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E NEWS SUPPLEMENT...by Bill Miller

 

April 4, 2011

Greetings!


We would love to have you join us upon one of our many "Hosted Cruises" in 2011 or 2012. For full details on these cruises, please contact our sole WOCLS cruise coordinator Beth Schmidt at (800) 828 4813 ext 1009
    
We hope to see you aboard.

 

Thank You!
  
Tom Cassidy 

British FlagWant to buy an aircraft carrier?

 

The Royal Navy is offering its former flagship, the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, through the Ministry of Defense's auction website www.edisposals.com).  Just months earlier, her sister, the HMS Invincible was auctioned off to Turkish scrappers.    There are rumors that the 808-ft long Ark Royal might be used as a small commercial airport in London or as a security base for next year's Olympic Games.    Another proposal is to make her over as a school in China.

Carnival Cruise Line

Greater expansion!   

 

Carnival Corp already has P&O Australia with 4 cruise ships as well as Princess Cruises with 2 ships.   Now, Carnival Cruise Lines goes Down Under.   The 2,667-berth Carnival Spirit will be positioned for cruising from Sydney beginning in Oct 2012.  Five years ago, in 2007, there were just 2 Carnival-owned ships in Australian cruising.   Indeed, business is booming!

Classic International CruisesNiche cruising!

 

This Lisbon-based  cruise line, noted for older, more classic passenger ships, is chartering its Princess Daphne to the Russians.   This summer, from July thru Oct, the 15,800-ton ship will run cruises for Metropolis Tours.   Several of the voyages depart from Sochi on the Black Sea.   The 422-passenger Princess Daphne was built back in 1955  as a cargo liner, the Port Sydney, and then was rebuilt in 1972 as the luxury cruise liner Daphne for Greece's Carras Cruises. Just before, however, she was to have become a Greek ferry, the Akrotiri Express, but that project fell through.    She later cruised for Costa, first under charter and then bought outright.   Later in the 1980s, she was operated in a Russian partnership under the banner of shortlived Prestige Cruises.   She was sold in 1996, becoming the Switzerland for the Swiss Cruise Lines (with Swiss Air as a partner).  Sold again in 2000, she now joined Dreamline Cruises and then Majestic Cruises, changing to Ocean Monarch.    German and other cruise charters followed until sold, in 2008, to Classic International and extensively refitted.   Her twin sister, the Princess Danae, also operated by Classic, was the Port Sydney and later the Danae & several other name changes to follow.

Crystal CruisesAll aboard!

    

On Apr 16th, I am heading off to Capetown to join the final leg of the splendid Crystal Serenity's annual world cruise.    The 22-night itinerary is unique, to say the least, sailing northward to London/Dover with stops in Namibia, Principe, Ghana, Togo, Senegal & Portugal.   Most are first time ports for me and so I look  forward with higher anticipation & enthusiasm.   A report to follow through Scribblings.  

Furness BermudaA 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.

Holland America

Trans-Atlantic tradition!   

 

It is a celebration of the great history of the grand Holland America Line --- two Atlantic crossings this July aboard the 59,600-ton flagship Rotterdam.    The westbound voyage, from Rotterdam to New York, stops at Southampton;   the return eastward passage stops at Cobh before Rotterdam.   Along with superb marine artist Stephen Card & others, I will be along to give talks on the great Atlantic ocean liners, but about Holland America's rich history & fleet as well.   A lounge aboard the 1,300-passenger Rotterdam will be specially converted to a Holland America Line history museum for the entire roundtrip voyage.

New York City SealNew York City - Big news! 

 

The City has decided to invest $3 billion in waterfront renewal in the form of parks, promenades & added attractions.

Norwegian Cruise Line

Boost in capacity!  

 

The Port of Authority of New York & New Jersey has decided to raise the roadbed of the 1931-built Bayonne Bridge from 151 to 215 feet.   Costing some $1 billion, the project will allow larger container ships to use New Jersey terminals following the opening of the expanded Panama Canal in Aug 2014. 

Liner Ile de France 

Ocean Liner Collectibles!

 

Buying & selling!  At a recent auction in New York City, four stemmed wine glasses from the famed French liner Ile de France, which sailed from 1927 until 1958, sold for $650.

Ocean Liner history  ss Ocean Monarch  

Sixty years ago, in April 1951, Furness-Bermuda Line's yacht-like Ocean Monarch arrived in New York harbor for the first time.    Fresh from her British shipbuilders, the handsome 13,500-tonner could carry 440 passengers, all in cabins with private bathroom facilities (something of a novelty for those days).   Owned by the Furness-Bermuda Line, the 516-ft long Ocean Monarch was designed purposely for 6-night New York-Bermuda cruise service as well as occasional two-week cruises to the Caribbean and, in summer, to the St Lawrence & the Canadian Maritimes. 

Titanic

Titanic - Romance on the high seas!
 

The BBC in London is preparing a 4-part TV series for release next year & just in time for the centennial of the infamous Titanic sinking.   The series will be in the same venue, with character developments, as the recent Downtown Abbey.  Another dubbed it, "It will be an ocean liner version of Upstairs, Downstairs [a much praised 68-part series created in the 1970s].
Ocean & Cruise News

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About Bill Miller  Bill Miller "Mr. Ocean Liner"  

Bill Miller is 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 75 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 had his very own ocean liner quarterly, the Millergram.  He has made nearly 350 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, Deco: Age of Glamour, and Lady in Waiting: The Story of the SS United States.   He has also appeared on The Today Show, CBS Evening News, CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America, NBC Evening News 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 Americ

a, 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.  

 

A native of Hoboken, New Jersey, the once busy port just across the Hudson River from New York City, Miller was named Outstanding American Maritime Scholar in 1994, received the United States Maritime Preservation Award  and also  the Ocean Liner Council's  Silver Riband Award, both  in 2004.   Also, he has been chairman of the Port of New York Branch of the World Ship Society, serves on the selection committee for the American Maritime Hall of Fame, created the passenger ship database for the Ellis Island Museum and currently serves as Curator of 20th Century Maritime History at Manhattan's South Street Seaport Museum.  He has also organized a 14-week college course on liners, and helped to create & then served as historian at  the US Merchant Marine Museum. His private collection includes 4,000 books on ships, over 15,000 photos and some 1,000 miniature ship models, most of them being passenger ships. 

 

By 2010, Miller had 10 new books in the works, was curator to Decodence (an exhibit at the South St Seaport on the design & décor of the grand French liner Normandie) and himself was the subject of a one-hour film documentary aptly titled Mr Ocean Liner.   (Updated 8/10).

 

 

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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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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TODAY

 

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