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Latest Press Release from Oceania Cruises | |
Oceania cruises Launches first-ever theme cruises for 2012
Oceania Cruises will offer theme cruises for the first time. The new "Signature Sailings" are comprised of 10 voyages exploring culinary, wine, music and health & wellness themes. Guests will enjoy seminars, hands-on classes, concerts, wine tastings and more. Depending on the voyage, Chef Jacques Pépin, up-and-coming jazz
musicians, and noted editors will be special guests.
"We are delighted to introduce theme cruises for 2012," said Bruce J. Himelstein, the line's president. "While groups that share the same interests have regularly sailed with Oceania Cruises in the past, our new 'Signature Sailings' create a special opportunity for guests to experience the cruise in the company of fellow travelers who share their passion for the theme."
Food and Wine Feature Prominently on 2012 Signature Sailings
Jacques Pépin Cruise
Master Chef Jacques Pépin has served as Oceania Cruises' executive culinary director for eight years. On this sailing, he'll be sure to hold court in Jacques - his first namesake restaurant - as well as in the Bon AppétitCulinary Center leading Q&A sessions, cooking demonstrations and signing books.
Marina "Tuscan Artistry" - May 12, 2012; 10 days, Barcelona-Rome
Spring Music Fest
A broad range of jazz styles will be featured. Six guest musicians, including four headliners, will perform individual main stage shows in addition to more casual jam sessions. There will also be special dance sets and dance instructors.
Nautica "Mediterranean Tapestry" - May 14, 2012; 10 days, Athens-Barcelona
Oceania Club Reunion Cruise - two sailings
Oceania Cruises loyal past passengers are the guests of honor for two special reunion cruises, which include memorable surprises both onboard and ashore.
Riviera "Iberian Odyssey" - June 17, 2012; 10 days, Lisbon-Rome
Regatta "Radiant Rhythms" - March 6, 2013; 12 days, Buenos Aires-Rio de Janeiro
Italian Wine Immersion Cruise
Highlights include lectures, tastings and special Wine Bars, where guest experts and special musical performers will create the perfect vibe to explore and experience great wines.
Regatta "Italian Interludes" - July 27, 2012; 12 days, Rome-Venice
Vitality & Wellness Cruise - two sailings
In addition to healthy eating and fitness tips, guests will gain insights on enhancing their mental wellness to live life to the fullest. Spinning, yoga and Pilates classes are also offered at the Canyon Ranch SpaClub and gourmet Canyon Ranch spa cuisine is available.
Regatta "Pearls of the Aegean" - August 8, 2012; 10 days, Venice-Athens
Riviera "Accent on Italy" - October 24, 2012; 10 days, Rome-Venice
Bon AppétitWine & Food Festival - two sailings
Epicureans rejoice! The experts at Bon Appétit magazine are assembling culinary stars and wine experts or editors for a palate-pleasing voyage.
Riviera "Enchanted Grandeur" - October 14, 2012; 10 days, Athens-Rome
Marina "Temples & Palaces" - October 22, 2012; 10 days, Athens-Istanbul
President's Cruise
Oceania Cruises President Bruce Himelstein and his wife Brigitte will host a 10-day voyage through Southern Europe. Special highlights are in store, both aboard ship and ashore.
Nautica "Mediterranean Tapestry" - October 26, 2012; 10 days, Barcelona-Athens
Discover the World in Comfort and Style with Oceania Cruises
Oceania Cruises' 684-guest Regatta and Nautica are intimate ships acclaimed for their open-seating gourmet dining (no surcharges), luxurious public rooms and accommodations, and warm, attentive service. Facilities include four open-seating, gourmet restaurants, casino and Canyon Ranch SpaClub.
The 1,250-guest Marina and new Riviera were purpose-built for epicureans with six open-seating, gourmet restaurants - including a French bistro by Master Chef Jacques Pépin. Facilities also include a Bon Appétit Culinary Center and Artist Loft enrichment center. Interior design highlights include a Lalique-designed grand staircase, elegant public rooms, spacious accommodations and Owner's Suites furnished exclusively in Ralph Lauren Home.
For more information on the above Signature Sailings, see a professional travel agent, visit OceaniaCruises.com or call 800-531-5658.
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E NEWS SUPPLEMENT...by Bill Miller
December 12, 2011
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Greetings!
Please continue to send in report cards of any voyages you have taken this year so that they may be included in our survey which is wrapping up!
In an effort to serve our members better we have changed our phone number to a toll-free number.
Please make note of this number. While there is supposed to be a message on the old number for some reason the phone company is struggling with this request. Our new number is (866) 631-0611.
Sincerely!
Tom Cassidy
P.S. There is still space available to join us aboard Celebrity Cruises' Silhouette on January 29th at great rates! Please contact our cruise coordinator Beth Schmidt at (800) 828 4813 ext 1009 if you would like to join us. We would love to see you! |
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 Added touches!
The last of the much-praised Solstice Class, the Celebrity Reflection is due out next year with some added features: a super-lavish, 1700-sq ft top penthouse with glassed bathroom that over-hangs the ship and an extra deck on top. |
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China - New dimension! 
Joining Finland, Germany, France, Japan & of course Italy, it is now expected that China will begin building cruise liners within the next 5 years. |
Refreshed, Renewed Rejuvenated! 
I've always had a special, quite fond attachment to the beautiful Crystal Serenity. Nearly nine years ago, I went to western France, to the big shipyard in St Nazaire (near Nantes), to research the building & outfitting of the $550 million, 68,000-tonner. My overall task: To write the commemorative commissioning book in time for the ship's maiden cruise three months later, in July 2003. Following in the wake of the delightful Crystal Harmony (1990) and then the charming Crystal Symphony ('95), the 1,080-bed Crystal Serenity was the biggest and, to some, the best of the three-ship evolution for six-star, Japanese-owned Crystal. I was aboard her first two cruises in that maiden summer and found her to be exquisite, warm, of course superbly served & fed. But now, can a beautiful lady be made even more beautiful? The answer: A definite yes!
Last May, as we disembarked from a 22-night cruise from Cape Town to Dover (London) & stopping along the way at the rather remote West African coast, workmen & equipment were loaded aboard almost immediately. As the last passenger made their way ashore, the 820-ft long ship hurriedly departed for a shipyard at Hamburg & a $25 million facelift. It took 14 days, round-the-clock schedules and altogether involved 400 technicians and craftsmen. In the end, the Serenity emerged with an even more stunning look --- "a blend of Hollywood glamour and Fifth Avenue elegance".
And there's some new colors aboard as well: browns and whites with splashes of purple, bronze, copper, pale blue, green and silver.
To me, most obvious has been the stunning new suite & cabin decor. We're in a Deck 9 double with verandah and it is all more inviting, more luxuriously comfortable than ever. A big smile filled my face as I first entered. There's the new custom carpeting, tufted black leather headboards, plush bedding, bedside cabinets, flat-screen TVs, new veranda furniture and more attractive lighting including very clever, late-night reading lamps. And speaking of lighting, the entire ship has a new, more ambient system. Elsewhere, the ship's shops are totally new, redesigned and even more attractive, the corridors everywhere have a more inviting feel and tone while the lido deck has delightfully inviting and more colorful furniture.
As we sail westward this week across the mid Atlantic, the "sunny southern route" as it was once called, the Crystal Serenity remains magnificently run --- for food, service, entertainment (and the sheer diversity of it) and absolutely one of the very best crews on all the seas. But now her appearance has changed too --- quite simply, she's better than ever! |
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 England - New home!
The 78-yr old steamer Queen Mary, long a site along in Thames in London & used as a pub-restaurant, may find a new home along England's south coast, at Southend. Built originally for service on Scotland's River Clyde, the ship had to be renamed Queen Mary II back in 1934 when Cunard's far larger & more important Queen Mary was being built.
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Ocean Liner Collectibles - Orient Line!
The Orient Line was a well known British liner company which sailed between London, the Suez & Australia. All of their ships had names beginning with "O" such as Oriana, Orsova & Orcades. A poster of the 1920s liners, evocatively showing a twin-stacked liner outbound off the White Cliffs of Dover was auctioned recently for $1500.
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Ocean Liner History - Making plans!
Back in late 1970, the French Line, then operating the super liner France on crossings & only some cruises, were reportedly studying plans for a new cruise ship. Instead, in 1971, they bought Norwegian America Line's Bergensfjord, an 18,500-tonner, for use mostly in cruising as the De Grasse.
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Holland - Uncertainty! 
The 1959-built, 38,500-grt Rotterdam has been a museum, hotel & entertainment center in Rotterdam harbor for the past year. But while attendance has been good, she's lost money, lots of money. Her owners, Woonbron, a housing developer, has decided to sell the historic ship, valued $100 million. The 748-ft long former flagship of the Holland America Line is cherished and most likely will find other buyers. |
Lisbon - High numbers!
Business is very good as 5 cruise liners were in Lisbon on Mon Dec 5th, landing 13,000 passengers. Biggest numbers came from the 4,200-bed Independence of the Seas. |
Changing characters! 
Cypriot-based Louis are shifting their fleet for 2012. The Emerald, the former Santa Rosa dating from 1958 but hugely rebuilt & modernized, is returning to service after a 3-yr lay-up. The Sapphire and the Coral will be sailing as well. The Sapphire, dating from 1967, is the onetime Italia and later the Ocean Princess; the Coral started her days in 1971 as the Cunard Adventurer & later sailed as the Sunward II & then Triton. A fourth ship, the 1967-built The Calypso, will be in service as well but only for charters. The Louis Majesty, the former Royal Majesty & later Norwegian Majesty of 1992, has been idle this winter, but is expected to resume sailing next spring. |
New look! 
The 69,100-grt, 1996-built Splendour of the Seas had a makeover & upgrading in a Cadiz, Spain shipyard this fall. The cost: $35 million. It is all part of a $300 million "revitalization" program underway at RCI. |
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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 an international authority on the subject of ocean liners & cruise ships --- from those "floating palaces" of yesteryear to the current generation of cruise ships, the "floating resorts". Called "Mr. Ocean Liner," he has written some 80 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 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 450 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 Super Liners, 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 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.
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, deputy director of the New York Harbor Festival, served 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 1,500 miniature ship models, most of them being passenger ships.
By 2011, 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. In 2011, he hosted Cinematic Crossings: Ocean Liners on the Big Screen, a 5-day film festival at Manhattan's Lincoln Center. Currently, he spends some 200 days a year lecturing onboard ocean liners & cruise ships.
Follow Bill's look back at ship's of yesteryear..
Heard Along the Boat Deck
And his current and past cruise experiences...
Scribblings |
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William Miller Books!
Busy scribbling! Our good friends Anthony Cooke & John Maxtone-Graham have new titles out on the shelves. London-based Anthony has just released Favourite British Liners with 216 pages & 216 photos (96 of them in color). Check through Mainmast Books in the UK. Meanwhile, Manhattan-homeported John has just finished a new title on the immortal Titanic. It was published by W W Norton & Company.
In the works! The presses are rolling over in England, at the History Press. I've penned a short, 10,000-word overview of passenger ships entitled The Great Liners. It should be out soon. It will be followed, at the same publishing house, by Great Passenger Ships 1910-20 and then Great American Passenger Ships. Happily, my finger keeps on typing ... and happily, there are still photos and anecdotes and maybe something new to be shared.
Another new book project! Happily, I have been signed to do another edition of the Classic Liners series for the History Press over in the UK. In the wake of our book on the Caronia, Cunard's "Green Goddess," this project will deal with two of the most popular, most beloved post-Second World War French liners, the Ile de France & Liberte. The Ile was built for the French but back in 1927; the larger Liberte came to them as post-war reparations, having been the German Europa of 1930. The Ile sailed the Atlantic between 1949 and 1958; the Liberte ran between 1950 and 1961. They transported thousands on the regular run between New York, Southampton or Plymouth and Le Havre, and even had occasional cruises. They were of course predecessors to the much larger, faster France, commissioned in 1962. If any of our readers has anecdotes, reflections, comments and shared materials on these great liners, please contact me through Ocean & Cruise News.
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.
Last Atlantic Liners: Getting There is Half the Fun (Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2011
RMS Caronia: Cunard's Green Goddess
(co-authored with Brian Hawley) The History Press Ltd, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2011
Floating Palaces: The Great Atlantic Liners(Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2011
Great British Passenger Ships (The History Press Ltd, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2010)
SS Nieuw Amsterdam: The Darling of the Dutch (Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2010)
Cunard's Three Queens: A Celebration (Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2009)
Under the Red Ensign: British Passenger Liners of the '50s & '60s (The History Press, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2009)
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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 WOCLS E News & Renewals
If you've been receiving this E-news but not the monthly print publication chances are your subscription has expired. Please renew now as your E-news will stop shortly. Please renew online using the following link http://www.wocls.org/renew.htm
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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
Noordam - Southern Caribbean (10 Night)
Dec 2, 2011 - from $1,019*
Silhouette - Eastern Caribbean (12 Night)
Jan 29, 2012 - from $1,499*
Veendam - Bermuda (7 Night)
Jun 3, 2012 - from $799*
Queen Mary 2 - Canada / New England (11 Nights)
Sep21, 2012 - from $2,695*
*Rates are per person based on double occupancy.
Government fees are additional.
For Reservations and Information Call WOCLS Group Coordinator Beth Schmitt at (800) 828 4813 Ext 1009
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