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Latest Press Release from Celebrity
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Miami - Consistently striving to provide its guests with unmatchable vacation experiences, Celebrity Cruises is now offering guests an inside look into the fascinating world of cruise ship operations. A new addition to the unique and robust Celebrity Life onboard activities program, "Celebrity Inside Access" takes guests on a once-in-a-lifetime journey behind the scenes of Celebrity's renowned fleet, inviting them to discover the intricate details and functions behind modern luxury at sea. Celebrity's Inside Access program invites guests to join two intimate and exclusive activities, the "See How It's Done Tour" and the "Bridge Sail Away Experience."
Designed to provide a thorough and rich three-hour experience, the See How It's Done Tour guides an intimate group of guests through several otherwise non-public areas of the ship, including the bridge, mooring deck, crew gym, theater, engine control room, prep rooms and the main dining room galley. At each area of the tour, guests have the opportunity to interact with expert members of the Celebrity crew. Each tour is followed by a savory wine-paired lunch hosted by an officer in the main dining room.
The Bridge Sail Away Experience presents the opportunity for vacationers to join the navigational team on the bridge as the ship sails away from port. Beginning 30 minutes before and concluding 30 minutes after departing, guests are given a tour and an overview of the bridge conducted by a senior Celebrity bridge officer. Guests also have the opportunity to meet and take photos with the ship's captain.
"Celebrity has dedicated itself to providing guests with the finest in culinary experiences, award-winning service and engaging onboard activities," said Simon Weir, Director of Hotel Operations, Celebrity Cruises. "Now, with the addition of Celebrity Inside Access, vacationers can also satisfy their curiosity and gain rare, behind-the-scenes insight into a Celebrity ship's inner workings."
The Celebrity Inside Access program is offered on all ships and available for purchase onboard.
About Celebrity Cruises:
Celebrity Cruises' iconic "X" is the mark of modern luxury, with its cool, contemporary design and warm spaces; dining experiences where the design of the venues is as important as the cuisine; and the amazing service that only Celebrity can provide, all created to provide an unmatchable experience for vacationers' precious time. In addition to offering vacations visiting all continents, Celebrity also presents immersive cruisetour experiences in Alaska, Australia/New Zealand, Canada, Europe and South America. One of the fastest-growing major cruise lines, Celebrity is one of five cruise brands operated by global cruise vacation company Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE, OSE: RCL). Celebrity's fleet currently consists of 10 ships, with an additional Solstice Class ship, Celebrity Reflection, scheduled to join the fleet in Fall 2012. For more information, dial 1-800-437-3111 or call your travel agent. |
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E NEWS SUPPLEMENT...by Bill Miller
April 9, 2012
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Greetings!
Attached is another edition of our "E-News Supplement" by our friend Bill Miller. Please check out his "Scribblings" as he follows, and reports on, the Titanic Centennial.
Sincerely!
Tom Cassidy |
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Troubles at sea! 
During a Southeast Asian cruise, the 695-ft long Azamara Quest had an engine room fire while sailing off Borneo on Mar 30th. The 30,200-ton, 694-passenger ship was left without power and was drifting. Five crew members were injured. 590 passengers & 410 crew were aboard at the time of the fire. The Quest was built at St Nazaire, France in 2000 as the R Seven. After the collapse of Renaissance Cruises in 2001, she did some charter work, sailing as the Delphin Renaissance and then as the Blue Moon. She was to become the Celebrity Quest in 2007, when Celebrity first created their Azamara division, but she was renamed Azamara Quest instead. Her sister is the Azamara Journey, which is due in New York for the first time this week.
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 Greece-Maritime tribute!
After the Second World War, Greek ship owners jumpstarted the nation's battered merchant marine with 98 Liberty ships, those classic Wartime freighters. In 2008, the 7,200-ton Arthur M Huddell (built at Jacksonville, Florida in 1943), which might have gone to the scrap heap, was donated to the Greek nation, renamed Hellenic Liberty and then had a 2-year transformation into a maritime museum at Piraeus. On the outside, the 441-ft long ship has been redone in perfect condition |
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London - Going once, going twice.....sold!
At a timely auction held in London on Mar 30th, a menu from the Titanic was auctioned & finally sold for $120,000. The value of the menu was increased greatly by its date: Apr 14th 1912, the same night that the infamous White Star liner rammed an iceberg in the western Atlantic while en route from Southampton to New York. The 46,000-ton liner then sank three hours later with the loss of some 1,500 passengers & crew. A set of keys from the Titanic sold at the same auction. They changed hands for $90,000. Anything and everything from the Titanic usually commands high, often very high prices. A collection of items from the ship is going under the hammer soon but with an estimated value of $200 million.
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Merchant Shipping - Cleaning house!
The US Maritime Administration is cleaning out some mothballed ships, faded reminders of a once big American merchant marine that have languished for years in the silent fleets of reserved ships. The former Export Bay of American Export Lines, the ex-African Dawn from Farrell Lines, the ex-American Resolute of United States Lines and the tanker Esso Gettysburg from Esso have gone to the bone yard down at Brownsville, Texas.
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Added service! 
For the winter of 2012-13, the 1,566-bed MSC Armonia will offer 21 cruises in the Red Sea area, cruising from Sharm El Sheikh. |
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Ocean Liner Collectibles - Moonlit seas but in Boston!
One of my favorite recreations of the great ocean liners was in poster art - those large, very colorful, often artistic depictions of the ships, life onboard & their faraway destinations. I am giving an illustrated talk about the Floating Palaces: The Great Atlantic Liners on Thu May 3rd, at the International Poster Gallery at 205 Newbury St in Boston. Telephone: 617-375-0076.
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Ocean Liner History - Fifty years ago!
They were the smallest Cunard liners, the sisters Media & Parthia, which carried 250 all-first class passengers & lots of freight. They sailed on 9-day crossings between New York & Liverpool. But by 1961, the twin 13,500-tonners were redundant, losing money in the then new jet age on the Atlantic. Both ships were sold - the 531-ft long Media was rebuilt as the Italian passenger liner Flavia; the 18-knot Parthia became the Remuera for long-haul service between London, Auckland & Wellington.
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 Singapore - Happy old age!
The 6,000-ton Doulos was roving missionary ship for years and also ranked as the oldest ocean-going passenger ship. These days, and avoiding the scrappers, she's been made over as a maritime museum in the Jurong section of Singapore. Built at Newport News, Virginia in 1914 as the freighter Medina, she was converted to the immigrant ship Roma in 1948 and then later sailed for Costa as the Franca "C". She became the Doulos in 1977 and, for myself, I recall visiting her & having lunch aboard at Las Palmas in the summer of 1983. Indeed, she is an interesting ship - a great survivor! |
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Titanic - Grand centennial! 
There must be three dozen new books released in past months about some aspect of the immortal Titanic. The timing is right, of course. April 14th-15th is the centennial of her sinking. On Apr 4th, James Cameron's blockbuster film Titanic was re-released but in 3-D. The original, 1997 film epic brought in $1.8 billion worldwide and became the highest grossing film of all time until Cameron's Avatar surpassed it in 2010. The 3-D conversion cost $18 million and required 60 weeks of intensive work by a team overseen by Cameron. The re-release coincides, of course, with the centennial.
Meanwhile, over in Belfast in Northern Ireland, where the 882-ft long Titanic was built, a $160 million Titanic Belfast Center , an eye-catching structure with four jutting bows of the ship, but lined in silvery steel panels and rising 6 floors. The center sits beside the Harland & Wolff Shipyard, where the 46,329-ton liner was constructed between 1909 and 1912. The center includes takes visitor on a maritime ride - through the once busy shipyard as the ship is being built, onboard with first class luxuries to the simplicity of lower-deck steerage, then crossing the North Atlantic in cold, dark waters & finally to the freezing demise. Detail abounds, according to the first of 100,000 visitors booked to see the exhibit. Belfast itself is celebrating with a 3-week festival of walking tours, lectures, and no less than seven Titanic-themed stage shows, including Titanic The Musical.
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 Viking Ocean Cruises - News from Italy!
While quiet for some weeks, Viking River Cruises new deep-sea division, called Viking Ocean Cruises, seems close to signing with Fincantieri, the big Italian shipbuilder, for two and possibly three 888-passenger cruise liners. The first of the 41,000-ton ships would come into service in spring 2014 and 2015. The ships would do Mediterranean cruising in summer. |
Ocean & Cruise News
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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
Veendam - Bermuda (7 Night)
Jun 3, 2012 - Call for Current Rates
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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.
Great Passenger Ships 1910-1920
It was an age of evolution, when size and speed were almost the ultimate considerations. 'Bigger was said to be better' and ship owners were not exempted from the prevailing mood. While the German four-stackers of 1897-06 and then Cunard's brilliant Mauretania & Lusitania of 1907 led the way to larger and grander liners. White Star Line countered by 1911 with the Olympic, her sister Titanic and a near-sister, the Britannic. The French added the France while Cunard took delivery of the beloved Aquitania. But the Germans won out -- they produced the 52,000-ton Imperator and a near-sister, the Vaterland, the last word in shipbuilding and engineering prior to the First World War. They and their sister, the Bismarck, remained the biggest ships in the world until 1935.
But other passenger ships appear in this decade --- other Atlantic liners, but also ships serving on more diverse routes: Union Castle to Africa, P&O to India and beyond, the Empress liners on the trans-Pacific run. We look at a grand age of maritime creation, ocean-going superlative, but also sad destruction in the dark days of the First War. It was, in all ways, a fascinating period.
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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