wanted to take a cruise. We are officially hooked and will be taking our third cruise November 30, 2008 on the Westerdam.

 

 

 

m/s Zuiderdam (2002-present)

[Copper10-8]

First cruise was on Island Princess (Love Boat), 1983, 7 day Alaska, roundtrip form Vancouver. We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary and decided to celebrate every 5 years with a cruise. When the girls graduated college, we have tried to cruise every 2 years.

 

 

Island Venture (1972-present) Built in 1972 as Island Venture for Flagship Cruises, she operated cruises between the USA and Bermuda. In 1974 she was sold to P&O's Princess Cruises along with her sister ship, Sea Venture. She was renamed Island Princess (her sister, Pacific Princess). Both appeared in the 1970's television sitcom "The Loev Boat", although Pacific Princess was the main feature of that show.

In 1999, she was sold to Hyundai Merchant Marine (South Korea) and named Hyundai Pungak in her role to transport South Korean pilgrims to religious sites in North Korea. She went through a major refit between 2001 and 2002. After a brief stint as the Platinum for Feducia Shipping Co. S.A. in 2003, she has been sailing as Discovery under the care of the cruise company Voyages of Discovery, cruising out of Harwich, England.

 

For the most part, Discovery can be found in the Northern Hemisphere (Baltic, Scandinavia, Mediterranean, Aegean, North Africa) in the English spring and summer, and in the Southern Hemisphere (South America, Antarctica, and Indian Ocean) in the autumn and winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Copper10-8]

Our first cruise was on Commodore's Boheme in 1973. We cruised round trip from Miami to San Juan, St Thomas, Puerta Plata, and Cap Hatian. In spite of having to outrun a hurricane on the way back, we were hooked, and took the same cruise the next May, beginning a lifelong addiction.

 

m/s Boheme (1968-present) Built in 1968 by Wartsila Turku Shipyard in Turku, Finland, she was originally ordered by Swedish-based Lion Ferry as the second in a pair of two car & passenger ferries for use on the Bremerhaven, Germany - Harwich, England route. However, the passenger demand on the Bremerhaven—Harwich route proved to be insufficient for two ships, and Lion Ferry cancelled the order for this second ship.

Meanwhile, newly-founded Commodore Cruise Line was looking for ships to operate on cruises around the Caribbean to compete with Norwegian Caribbean Cruise Line (NCL) and their Sunward. An agreement was reached where the build contract of the half-completed ship was sold to the Sweden-based Wallenius Linne, who would have the vessel completed as a cruise ship. Following completion, she would be chartered to Commodore Cruise Lines. Following their tradition of naming ships after operas, Wallenius decided to name the ship Bohème, after La Boheme.

On December 7, 1968, Bohème left on her first cruise from Miami to St, Thomas. Following the rebuild of her air conditioning system in Germany, Bohème re-entered service with an itinerary of Miami—Puerto Plata—St. Thomas—San Juan—Cap Hatien—Miami. She followed the same itinerary, becoming the first ship to offer around-the-year seven-night cruises from Miami.

In March 1981 Commodore Cruise Line, as well as the Bohème, were sold to the Finnish-based Rederi Ab Sally. Between November 1982 and August 1983, Bohème was chartered to Brazilian-based Saitecin Cruises for journeys around South America. After returning to Commodore service in 1984, she was placed on a new Miami—Port-au-Prince—Port Antonio—Grand Cayman—Cozumel—Miami itinerary. In November 1984, she was chartered to SeaEscape for their Miami—Freeport ferry service and in February 1985, she returned to Commodore Cruise Line service with her port of departure being changed to St. Petersburg, Fl. In September 1986, she was sold to San Donato Properties Corporation for $10 million, to be converted for use with the Church of Scientology. In September 1986, she was renamed Freewinds. The vessel was put into service in June 1988 and is operated by Majestic Cruise Lines in the Caribbean. In April 2008, she was shut down after blue asbestos was discovered during maintenance by the Curaçao Drydock

Company.

1985: Majestic Cruise Lines[1][3]

[ookpik]

 

Dunnottar Castle (1936-2004) originally built by Harland and Wolfe in Belfast, Northern Ireland as Dunnottar Castle in 1936 for Union-Castle Line. She was used on the London (Tilbury) - Round Africa service until the outbreak of World War 2, when she was converted to an armed merchant cruiser, and then later used a troop transport. After the war in 1949, she resumed Round Africa service.

In 1958, she was sold to Incres SS Co, who renamed her Victoria and had her substantially rebuilt in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She entered service in 1960 on New York-West Indies cruises. In 1964, she was sold to Victoria SS Co, a subsidiary of Swedish company Clipper A/B, but retained name, service and Incres Line as agents. In 1975, she was purchased by Chandris Lines (Greece) and resumed sailings as The Victoria in June 1976. She was used for cruising in Europe as well as in the Caribbean.

 

In 1993, she was sold to Cyprus-based Louis Cruise Lines as Princesa Victoria. She continued operating two and three-day cruises from Limassol to Haifa, Israel and Port Said, Egypt until laid up in 2003 at Eleusis Bay, Greece. She was eventually sold to breakers, renamed Victoria once again and scrapped at Alang, India in 20

Hello Copper John..Any chance of seeing a pic of my Kenya Castle?

Also of the S African Union Castle LIne

Thanks Patti

[SarasMommy]

I did read the first few pages of this thread but haven't in the past couple of days, but wanted to respond anyway...

 

Our first cruise was on the Oosterdam in 2003 and I was hooked immediately. I love travelling but unfortunately was struck with stomach problems two years prior (I will spare everyone the details). I find that it is the ideal way to travel while at the same time staying in a North American environment. Then in 2004 I cruised on the Westerdam, which was surreal because although it was like returning to the environment of the first cruise on the Oosterdam, there were subtle differences like the carpet, decor, colouring of the Vista lounge, etc. I can't imagine a better way to travel.

 

I would love to take a river cruise sometime, which is obviously in a different league than ships such as HAL's fleet. That is probably the only time I would choose to stray from HAL.

[Copper10-8]

First voyage..Mombassa/S'oton and backin 1960 on Kenya Castle(When it was pronounced KEEnya!)

First cruise on the Statendam,S Caribean,March 1978..just before RuthC

Remember those old flag colours of orange ,turquoise and white?

 

 

Kenya Castle (1952-2001) Built by Harland & Wolff Limited at Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1952 for Union-Castle Line (UK) as passenger/cargo vessel for London (Southampton) - Round Africa service.

She plied this route for fifteen years before being purchased by the Greek Chandris shipping family (now Celebrity Cruises) in 1967. She was renamed Amerikanis and refitted and her passenger capacity was increased to approximately 920 (one class). She became somewhat famous for being the first passenger ship to have a television in every cabin.

As Amerikanis, she sailed trans-Atlantic cruises for several years before moving to the Caribbean, Bermuda and New York City routes. She was leased to Costa Cruises and received Costa colors but kept her Greek name and still owned by Chandris, from 1980 until 1984. After this lease and upon regaining the distinctive Chandris "X" on her funnel, she went on to serve for another 12 years.

 

In 1996, she was laid up at Eleusis Bay, Greece which is where she sat while several potential suitors bandied about ideas for this once beautiful liner. Unfortunately, nothing materialized and in 2000 she was sold for scrap. Sometime around June, 2001, Amerikanis was taken on her last voyage by a Russian skeleton crew to Alang beach near Bhavagnar, India, where she met her fate.

 

 

[Copper10-8]

Our first cruise was on RCL's Monarch of the Seas in 1993. Following our TA's recomendation we sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam in 1995. And as they say the rest is history.

 

 

Monarch of the Seas (1991-present) Delivered to Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in 1991

[Copper10-8]

My first cruise was on Royal Caribbean's Sun Viking, August 1986. It was an 8 day Eastern Caribbean cruise that actually gave two full days in St Thomas. It was great overnighting on the ship in St Thomas. Gave us time to do everything we wanted without rushing.

 

Diane

 

 

m/s Sun Viking (1972-present) Built in 1972 by Wartsila Shipyards in Helsinki, Finland as Sun Viking, she was one of the three original ships ordered by then Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines as part of their early fleet. Along with her sister ships, Song of Norway and Nordic Prince, the class comprised the first purpose-built ships intended for Caribbean-based cruise travel.

 

In 1998 she was sold to Malaysian-based Star Cruises, the parent of Norwegian Cruise Line, and renamed SuperStar Sagittarius. In 2003, she was sold to Hyundai Merchant Marine Company (South Korea) and renamed Hyundai Pongnae and later that year just Pongnae (the traditional oriental fairyland ). In 2005, she was chartered by Kong Way-Asia Cruises (Hong Kong) and renamed Omar III. Asia Cruises decided to outright purchase her in June, 2007 and renamed her Long Jie, using her as a casino ship out of Hong Kong.

 

[Copper10-8]

May, 1989. SS Constitution with American Hawaii Cruises. 7 day cruise to four of the Hawaiiian Islands. This was my first cruise, and with wife number 2. (1st wife............no cruising)

First cruise with wife number 3(3 times the charm, right?!?) was on the Zenith, Nov. 2001. This was her first cruise............

 

ss Constitution (1951-1997) Built in 1951 by the Bethlehem Steel Corporation of Quincy, Mass. as an ocean liner for American Export Lines, she initially sailed on the New York-Genoa-Naples and Gibraltar route to Europe. She was a sister ship to the ss Independence. Constitution was to become quite a movie star, first being featured in several episodes of the television situation comedy "I Love Lucy" and in 1957, in the film, "An Affair to Remember".

Following service for American Export's "Sunlane" cruises to Europe in the fifties and sixties, Constitution was laid up in Jacksonville, Fl in 1968. In January 1974, both Constitution and Independence were sold to the Atlantic Far East Line Inc. While her sister recommenced sailing from their new home, Constitution, by then renamed Oceanic Constitution, remained laid up at Hong Kong. In 1980, after receiving a refit in Taiwan, she was transferred to U.S. based American Hawaii Cruises and departed for Honolulu, Hi. Upon arrival there, she was re-christened "Constitution" by Princess Grace of Monaco. She commenced inter-island cruising out of Honolulu in June 1982. She also revived her movie career when, in 1986, several shots of the Magnum P.I. episode "All Thieves on Deck," were filmed on her.

In 1996, American Hawaii Cruises decided to retire the forty-six year old Constitution due to high running costs and required renovation and she was laid up at Portland, Ore. While under tow by the Chinese Ocean-going tug De Da to an Asian breaker yard, twelve days after departure, she started to take on water and due to her imminent sinking, the tug's crew cut her loose. On November 17, 1997 she slipped beneath the waves to her final resting place, 700 miles north of the Hawaiian Islands..

[Copper10-8]

I was hooked long before my first cruise, which is why I took it at all...Home Lines original Homeric in August 1972. Ten days, NYC to San Juan, St. thomas, Martinique and St. Maarten. There had been a hurricane come through NJ the night before, so she was late leaving, and they came around covering the portholes as we left. Single cabin, next to lowest deck, bathroom down the hall. I didn't know any better, and loved it. I acquired a boyfriend in the crew, and repeated the cruise in Nov. It cost $345. the next year he was transferred to Oceanic, seven days NYC to Nassau, so I did that cruise twice. After that, I didn't cruise again until the first Royal Princess, to South America in 1999. I am trying to make up for lost time (although I wasn't idle...I did a lot of world travel by air/land). EM

 

 

 

ss Mariposa II (1931-1974) Delivered in 1931, ss Mariposa was a luxury ocean liner and one of four ships in the Matson Lines "White Fleet" which included ss Monterey, ss Malolo and ss Lurline. She was designed for service in the Pacific Ocean, including regular stops in ports along the west coast of the United States, Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. Her maiden voyage began on January 16, 1932 in New York City where she sailed to Havana, Cuba, transited the Panama Canal and berthed in the Port of Los Angeles, before continuing on to tour ten more countries in the South and West Pacific. During World War II, she served the United States Government as a fast troop carrier.

After the war in 1947, she was mothballed for six years at Bethlehem-Alameda Shipyard in Alameda, CA. In 1953, Genoa, Italy based Home Lines bought her and renamed her ss Homeric, sailing her to Trieste for reconstruction to allow 1243 passengers: 147 first class and 1,096 tourist class. Beginning in January 1955, Home Lines operated her for liner service between Italy, New York City and Quebec City. In 1964 she replaced the ss Italia to operate the regular run between New York and Nassau, Bahamas, however she, in turn, was later replaced by ss Oceanic. She was then reassigned to intra-Caribbean cruises. In 1973 while off Cape May, NJ, a major fire destroyed much of her galley and restaurant and she had to be withdrawn from service. She was ultimately sold to the breakers and scrapped in Taiwan in 1974.

 

[Copper10-8]

Our first cruise was on Century in 1996, 7 nights Western Caribbean. My husband had been trying to talk me into cruising for almost two years, and I wouldn't even consider it. Finally, he just put his foot down, and practically dragged me onto that first cruise, and you know what? When the cruise was over, he had to practically drag me OFF.:o I'm afraid it made a monster out of me.:D

 

 

Celebrity Century (1995-present)

[MsBoomerang]

 

m/s Noordam III (1984-present) Delivered to Holland America Line in 1984 and operated for them until 2004 when she was time- chartered to Thomson Cruises and renamed Thomson Celebration. She is currently operating under that name

 

__________________

 

I apologize if this has already been discussed but there is so much good info in this thread I am having a difficult time keeping it all clear in my head! Has anyone been on this ship as Noordam AND Thompson Celebration? Does it still have the same style and luxury? Or maybe improvements were made? Just curious.

[Love Cruises]

Copper 10-8,

Thanks so much for your postings highlighting many of the ships that have been mentioned in this thread. I just love looking at the pictures of these old cruise ships. This is a wonderful service you are doing for all your cruise critic friends and I can't wait each day to check out this thread.

 

THANKS ... THANKS ... THANKS!!!!

[Copper10-8]

Not counting the SS Catalina c. 1966, or putting my grand parents on the Monterey (three whistle blasts? was the warning for visitors to get off... yes, we boarded with the passengers back then.) We (wife and two children under 3) went on a family reunion cruise to celebrate my wife's father's 70th birthday, wife's stepmother's 50th birthday, their collective 20th wedding anniversary to the Bahamas all expenses paid...

 

Two years later all of us paid our own way for a Christmas cruise on Chandress, now Celebrity, or RCL... (in between we wife and I, no children, went on a three night out of LA)

 

We were hooked... (check signature for details....)

 

So this January we are off on a new family cruise... My wife's father died in 1994. Her stepmother turns 70 this year (and with her new husband) is taking her 5 step children, their spouses, the at least 8 of the 10 grandchildren and spouses (8), (plus one step grand child and spouse) and great grand children (I think 10 are coming...)

 

Its a great family...

 

 

Cunard Adventurer (1971-present) Delivered in 1971, Cunard Adventurer was one of a series of small, cruise-oriented vessels the line operated at that time. She operated for Cunard until 1977 when she was sold to Norwegian Caribbean Line and renamed Sunward II. She was sold to Epirotiki Line (Greece) as Triton in 1991 and then passed to the combined Royal Olympic Cruises fleet in 1995. Following the collapse of Royal Olympic, Triton was sold to Louis Hellenic Cruises at public auction in 2005 who renamed her "Coral". She is currently sailing for Louis under that name.

 

 

[bepsf]

Oosterdam, Feb 2004 on the RSVP Charter - We had a special itinerary to the Western Caribbean out of Fort Lauderdale: Costa Maya, Mexico; Santo Tomas de Castillo, Guatemala (Maiden Call); Roatan, Honduras (Maiden Call) and Key West, Florida - Also met Kathy Griffin aboard, as well as my best pal, Scotty.

 

I was hooked before I even stepped aboard...

...but once I walked into #8086 - I was in love.

:)

 

Here she's at anchor off Roatan as we returned to the ship via tender - note the beautifully stepped stern...

...18 months later, I'd be aboard her again in that aft-corner suite on Deck 4 for the RSVP Alaska Cruise.

[Copper10-8]

Bringing up the rear, having just now found this FABULOUS thread. Copper, you should compile your encyclopedic knowledge and photos into a reference book for us fanatics. The Brits have their Train Spotters, but we are the Ship Spotters. Is it something in the shape of a ship that fuses onto our retinas and makes us happy?

 

Anyway, I've already bored you all with my maunderings about ms Pacific Princess (orig. Sea Venture), the iconic Love Boat, and aptly named :D . I was first hooked the year before (1975) when my friend and I were on a 2-week Scandinavian land tour that included a one-night voyage from Stockholm to Helsinki. We were on a Siljia Line auto ferry and had a tiny little bunk-bedded inside cabin. There was a buffet with all the shrimp you could eat. I woke at dawn to watch us come in to port. It was wonderful, and I haven't looked back.

 

 

m/s Svea Corona (1975-1995) Built in 1975 as Svea Corona as a car-passenger ferry by Dubegion-Normandie S.A. in France for RederiAB Svea in Sweden and operated by Silja Line. She was the first of the so-called "second generation French sisters" to be built for Silja Line traffic between Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden These ships started a new era in Baltic Sea ferry traffic, being larger than any previous ferries to have sailed those waters.

From September 1977 onward, she served on the Turku-Mariehamn-Stockholm route during the winter season (between September and May) and spent the summer months as a third ship on the Helsinki—Stockholm service. This arrangement lasted until 1981 when larger tonnage was delivered to the Helsinki—Stockholm route, and Svea Corona transferred permanently to the Turku—Stockholm service.

In 1981, her owners, Rederi AB Svea, were sold to Johnson Line. As a result, she lost her original white/black funnel colours and gained Johnson Line's blue/yellow colours. In February 1984, she was sold to Sundance Cruises and rebuilt at Oskarshamns Varv in Sweden as cruise ship m/v Sundancer. She transited to the west coast of the U.S.A. however on only her third cruise, she ran aground in Duncan Bay, British Columbia, and her hull was ruptured. All of her passengers were safely evacuated but the ship had to be beached to avoid sinking.

 

In August 1984, Sundancer was refloated and towed into Burrard Shipyard, Vancouver, where she was examined and declared a constructive total loss and left laid up awaiting potential buyers. In November 1984 she was sold to the Epiroki Line (Greece) and towed to Piraeus where she was restored the next year as the cruise ship m/s Pegasus. During early 1986, she was chartered to V.T.C. for cruising on the east coast of South America. Between May and September of the same year she returned to Vancouver, where she was laid up as a hotel ship. After this charter she was used by Epirotiki Lines on cruises in the Mediterranean and between 1989 and 1990 also in the Caribbean.

On June 2, 1991, a fire broke out onboard while the ship was in Venice, Italy. She partially sunk in shallow waters and was declared a total constructive loss for the second time. In August of the same year she was towed back to Pireus where she was laid up for the next three years awaiting buyers. Finally in 1994, a buyer emerged, Greece-based Strintzis Line, who purchased her and renamed her Ionian Express. However, as fate would have it, a fire broke out in her engine room while being rebuild at Perama, Greece, and for a third time the ship was declared a total constructive loss. No further buyers were found to restore the ill-fated ship, and she was towed to the scrapyard in Aliaga, Turkey where she was subsequently broken up in 1995

 

[altosax]

First cruise was a 4 day LA-Ensenada and return on the Cunard Adventurer.

 

After hearing stories from my Aunt Lily of her sailings on the Leonardo DaVinci and the SS France, I was actually disappointed and not hooked first time outta the box.

 

 

 

On the other hand, my love of the ocean and boats and ships started in the early to mid 1950's when my Dad and Uncle would take me with the MGM Rod and Reel club down to San Diego and we would go on Bill Poole's Polarus for tuna fishing out on the 60 mile bank.

 

The Lido was a galley with a small grill plate and the overnight sleeping accommodations were a few rows of bunk beds below deck.

 

This boat was probably in the 100 foot range - best I recollect.

 

I loved being out on the ocean, the aromas, the fishing, the spray, and tossing leftover bait up to the gulls on the return.

 

Mom would take me on the Great White Steamship from Long Beach over to Catalina for day trips. I also loved the bigger boat. It took a couple of hours to cross and there was generally a Big Band on board (leftover from the forties) for entertainment and that was my introduction to the altosax.

 

And now you know the rest of the story! :)

[Copper10-8]

Loved being on the Bounty ...

 

 

But the captain was a bit of a douchebag. :rolleyes: :D

 

 

HMS Bounty (1785-1789) In the late 1780s the British Navy was made up of more than 600 ships of various sizes and types. Yet the Admiralty must have considered none of them suitable for the planned breadfruit expedition. For that purpose a ship had to be found which could be converted to a floating greenhouse; carrying capacity in relation to size was the main criterion.

Six merchant ships were considered and of them the Admiralty chose the Bethia which was fairly new, having been built two and a half years earlier in 1785 at Hull, England. She was a three-masted, full-rigged, snub-nosed ship of only 215 tons burden and had so far been used only for coastal trading. The Navy Board bought her on May 23, 1787, for £1950 and, on the suggestion of Sir Joseph Banks, renamed her Bounty. She was then immediately transferred to Deptford for refitting. (There is a sailor’s tradition that it is bad luck to change the name of a ship.) Very technically, the ship was named HMAV (His Majesty’s Armed Vessel) Bounty.

She was incredibly small when one considers her mission. She was 90 feet 10 inches long with a beam of 24 feet 4 inches and a draft of 11 feet 4 inches. She had no superstructures; all accommodations and facilities were below deck. Her three masts varied in height from 48 to 59 feet. There were three yards on the fore- and mainmasts, two on the mizzenmast. Under the bowsprit there was a figurehead portraying a woman in a riding habit. She carried four four-pounders and ten swivels.

HMS Bounty sailed from Spithead, England on December 23, 1787 with Captain William Bligh and a crew of 45 men bound for Tahiti. Their mission was to collect breadfruit plants to be transplanted in the West Indies as cheap food for the slaves. After collecting those plants, Bounty was underway toward home, when, on the morning of April 28, 1789, Fletcher Christian and part of the crew mutinied, took over the ship, and set the Captain and 18 members of the crew adrift in the ship’s 23-foot launch. The Captain sailed the launch and 17 of the crew 3,618 miles back to civilization. The mutineers took HMS Bounty back to Tahiti, and, with 6 Polynesian men and 12 women, took the ship to the isolated site at Pitcairn Island. After burning the ship and a violent beginning, they established a settlement and colony on Pitcairn Island that still exists.

[bakcd]

It's nice to bring back pleasant memories. Our first cruise was with Home Lines on the Oceanic in August of 1980. We sailed NY to Nassau, seven days round trip. When we returned home my DH found the company he was working for had been sold.

 

Our first HAL cruise was 1996 on the Nieuw Amsterdam to Alaska. She was a beautiful ship.

[Boytjie]

Oosterdam, Feb 2004 on the RSVP Charter - We had a special itinerary to the Western Caribbean out of Fort Lauderdale: Costa Maya, Mexico; Santo Tomas de Castillo, Guatemala (Maiden Call); Roatan, Honduras (Maiden Call) and Key West, Florida - Also met Kathy Griffin aboard, as well as my best pal, Scotty.

 

This February's RSVP charter of the Zuiderdam was also a special itinerary which included Roatan as the first port of call. (Belize and Cozumel were the others) The crew were quite happy to go to some new ports rather that their regular itinerary.

[Copper10-8]

My first cruise was crossing th Atlantic from Montreal on the Empress of France returning on the Empress of England in 1956

Then from 1985 to present the Azur, Oceanus, Jupiter, Pegaesus, Triton, Bolero, with Regent Holidays (Toronto). Sundream, Veendam, Zenith,

Mercury, Summit. The Oceanus, Pegaesus & Jupiter all sunk.

Noordam Nov 7 2008

Ontario Cruiser

 

Duchess of Bedford (1928-1960) Built in 1928 by John Brown & Company, Limited, Clydebank, Scotland as Duchess of Bedford for Canadian Pacific Steamships for Liverpool-Canada service. She was one of four Canadian Pacific Duchesses, the others being Duchess of Atholl, Duchess of Richmond and Duchess of York. At the start of World War II in 1939, she was converted into a troopship. After the war in 1947, she was returned to her owners for rebuilding and it was thought she would be renamed Empress of India. She was, in fact, named Empress of France and as such, resumed transatlantic service to Canada between 1948 and 1960. She was then sold to the breakers and scrapped between 1960 and 1961 in Wales.

Empress of England (1957-1975) Built in 1957 by Vickers-Armstrongs, Newcastle for Canadian Pacific Steamships and intended for the Liverpool-Quebec City & Montreal run in the summer and Liverpool-Saint John run in the winter. However, she soon began to spend winters cruising the Caribbean from New York.

In 1970 she was sold to Shaw Savill, who had ambitious plans to increase their cruising market. The project was doomed almost from the start, as the conversion work at Cammell Laird stretched to over a year. She reappeared eventually in October 1971 as Ocean Monarch but operated only two Southampton-Sydney, Australia voyages, between November 1971 and April 1972 and between November 1972 and April 1973. She was sold for scrap in 1975 and broken up in Kaohisung, Taiwan.

[Copper10-8]

The MS Fantasy - Carnival and in 1994 when the ship was still fairly new. The itinerary was a 4 day Bahamas cruise out of Port Canaveral visiting Freeport and Nassau. We enjoyed it enough but did we get hooked? Sadly, NO! Its not as if we said we would never cruise again but it would take us another 11 years before we stepped foot onto another cruise ship. Simply put we weren't WOWED enough to want to stop other types of vacationing.

 

Happily we can report that we got hooked on the second trip in 2005 which I am glad to say on this board was a HAL cruise.

 

David

 

 

Carnival Fantasy (1990-present)

[Copper10-8]

1966 the Iltalian Lines TS Rafaello...I was a teen and my parents took us on a Mediterranean Crusie. It was amazing luxury back then...we had quite a suite and the food was amazing.

 

 

TS Raffaello (1965-1983) Built in 1965 by Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Monfalcone, Italy for the Italian Line, also known as the Società di navigazione Italia, she was one of the last ships to be built primarily for liner service across the North Atlantic on the Genoa-New York City route. It took the shipyard five years to finish the Raffaello, a long time even by that days standards

In 1966, she hosted two unusual passengers for an ocean liner: two Spider 1600 cars which to be exhibited in the U.S.A. The cars were even driven on the first class lido decks of the ship which was a first for an ocean liner. In 1970, "Raf", as she was nicknamed, did another "first" in the shipping business: her theater stage was converted into a skating rink and skating shows were performed to the passengers. When transatlantic traffic started declining due to competition from air traffic, she was sent cruising but, unfortunately, she was not very well suited for this. Although she did have a large amount of open deck space, she was too large, her cabins too small and most of them too spartan for the demands of cruise passengers.

After spending 1974 cruising, Italian Line decided to withdraw both the Raffaello and her sister, Michelangelo, in April 1975 when the Italian Government informed them they would not be subsidising the ships anymore. Initially laid up in Genoa and later, in La Spezia, near the scrapyard, she was inspected by several potential buyers such as Norwegian Cruise Line, Costa Amatori, Chandris Group and Home Lines. The latter even made a serious offer to buy the ships despite large rebuilding costs, but the Italia Line turned down the offer.

Finally in 1976, the Shah of Persia emerged as a buyer the Italian Line could accept. She and her sister, Michelangelo, the former flagships of Italy that has cost a total of $90 million in 1965, were sold for a mere $4 million a decade later. Raffaello made her final journey late in the same year from La Spezia into Bushehr, Iran, where she served as a floating barracks/accomodation ship for army personnel, oil workers and navy trainees for the next seven years.

In 1978, plans emerged to resurrect the Michelangelo and Raffaello as cruise ships. The Raffaello would have become Ciro il Grande, a luxury cruiser accommodating 1300 passengers. However, specialists sent from Italy to evaluate the condition of the ships realised they were simply in a too poor condition to make reconstruction financially viable. As a result Raffaello stayed in her moorings. She was heavily damaged and looted during the Islamic revolution in 1979.

In 1983, plans were again made to bring the sisters back into service as cruise ships. Even if those could have been realised it was already too late for the Raffaello because during an air attack on Bushire by the Iraqi Air Force in February 1983 during the Iran-Iraq war, she was hit by a missile and slowly sank in the shallow harbor waters. Some time later her wreck was rammed by an Iranian cargo ship. Local divers further looted the hull during the following years. Reportedly, her hull still remains partially submerged where she sank. No breaking up of the ship ever commenced, although there have been reports of plans to scrap her.