|
|
| Member Specials | |
|
|
Latest News for Members from Regent Seven Seas Cruises
| |
Regent Seven Seas Cruises has made a very special offer to members of the World Ocean & Cruise Liner Society for select voyages.
In order to learn more about this offer members must call Beth Schmidt at (800) 828 4813 ext 1009 and mention the special offer for members.
|
|
|
|
|
|
E NEWS SUPPLEMENT...by Bill Miller
August 13, 2012
|
|
|
Greetings!
Please remember we have two great voyages currently awaiting members who wish to join us for a hosted cruise, with more to follow;
First we welcome you to join us for a celebration of our friend, and maritime artist, Stephen Card's birthday aboard a short 4-day cruise aboard Princess Cruises' Caribbean Princess departing on October 27th, 2012
Next we have a wonderful cruise to benefit a great cause aboard the new Celebrity Reflection on January 26, 2013. This 7-Night WOCLS cruise will benefit the American Cancer Society a cause very close to the heart of our friend and writer (and former cruise line executive) Art Sbarsky. This very worthwhile project will see a portion of your fare donated to this cause and will be hosted by Art. The cruise will have many perks, benefits and of course great rates.
For either cruise please call our coordinator Beth Schmidt at (800) 828 4813 ext 1009 for more details details. still looking for a great cruise experience in 2012 and want to know more about this special offer for members, please call Beth at (800) 828 4813 ext 1009. She will be happy to give you all the details.
Sincerely!
Tom Cassidy
|
|
|
Airlines - Less worries!
The last of the German built liners for Aida & due out next year will be the Aidastella. Afterward, two new liners will arrive in 2014 and '15, but from Japanese shipbuilders.
|
Cargo - Efficiency at Sea!
The Safmarine Lines (for South African Marine Corporation & now a division of Denmark's huge Maersk Line) has just added 3 new container-cargo ships. Built in South Korea and capable to transporting 4,500 containers, the 50,000-ton ships are manned by crews of only 9! ... Two German shipowners have merged to form Blue Star Holdings. Historically, Blue Star was once a major British shipping line, noted for its UK-South America service and a fleet that included fine if smaller passenger ships.
|
|
Cruising - Breaking records!
Last year, 10.9 million passengers took 4,222 cruises from US ports. That's a 2.9% increase over 2010.
|
Choice of names!
The intended 140,000grt cruise ship building for Libya has been sold to MSC Cruises by the STX Shipyard at St Nazaire, France. To have been named Phoenicia by the Libyans and then renamed MSC Fenicia by MSC, the final choice in names is MSC Preziosa.
|
|
New York - Progress on the waterfront!
Wind power is expected to be used at the expanded Global Marine Container Terminal in Bayonne, New Jersey. Owned by the Canadian Teachers' Pension Fund, the large facility is just north of the Cape Liberty Cruise Terminal used by Royal Caribbean & Celebrity.
|
|
Next step!
NCL is now charging for infants under 2 years of age. |
|
|
Ocean Liner Collectibles - Spanish style!
A 1930s silver sugar & creamer set from the Spanish Line, which ran crossings to New York, the Caribbean & Mexico, sold recently for $275.
|
|
Ocean Liner History - Diverting course!
In October 1957, Holland America Line's 875-passenger Maasdam departed from New York harbor on her regular run to Southampton, Le Havre & Rotterdam. But there was a special diversion en route: she called at Vigo in northern Spain on her way to the Channel ports & Holland.
|
|
British Style! 
Last month, I was guest speaker aboard the 30,000grt Adonia. A 12-year-old ship, she is the former R-Eight, one of 8 sisters of defunct Renaissance Cruises. She later sailed as the Minerva (for Swan Hellenic Cruises, a niche UK cruise line) and then as the Royal Princess (for Princess Cruises). P&O took her over just last year and refitted her with a more British style & decor. As part of P&O's 175th anniversary when their 7 passenger ships sailed in 10-min intervals and then in formation on the afternoon of July 3rd, the clubby Adonia was the lead ship. Afterward, we cruised to Spain, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Albania & Tunisia -- 21 nights in all.
The Adonia was charming -- yes, that's the right word. She's warm, cozy & very friendly, and unique to the otherwise big-ship P&O Cruises fleet. She's a smaller ship, with just under 700 passengers, and could be 6-star, but she isn't quite that -- but 5-star for sure. I thoroughly enjoyed her, loved being aboard, might have even felt more relaxed than usual. If I had to give a quick rating on a 1-10 scale, I'd vote:
Service 10
Hotel Staff 10
Ambience & Decor 10+
Entertainment 10
Cuisine 9
Would I recommend her and P&O Cruises? Yes, of course, but only if you like cruising that is totally & completely British. It is a bit like yesteryear --- and it has its quaint, even slightly eccentric ways. Overall, it is far more British than, say, Cunard and of course very similar to Saga Cruises. In fact, being onboard the Adonia is much like staying in one of the smaller, older hotels in London or, better still, a really nice hotel in the English countryside.
|
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.
|
|
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
Queen Mary 2 - Canada / New England (11 Nights)
Sep 21, 2012 - Call for Current Rates
Caribbean Princess - Bermuda (4 Nights)
Stephen Card's Birthday Celebration
Oct 27, 2012 - Call for Current Rates
Celebrity Reflection - Caribbean (7 Nights)
WOCLS cruise benefitting the American Cancer Society
with Art Sbarsky
Caribbean (7 Nights)
January 29, 2013 - Call for Current Rates
*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
|
|
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 |
|
William Miller Books!
 Along the Hudson - luxury Liner Row in the 50's & 60's
In the 1950s and '60s, countless passenger liners called at New York and usually berthed at Luxury Liner Row along the City's West Side. The cast includes the Cunard Queens, the Ile de France & Liberte, United States, Independence, Gripsholm & Queen of Bermuda. It is a grand assemblage of great ships -- both large & small. $29.95
Great American Passenger Ships  The story of American passenger ships over the 20th century -- from the Leviathan to the Lurline, Santa Rosa & America to the brilliant United States. Interesting text accompanied by lots of black & white photos as well as color. $29.95.  Great Liners Story
A fascinating "little book" about the great liners, those floating palaces, of the 20th century -- from the grand German four-stackers to the age of the Oasis of the Seas. Mostly color in this hardcover book. $15.00.
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.....
I Was Born in Hoboken: Memories of the 1950s & '60s (Hoboken Historical Museum, Hoboken, NJ, due fall 2011)
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)
The Cunard Yanks (co-authored with Ian Wright; pending but due 2012)
|
|
 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
Join or Renew Here
If you receive both...we ask you to please help us keep renewal mailing costs down. Renew today before we need to send you a notice.
In either case you may join or 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
|
|
|
