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E NEWS SUPPLEMENT...by Bill Miller
| March 7,2011 |
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Greetings!
Welcome to our third installment of our "new and improved" version of our popular supplement to our printed monthly publication Ocean & Cruise News! We hope to continue to enhance our online newsletter as we grow more accustomed to the new system and format. We ask that you help us in this regard. At the very bottom of this email is a link that says "Update Profile/Email Address" PLEASE click this link and help us by adding or updating any missing information. You may also use this link to change your email address at any time should you so desire Thank You! Tom Cassidy |
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Tis' the season of facelifts & makeovers!
The 2,124-berth Carnival Legend resumed service on Feb 25th following an extended dry docking period. She now has enhancements to her passenger accommodations. ... Also returning, the 3,006-passenger Carnival Splendour resumed West Coast cruise service on Feb 20th following extended repairs in the wake of a fire onboard last November. |
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A better product! 
Celebrity is noted for high-level product and is adding two, nice, new touches: "Our Champagne High Tea" and premium kosher meals. ... Another facelift! The 90,200-grt Celebrity Summit, completed in 2001, will get a makeover in a long refit period in Jan 2012. Among the additions will be the Aqua Class, created onboard the Company's larger Celebrity Solstice class. |
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 Historic Occasion!
The Queen Victoria met at Los Angeles on March 3rd with the legendary Queen Mary. The timing was just right: the older shipwas celebrating the 75th anniversary of her trans-Atlantic maiden voyage back in May 1936. Myself, I was aboard the larger Queen Mary 2 when she first met the Queen Mary during a visit to Long Beach in Feb 2006. |
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 A bygone favorite!
One of my favorite bygone steamship companies was the British-flag Furness-Bermuda Line. They ran two wonderful ships in later years, until 1966, on mostly cruise service out of New York. There was the 1933-built Queen of Bermuda and her smaller consort, the 1951-built Ocean Monarch. The Queen could carry 733 passengers, the Monarch had a capacity of 440. They were best known for their 6-night cruises to & from Bermuda, with minimum fares of $150, but also offered occasional summer cruises to Canada & others to the Caribbean. In later years, Furness ran cruises from Fort Lauderdale. But with an aging fleet and in the face of new, very strict marine safety standards in the US, the Company pulled the plug on its liner operations in Nov 1966. But Furness will, in ways, return to life this spring.
Ships' crew, who sailed on Furness Bermuda Line's Queen of Bermuda and Ocean Monarch in the 1950s and early 1960s, are reuniting on Saturday, May 14th at The Merchant Seaman's War Memorial Society in southern England.
"Following the success of our first reunion in 2009, we are hoping to find more shipmates from across the globe for this next one," says Bill Cox, reunion organiser, "especially with the help of our own website at www.furnessbermudaline.com" .
Queen of Bermuda and Ocean Monarch departed on Saturday afternoons from Pier 95 on New York's Hudson River to make the 700-mile voyage to Bermuda. Stephen Card, born in Bermuda and renowned for his paintings of these and other ships, will be guest speaker at the reunion. He recalls "the many Monday mornings when I would arrive by ferry in Hamilton and, instead of rushing to school, wait to watch the Queen slowly come alongside at No 1 dock. On Wednesday afternoons, as sailing time approached, her triple-chime steam whistles could be heard all over the island."
He adds, "Queen of Bermuda was particularly famous for her profile. Her grey hull and white superstructure were topped with three graceful red and black funnels and she was the only liner in history to have sailed with three, two and, from 1962, one funnel. |
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 Success!
When it first opened to cruise ships first years ago, it was dubbed the newest spot on the Caribbean cruise map. Last year, in great popularity, Grand Turk recorded no less than 240 cruise calls.
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Nice cruising! 
The cozy, little, 48-passenger Hebridean Princess runs seasonal cruises in & around the Scottish isles & on occasion across to Norway. Primarily known in the UK cruise market and noted for being chartered twice by Queen Elizabeth II for use as a summertime family yacht, the Company has now opened a Fort Lauderdale office. American cruise travelers might just be interested! |
 New York
There's rumors, just rumors, that Pier 92 at West 52nd Street might be renovated for use by a new entry in Manhattan cruising. In whispers, it is reported that Disney is looking into New York based cruising. |
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Yet another makeover! 
The 1,936-bed Norwegian Sun has just had a 12-day refit, adding improvements & some new touches. |
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 Maritime honors!
Dame Shirley Bassey will be godmother to the 710-passenger Adonia, when that ship is formally re-christened on May 21st at Southampton, England. A smaller, yacht-like vessel & a former member of the Renaissance Cruises fleet, the ship will be geared to P&O's "dedicated cruisers". .... With British cruising topping the 1.5 million mark each year, P&O is adding the Portunus Club for its legions of repeat passengers. |
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Change in direction! 
In the wake of recent troubles in Egypt, Princess was among those that quickly altered itineraries in that area. ... Yet another makeover! The 109,000grt Grand Princess is getting a new look --- her trademark "shopping handle" at the stern will disappear during a major, 24-day refit at Freeport, Grand Bahama this Apr-May. |
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 Maiden call!
The 142,000grt, 3,600-passenger Voyager of the Seas was the very first cruise ship to call at a new Caribbean cruise port: Falmouth on Jamaica. The recently redeveloped port lies between Montego Bay & Ocho Rios. |
 Seaport Museum!
DecoDence: Legendary Interiors and Illustrious Travelers Aboard the SS Normandie at the South Street Seaport Museum: I am the curator of a very special exhibit that will run through the end of this year. It is a stunning collection of artifacts & decorative items from the grandest Atlantic super liner of all, the French Normandie. The 83,000-ton, 1,028-foot long Normandie was not only the largest and most powerful in a long list of great French ocean liners, but she was also by far the most luxurious and innovative. Externally, she was one of the best-looking liners ever created - she was streamlined, raked and rounded, and capped by three plump funnels done in the Compagnie Generale Transatlantique's red and andblack. Very advanced in design, she was one of the most modern-looking ocean greyhounds of her day. Within, she was lavishly decorated - Aubusson carpets, Dupas glass panels and Lalique "towers of light." Her first class restaurant was done in bronze and hammered glass,0illuminated by great chandeliers (again by Lalique) and sat 700 guests at 150 tables. The wines were included in the fare, the service impeccable and the food, of course, was the finest at sea. "You can never, ever diet on the French Line," aptly pointed out a Company brochure. Everything about the Normandie was totally and purposefully French, down to the packets of matches in the bars and the notepaper and envelopes in the writing room. Seaport Museum New York, 12 Fulton St. Thru mid early April, open Tues.-Sat., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Admission, $12, adults; $10, students/seniors; $8, children, 5-12. Children under 5 and Museum members, free. For more information, call 212-748-8786 |
Ocean & Cruise News
Current & Past Issues Members can download a PDF of current and past issues using the following links
Past Issues of this "new" Email Supplement beginning with the Feb. 21, 2011 issue can be found by clicking our logo below
The above listed items are copyrighted material and are for the exclusive use of paid members in good standing. Any unauthorized duplication, transmission or distribution of this material without the written permission of The World Ocean & Cruise Liner Society is strictly prohibited. |
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About Bill Miller 
Bill Miller is considered an international authority on the subject of ocean liners & cruise ships. This includes those great ships of the past, those "floating palaces," as well as the current generation of cruise ships, the "floating resorts". Called "Mr. Ocean Liner," he has written over 60 books on the subject: from early steamers, immigrant ships and liners at war to other titles on their fabulous interiors, in post card form and about the highly collectible artifacts from them. He has done specific histories of such celebrated passenger ships as the United States, Queen Mary, Rotterdam, France, Queen Elizabeth 2, Costa Victoria, Super Star Leo and Crystal Serenity.
In all, he has also written over 1,000 articles for newspapers, magazines and nautical journals & newsletters. He even has his very own ocean liner quarterly, the Millergram. He has made nearly 300 voyages to date: Atlantic crossings, tropical cruises, coastal runs and even trips on container cargo ships and exotic banana boats. He has appeared in some three dozen video & television series, both in the USA, Britain, Europe and Australia, including Castles of the Sea, The Floating Palaces, The Superliners, Inside the World of a Cruise Ship, Disasters at Sea and Deco: Age of Glamor. He has also appeared on The Today Show, CBS Evening News, CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America and many other news broadcasts. He has been guest lecturer aboard over 50 different liners, sailing with the likes of Crystal Cruises, Cunard, Carnival, Holland America, Princess, Radisson-Seven Seas, Saga Cruises and others. Miller was a public school teacher, in middle school and for social studies, for 32 years. He was named 'Teacher of the Year' in 2002.
Follow Bill's look back at ship's of yesteryear..
Heard Along the Boat Deck
And his current cruise experiences...
Scribblings |
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In either case you may renew securely using your Visa or MasterCard. This form features VeriSign's Secure processing so you know your vital information is secure. You may also mail your check to The World Ocean & Cruise Liner Society - P.O. Box 329 - Northport NY 11768. A renewal ($30/year domestic -or- $36/ year foreign) will extend your existing subscription to both this "E-News" Supplement and Ocean Cruise News a full 12 months from the end of your current subscription |
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WORLD OCEAN & CRUISE LINER SOCIETY'S
HOSTED CRUISES
One of the great things about being a World Ocean & Cruise Liner Society member is joining us aboard one of our "Hosted" member cruises. Each cruise features low group rates, special amenities plus onboard lectures and events
Rotterdam - Transatlantic (9-Night)
July 3rd, 2011 - from $1,499*
(Rotterdam to New York)
Rotterdam - Transatlantic (9-Night)
July 12th, 2011 - from $1,199*
(New York to Rotterdam)
(Bill Miller and Stephen Card will be on both of the above voyages!
Eurodam - Canada & New England (10-Night)
Sep 30, 2011 - from $1,699*
Noordam - Southern Caribbean (10 Night)
Dec 2, 2011 - from $1,019*
Silhouette - Eastern Caribbean (12 Night)
Jan 29, 2012 - from $1,499*
*Rates are per person based on double occupancy.
Government fees are additional |
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