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E NEWS SUPPLEMENT...by Bill Miller

 

July 4, 2011

Greetings!


    Here is our Independence Day edition of our Enews which was delayed one day because of the holiday. I hope all of our members enjoy a happy and healthy July 4th.

     All the best!

 

Sincerely!
  
Tom Cassidy 

 

Costa LogoFinishing touches!
 

The 114,000-ton Costa Favolosa is being fitted-out at a Venice shipyard.  When commissioned, on Jul 4th & departing on an Eastern Mediterranean cruise, the 3,012-bed liner will be the 15th new member of the Costa Cruises fleet.   Costa had, of course, passenger ships beginning back in 1948, ships such as the Anna C, Franca C, Federico C & Eugenio C, but they were "passenger ships" mostly used in Line Services for the Costa Line.   The debut of the brand new Favolosa will be part of the "Best of Italy" celebrations themed for the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy.
Cunard Line 

Ocean liner history!

 

I am aboard the Queen Mary 2's westbound, departing from Southampton on Wed Jul 20th and arriving 7 days later, on the 27th, at Brooklyn-Red Hook.   Always a great thrill, the history of the great liners is so well linked to 171-yr old Cunard.   I will be giving 4 talks during the voyage, including Gateway to the World, about my favorite place in the world:  the great Port of New York. ... And speaking of Cunard, I am also crossing (and speaking, of course) on the Mon Sep 5th eastbound of the Queen Mary 2, and then arriving at Southampton on Sep 10th, but then returning the same day on the Queen Elizabeth, which is making a 7-night passage to New York but as part of a full, 3-week cruise to New England & Eastern Canada.   Cunard is not offering one-way, westbound passages on the still very new Elizabeth.   Again, I will give 4 talks on each voyage & do book signings as well as meet fellow guests.   It really is quite wonderful & I am quite fortunate!
Disney Cruise Line 

Changing location!

 

Instead of Vancouver, the 2,400-berth Disney Wonder will be based at Seattle in 2012 for a series of 14 7-day Alaska cruises. 

Holland AmericaTransatlantic 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.

Japan - Voyage of kindness!Flag of Japan
 

The 600-passenger cruise ship Fuji Maru journeyed from port to port in northern Japan last spring offering free "day services".   Staying several days at each port, the ship offered meals, baths & rest for victims of the March earthquake & tsunami.

New York City  

New York -  From the world of lights, camera & action!
 

New York:  From that world of lights, camera & action!   We are steadily on course with Ocean Liners in the Movies, opening on Fri evening, Aug 26th.  It is a film series & program sparked & now guided by our good friend Tom Michel of the Film Society of Lincoln Center (just across the Hudson, of course, on Manhattan's West Side), and which will include several screenings of Mr Ocean Liner.   Bob Marshall & I will be there on "opening night," presenting a 90-min talk on liners & their portrayal in celluloid. In the 5-day Festival, some 20 films will be shown, including James Cameron's spectacular Titanic.  Tickets for the Festival will begin to go on sale just about two weeks before the opening, on Aug 11th.

 

And more New York Harbor recollections!   The North River Historic Ships Society is a wonderful project --- they preserve harbor vessels:   barges, tugs, even a lighthouse tender.  And they have future plans.  Among them, they are holding their North River Historic Ship Festival on Thu evening, Jul 28th.  The setting will be a restored Lehigh Valley Railway barge (built some 98 yrs ago & one of the last covered, wooden railway barges still afloat), moored at Pier 25, located down at the foot of Franklin & North Moore Sts in Lower Manhattan's Tribeca district.   I will be a guest speaker (for about 20 mins) & my topic:  Folklore of the Lower Hudson River Piers. The event, a fundraiser, is set for 6-8:30pm and will include my waterfront recollections.   There's Pier 25 itself, once the home of the handsome passenger-cargo liners of the Argentine State Line (until the early '60s, it was every other Friday afternoon at 5 o'clock for the two-week run to Buenos Aires) and, just north, Pier 32 (Canal St), formerly used by the Moore-McCormack Lines (they had big luxury liners, such as the Brazil, Argentina & Uruguay, on a similar service to East Coast of South America) and later home berth to the Zim Lines, Israel's flag carrier and who ran liners to the Mediterranean as far east as Haifa.   So, there are lots of recollections of the once commercially-booming Hudson River waterfront.   Contact the Society at www.nrhss.org.

 

Ocean Liner Collectibles -Art form!

 

A poster of Cunard's infamous Lusitania, which sank in May 1915 with the loss of some 1,200 lives, fetched $6,000 at a recent sale. 

Ocean Liner history - Setting sail!

 

A 14-night cruise departing in Jan 1963 from New York to the sunny & warm Caribbean islands onboard Holland America's 24,000-ton, 650-passenger Statendam was priced from $410.

TitanicTitanic -Interest mounting!
 
Miles Morgan Travel in the UK has chartered Fred Olsen Line's Balmoral to retrace the Southampton-New York maiden voyage of the infamous Titanic just in time for the 100th anniversary.   The voyage has been a sell-out, 1,400 passengers in all --- and from 24 countries.   Now, but with a 7-night itinerary to and from New York, the Titanic's ultimate destination, Morgan has chartered the 694-passenger Azamara Journey.   The ships will meet on Apr 14th-15th, the exact site of the Titanic tragedy.   I will be aboard the deluxe Azamara Journey as one of the guest speakers.   See www.milesmorgantravel.com.
Ocean & Cruise News

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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.

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 and past cruise experiences...

Scribblings  

William Miller Books!

 

On the horizon!   Brian Hawley is penning a new book, filled with lots of photos, about the Olympic, the White Star liner completed in 1911 and sister to the infamous Titanic

 

 

 

Ocean liners in words & pictures!  An updated list of my published ocean liner books ... and available thru bmce48@yahoo.com.

 

 

The Last Atlantic Liners

 

 

 

Last Atlantic Liners:  Getting There is Half the Fun  (Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2011

 

  

 

 

 

Rms Caronia Book

 

 

RMS Caronia:   Cunard's Green Goddess 

(co-authored with Brian Hawley)  The History Press Ltd, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2011

  

 

 

 

 

Floating Palaces

 

 

Floating Palaces:   The Great Atlantic Liners(Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2011

  

 

 

 

 

 

Great British Passenger Ships

 

 

 

 

Great  British Passenger Ships  (The History Press Ltd, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2010)

  

 

 

 

 

ss Nieuw Amsterdam

 

 

 

 

 

SS Nieuw Amsterdam:   The Darling of the Dutch  (Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2010)

  

 

 

Cunard's Three Queens

 

 

 

Cunard's Three Queens:   A Celebration  (Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2009)

  

 

 

 

 

Under The Red Ensign

 

 

 

Under the Red Ensign:   British Passenger Liners of the '50s & '60s  (The History Press, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2009)

 

 

 

 

 

ss United States Speed Queen

 

 

 

SS United States:   Speed Queen of the Seas  (Amberley  Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2009)

 

 

 

 

And yet to come.....

 

Great Passenger Ships 1910-20  (The History Press Ltd, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, due Sep 2011)

 

I Was Born in Hoboken:  Memories of the 1950s & '60s  (Hoboken Historical Museum, Hoboken, NJ, due fall 2011)

 

Along the Hudson:   Great Passenger Ships at New York in Photos  (Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, due 2012)

 

The Last Great Dynasty:  The Royal House of Windsor  (Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, due 2012)

 

Great Atlantic Liners of the 20th Century in Color (co-authored with Anton Logvinenko;  Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, due 2012)

 

Great American Passenger Ships  (The History Press Ltd, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, due 2012)

 

The Cunard Yanks (co-authored with Ian Wright;   pending but due 2012)

 

 

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WORLD OCEAN & CRUISE LINER SOCIETY'S
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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*

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(Bill Miller and Stephen Card will be on both of the above voyages!

 

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