|
|
| WOCLS Sponsors |
|
| WOCLS Cruise Specials | |
OCEANIA CRUISES ROLLS OUT EXTENSIVE NEW MENU FOR GRAND DINING ROOM
Oceania Cruises has announced the successful completion of an extensive new menu rollout featuring 85 new dishes for its Grand Dining Room on the line's newest ship, Riviera. The remainder of the Oceania Cruises fleet will incorporate the new menus over the next three months.
"Since the founding of Oceania Cruises 10 years ago, we have held a reputation for serving cuisine that is the finest at sea and even rivals the best restaurants ashore," said Kunal S. Kamlani, the line's president. "Our latest innovations in the Grand Dining Room are inspired by classic European fare, with a contemporary, creative touch. They reflect our ongoing commitment to provide an exceptional dining experience that starts with a thoughtful and meticulously researched menu concept, the highest-quality ingredients and the perfect execution of traditional culinary techniques."
Oceania Cruises devotes extraordinary resources to cuisine. While most cruise lines employ a single corporate chef, Oceania Cruises has an entire team at the helm of its culinary program, including its executive culinary director, renowned master chef Jacques Pépin.
Fleet Corporate Chef Franck Garanger, who travels the world sampling international cuisines to inspire his creation of dishes, led the team in conceiving the new menus. The Oceania Cruises culinary team has spent the past eight months designing and rigorously testing the new menu items. As the menus in the Grand Dining Room change daily, the rollout features a total of 85 new dishes, including three new lobster dishes and 10 new pastas and risottos.
New creations include dishes such as Pancetta-Wrapped Jumbo Shrimp with Kalamata Olive Sauce and Vegetable Julienne, Roast Segovian Suckling Pig with Rosemary Fingerling Potatoes, and Diver Scallops over Orange-Braised Endive with Vanilla Vinaigrette Salad. The new dishes also feature unique, high-end ingredients such as Castilla-La Mancha saffron, Lessatini olive oil from Nice and Ibérico de Bellota pork. There is also a selection of new Canyon Ranch® dishes, including Dover Sole Meunière in Lemon Butter Sauce with Sweet Leek Puff Pastry and Steamed Potatoes, as well as Pulpo a la Gallega: Octopus on Warm Potato Salad with Sweet Spanish Paprika de la Vera.
The rollout includes an array of new wines by the bottle as well as an extended list of wines by the glass.
Oceania Cruises' flagship restaurant, the Grand Dining Room, is a tribute to the five-star restaurants in Europe's grandest hotels, which inspired its dignified and elegant ambiance. Tuxedo-clad wait staff graciously serve course after course featuring classic European fare or delectable alternatives such as healthy, savory Canyon Ranch® selections or
Jacques Pépin's signature dishes. The Grand Dining Room features open-seating and accommodates parties from two to 10.
New creations in the Grand Dining Room include Diver Scallops over Orange-Braised Endive with Vanilla Vinaigrette Salad, Pancetta-Wrapped Jumbo Shrimp with Kalamata Olive Sauce and Vegetable Julienne, and Roast Segovian Suckling Pig with Rosemary Fingerling Potatoes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
E NEWS SUPPLEMENT...by Bill Miller
April 1, 2013
|
|
|
Greetings!
My friend, and maritime artist, Stephen J, Card will be joining me as co-host of a very special WOCLS cruise aboard Holland America's Nieuw Amsterdam on December 8, 2013.
If you have the time in your schedule and are looking for a great cruise, please consider joining us. There will be special rates and events and it is sure to be a great time.
Details..
Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam
Roundtrip Ft. Lauderdale
December 8, 2013
Exclusive WOCLS Events with Host Maritime Artist Steven Card
- Welcome Cocktail party with Steven Card
- Special slide presentation from Steven Card showing his famous artwork with Q&A
- Dinner one evening hosted by Steven Card in the Pinnacle Grill
Inside Stateroom from - $499*
Outside Stateroom from - $609*
Balcony Stateroom from - $949*
Suites from - $1549*
*Cruise Only, Per person, based on double occupancyGovernment Fees of $120.69 are not included
For more information please
call (800) 229-2542
cruises@wocls.org
Your Friend & Editor!
Tom Cassidy
|
On the horizon!
In a press conference held at New York last February, Australian billionaire Clive Palmer formally unveiled plans for his Titanic II. To be operated by the Blue Star Line and built in China, the 50,000-ton liner (slightly larger than the original 46,000-ton Titanic) is planned to set off from Southampton to New York in Feb 2016. The new replica-liner will have period interiors, but modern amenities such as air-conditioning & cabin TV.
|
Cargo Ships - Looking for something different?
There are 10 passenger berths aboard the world's largest container ship, the 175,000-ton CMA CGM Marco Polo. The 1299-ft long vessel makes continuous 3-month-long voyages around the world.
|
Boom times!
The cruise industry is expected to grow by 20% by 2020. More & more vacationers see cruising as excellent vacation value & an easy, convenient way to travel. At the moment, 15% of all American vacationers take cruises. This will increase and, according to projections, the 3 major cruise lines (Carnival, Royal Caribbean & Norwegian Cruise) will build more & more ships, especially in the super liner & mega liner categories.
|
|
British operator!
This niche cruise line has added the 570-berth Astor to its chartered fleet of cruise liners. She'll cruise in Europe in summer & down in Australia in winter. The company also operates the 848-passenger Marco Polo and the 472-berth Discovery. |
Florida - New service!
Spanish ferry operator the Balearia Group has come to Florida to operate the 357-passenger catamaran ferry Maverick between Miami & Bimini in the Bahamas. |
Grand Turk - Interruption!
Because of an outbreak of gastrointestinal virus symptoms, cruise ship calls at Grand Turk were temporarily suspended.
|
|
Added attraction !
Dancing With The Stars, the top-rated TV show, took to the seas in February. It was staged aboard the Eurodam & will soon move to other HAL ships. ... Realizing that Asia, especially China, has huge cruise potential, HAL will base both the Rotterdam & Volendam in Asian cruise service in 2014
|
Hitting the rocks! 
The coastal liner Kong Harald grounded outside the Trollfjord, along Norway's majestic coast, on March 4th. The 400-bed ship was stuck on a rock, but later refloated during high tide & then finally had to go to a shipyard for repairs. |
Looking to the future!
While NCL has the sisters Norwegian Getaway & Norwegian Breakaway in the works and then 2 more, even larger sisters after that, rumors are that even more newbuilds are in the planning.
|
|
Ocean Liner Collectibles - Glamour ship!
The French Normandie was one of the finest liners ever to sail the seas. A magnificent depiction of the grand ship painted on glass & used in the French Line offices in the late 1930s recently fetched $12,000 at auction.
|
|
Ocean Liner History - Heading for the sun!
On December 8th 1961, the still new Rotterdam cast off from New York for a pre-Holiday escape to sun - 10 days to Kingston, Montego Bay, Port au Prince & Nassau. Minimum fare was $315.
|
Further growth! 
While RCI has decided on a 3rd sister of the mammoth, 6,400-bed Oasis of the Seas class, a 4th sister is said to be most likely. Meanwhile, there are rumors that the Company will build more than two of their 158,000-ton Project Sunshine class ships. Europe is booming again! In 2014, RCI will base no less than 8 of their ships in summer season European cruising. the 3,600-passenger Voyager of the Seas has been based in Shanghai, RCI is looking to expand for the growing Chinese cruise market. The 3,600-bed Mariner of the Seas will join her sister at Shanghai this year. |
Winter cruising to Norway! 
Gray weather & light, cold rain! Well, it is winter & last month I was in the North Sea onboard the Saga Sapphire - and we were climbing northward (and as the temperature seemed to be dropping almost by the minute).
A hotel made of ice! So, one might ask but who would go to the top of Norway, to Arctic waters, in deep winter? In fact, this cruise was a sell-out and with a waitlist, no less - and the next cruise is a duplicate itinerary & that's been a sell-out too! And there's 2 dozen passengers onboard from the previous cruise: 3 weeks in the sunny Caribbean. What a contrast between, say, Barbados and the North Cape - an afternoon on a sandy beach compared to a visit to the upcoming Ice Hotel! (Interesting, by the way, how even amongst a crowd with an average age of 70, the dog-sledding, reindeer trekking & overnight in the Ice Hotel (yes, the bedrooms are made of ice) excursions are all sold-out as well - and waitlisted! "I came for adventure and I want some adventure," commented a widow from Kent. (And PS: Next year's 2 Northern Lights cruises are already 75% sold out. One lady told me at lunch: "I booked this trip 15 months ago & then just barely got a cabin!")
All hands on deck! There's very few British officers (the Captain in fact looks 25!) aboard this British-owned, but Maltese-flagged ship -- but 95% of the crew, it seems, are from the Philippines. They are mostly warm & friendly & very efficient. The service here onboard the Saga Sapphire is excellent. Gold stars to them!
Making the rounds! Happily, I dine with different fellow passengers at every meal - including breakfast. Tonight I am the "host" of sorts at a big round table to no less than 6 ladies - all 50-and-60ish, soft spoken, somewhat shy, well read, very knowledgeable & very smart - and each very, very English. They are delightful!
And who does take a Saga cruise? "Just about everyone is over 50. But a partner can be 40. There's absolutely no kids. Other cruise lines sometimes have 100s of kids onboard," reported John Skinner, the ship's Destinations Speaker. "Saga passengers tend to be almost all British, all middle class and all affluent to super-affluent. We get pensioners, but we also get ex-ambassadors, retired business and professional types, police chiefs and shop owners. They come on a Saga cruise and they get hooked. It is an all inclusive holidays - all tips, chauffeur service to the ship, parking at Southampton, full cabin service and all entertainment. All lectures are included too. I've been on Fred Olsen Line where passengers paid extra fees to attend some lectures - like talks from the Antiques Roadshow. Saga passengers prefer a quiet atmosphere - there's no music playing around the ship, few public announcements, but instead a quiet, peaceful world. And the staff & entertainers included work as a great, big team. Saga has a great repeat factor!"
|
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
Crystal Symphony
New York to Miami (14-Nights)
Visiting Baltimore,MD; Charleston, SC; Savannah, GA; Jacksonville, FL; Turks & Caicos, Grand Turk; Curacao/Willemstad;Oranjestad, Aruba, Miami, FL
Sailing: November 2, 2013
Exclusive WOCLS Events with Bill Miller
- Special WOCLS Q&A with Bill Miller
- Welcome cocktail reception with Bill Miller for our guests
- Bill Miller will host a dinner in a specialty restaurant with our group
Special Book Now Fares (book by 4/30/13):
You will receive a shipboard credit of $250.00 per person
Outside Stateroom from - $4450*
Balcony Stateroom from - $6060*
Suitex from - $9700*
*Rates are cruise only, per person, based on double occupancy. Government Fees of $685 are not included
* * * * * * *
Oceania Riviera
Sailing roundtrip from Miami and visiting Tortola; St. John's; Bridgetown, Barbados; Castries, St. Lucia; Gustavia and Miami March 28, 2014 (10-Nights)
Exclusive WOCLS Events with Host Art Sbarksy
Special WOCLS Q&A with Art Sbarsky as he takes you through his career in the cruise industry.
This is a Fundraising Cruise for Art's favorite charity.
The American Cancer Society.
- Welcome cocktail reception with Art Sbarsky for our guests
- Art Sbarsky will host a dinner in a specialty restaurant with our group
- Includes airfare from most Oceania gateways or an air credit
- Includes a special $150 per cabin shipboard credit
Inside cabin from - $2899*
Window cabin from - $3199*
Balcony cabin from - $3499
Suite cabin from - $4999*
*Rates are cruise only, per person, based on double occupancy. Includes government fees
CRUISES MUST BE BOOKED WITH THE WOCLS GROUP
COORDINATOR TO PARTICIPATE IN WOCLS EVENTS!!
For more information please
call (800) 229-2542
cruises@wocls.org
|
|
 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
|
|
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!
 Great Atlantic Liners of the 20th Century in Color (co-authored with Anton Logvinenko; Amberley Publishing, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK. $29.95
 Ile de France And Liberte - France's Premier Post War Liners The latest in the Classic Liners series evokes the glamour and ambience of two of the most beloved liners of the 1950s Île de France, completed in 1927, was a hugely famous prewar liner, a ship with unique style and character. She was said to offer "the cheeriest way to cross the Atlantic." After wartime service as a valiant troopship, she was restored with what Paris fashion calls a "new look," relaunched in 1949. The Liberté was built in 1930, originally the German Europa, but ceded to France as reparations in 1946. She was de-Germanized and restyled in French Line luxury as the Liberté, recommissioned in 1950. The Île de France sailed until 1958; the Liberté until 1961, and this illustrated book concentrates on their heydays in the glorious, post-World War II years, when they were the largest and grandest liners under the French flag. Both ships were famed for their service and onboard ambience, but most especially for their cooking, and they were said to be the best-fed liners on the Atlantic...$25.00
 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)
The Cunard Yanks (co-authored with Ian Wright; pending but due 2012)
|
|
|
