JDRMYS

We put our Manhattan co-op on the market in March and have just now accepted an offer to sell it. We're hoping that the deal will go through. At the same time we are renovating our South Beach condo. There isn't much money left over for cruises this winter.

Once all of our real estate transactions are finished, we plan to spend much of the winters in South Beach and much of the summers at our house in the Pines. I'm a real estate broker and will probably try to get into the business in south florida as well as working as much as possible in New York. My husband is fully retired.

We are thinking about a January or February Carribean cruise on HAL, Regent or Celebrity and have booked a westbound TA on the QM2 and an eastbound TA on the Seabourn Odyssey for October. I've taken more than 50 TAs and cruises and I get withdrawal symptons if I stay away from a sea going ship for too long.

Saga Ruby,

The only time that we have left suitcases in a hotel for an extended period was the time that we went to the Galapagos. The planes from Quito to the Galapagos islands allow only a very small amount of luggage. We found our luggage back in Quito quite intact. We have also had a couple of bad experiences with locks on airplanes -- but we have never yet had any of the contents stollen. When we have shipped luggage, we have never yet had any damage except for some dirt on our suitcases.

We have taken the Eurostar and it was very nice, but the absolute best and most luxurious way to go between Paris and London is the Orient Express. It is a longer and more expensive trip, but it is in magnificent vintage rail cars with private compartments and splendid food and service. The only caveat is that the train can't go through the Chunnel. For the tunnel trip, passengers are put on busses that are then driven into box cars on a train. This would be fine except that the A/C on the train doesn't work in the Chunnel. Unfortunately, our most frequntly used method of getting to and from the UK is by air.

There is also an American train called the Grand Luxe Express that sounds wonderful. We often take "suites" on Amtrak to go to and from Florida and have done so travelling from NYC to Los Angeles; these suites are comfortable but not luxurious. The food is pretty bad. In January, we are taking the Grand Luxe Express (a.k.a the "American Orient Express") on this route. The cars are vintage sleepers, lounges and dining cars from the 1950s.

BTW, we also cross oceans by sea whenever possible. So far I've crossed the Atlantic on the Queen Elizabeth (the 1st one), the France (12 times), the Gripsholm, the Kungsholm, the QE2 (6 times), the Royal Viking Sea, the Royal Viking Sun, the Seven Seas Voyager (3 times, so far). I've crossed the Pacific on the Seabourn Pride and on the Seven Seas Mariner.

You may get the (correct) idea that we don't like airports and airplanes! Nevertheless, we often have to take planes.

We've been shipping suitcases to cruise ships for more than 10 years. We have been lucky never to have never had a bad experience, yet -- but I'm still afraid that something might happen. We have had some bad experiences with checked suitcases on airplanes.

Ususally we use the luggage service recommended by the cruise line. For our Europa cruise, we have assumed that Hapag-Lloyd is not equiped to pick up luggage in the USA for shipping to the embarkation port. Therefore, we are using The Luggage Club which was recommended to us by our TA. We hope that our bags will be at our hotel in Barcelona when we arrive. We will be travelling for 10 days in the UK, Spain and France before we get to Barcelona, and we didn't want to lug all of our bags around with us -- especially not on and off the P&O ferry Pride of Bilbao (40,000 tons, sailing from Portsmouth, UK to Bilbao, Spain) which will certainly not have porters to help us.

What is the "unlocked luggage rule"? We always use the TSA approved locks that the TSA can open.

1) I'll think about a new name -- but the current one has a sentimental connection.

2) We leave home on Wednesday, November 7 but don't board the Europa in Barcelona until November 14. I've spent all day packing 2 suitcases which we are going to ship to our hotel in Barcelona. The hard work is over! We're spending a week getting from Stansted airport to Barcelona (by P&O ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao; by car, with stops in southwestern France, from Bilbao to Barcelona) and don't want to tote our cruise and formal clothes around with us.

That means three of us here live within about 10 mi of each other :eek: .

 

We should meet sometime. Do you ever go to any of the "shippy" events in NYC?

I belong to World Ship Society and Steamship Historical Society of America, but I rarely go to their events any more. I did used to go to some events (mostly Ocean Liner Museum events) with my late friend Ken Schultz. Actually, I met my partner, 30 years ago, only because I missed a World Ship Society meeting by going to the wrong address.

Are there any intersting events coming up?

You do seem to live very close to our summer house. If you are in Bay Shore, you are only about 10 minutes from our ferry terminal. When we drive between the Island and the city we go right past you. Our favorite route is via Ocean Parkway which is a longer ride in miles, but a faster and much prettier one.

We were invited on the Columbus last year, but I had an important business appointment and had to decline the invitation. I had hoped that we would be invited this year, but we weren't.

We are looking forward to the Europa. We have recived our documents which are quite different from those for cruise lines catering to Americans. There is no ticket other than the cruise ID & credit card. Each card has the cruiser's name, passport number and nationality, cabin number, cruise number, embarkation port and debarkation port listed. There is also contact information and there are 2 sets of luggage tags: one set for the outside of our suitcases and one set for the inside. There is no shore excursion book or anything else that attempts to sell us anything.

It is interesting that much of the information that is on the credit/key cards is information that most of us Americans would consider to be very private and confidential.

My partner and I are off across the pond -- by air, alas -- but we'll be taking 2 ships once we get there. The 1st is P&O's 40,000+ ton ferry Pride of Bilbao which we are taking from Portsmouth to Bilbao. The 2nd is the Europa which we are taking for 9 days from Barcelona to Santa Cruz de Tenerife. We've decided to see for ourselves if the Europa is really as fabulous as its reputation.

We still prefer crossing oceans by sea and are booked for transatlantics on the Seven Seas Voyager (our 4th TA on her) in 2008 and on the new Seabourn Odyssey in 2009. I sure hope the Europa is good enough to compensate us for giving up what is turning out to be our annual November westbound TA.

On another topic: On my first TA, in 1967 with my father, we were on the old Queen Elizabeth in 1st class. There were no cabin keys at all. Later, as I seemed to end up, by chance, on the last voyages of the France, the Gripsholm, and the Kungsholm, I started to purloin my cabin keys as souvenirs.

My husband and I are celebrating our 30th anniversary in February and will be moving to South Beach from Manhattan where we have spent most of our lives. We've already bought our new apartment on Ocean Drive but are not sure exactly when we will make the big move. We intend to sell our New York apartment in the spring. We hope to continue to spend our summers at our cottage on Fire Island.

In the meantime, we have booked several cruises on the ms Europa and on Regent's Seven Seas Voyager and Seven Seas Mariner.

CGTNormandie, I love your recollections. The "secret" staircase was secret only to tourist class passengers since it was always in plain sight in the Cabaret de l'Atlantique. Originally, the C de L'A was supposed to be divided in 2, with the staircase coming up into the tourist class section. It proved so popular with 1st class passengers, however, that the movable wall between the 2 sections was permanently opened and the door to tourist class at the bottom of the stairs was closed.

Nevertheless, there was a great deal of mingling between 1st and tourist passengers. French Line expected younger 1st class passengers to go down from Verandah Deck to Promenade Deck at some point during the evening. We were all encouraged (almost surreptticiously, of course) to take the service staircases. Conversely, young (and well dressed) tourist class passengers who wandered into first class were not ejected -- in fact, I think that they were rather welcomed (quietly).

The gathering place was the tourist class smoking room. I remember at least one crossing when at least half of the people in the smoking room were young 1st class passengers in tuxedos and evening gowns. One night on that crossing I realized that many of the well dressed 20 and 30 somethings at the bar in the tourist smoking room were from the richest and most powerful families in America and France.

Thanks for letting me ramble on and relive my fabulous, and lost, youth.

CGTNormandie, Thanks for your reminisences about the France. For me, It didn't take until the 3rd day for me to want to stay on the ship forever. 365 days a year I dreamed that I could live on the France. Actually, I still feel that way. The brioches and croissants were of a quality that is almost never obtainable anymore, even in France. Almost no one is willing to put in enough good Normandy butter to make really authentic versions anymore. For breakfast on the France, I had only brioches, raspberry jam and cafe au lait. Naturally, these were served to me in bed by extraordinary cabin stewards who were the French equivalents of Jeeves.

The quality of lucnch and dinner in the first class (Chambord) dining room has never been equaled, in my experience, and I have eaten at almost all of the most famous 3 star restaurants in France. If you remember, the late Craig Claiborn called this extraordinay dining room "the best restaurant in the world." IMHO, it has never yet been equalled. This was not only for the food, but also for the service. For years after the France went out of service, I ran into former France dining room staff into some of the best restaurants in Paris and elsewhere in France. In the later 1970s I even took a special trip to Le Havre to stay at the hotel and reataurant owned by ss France table captain, Max.

As to night life, again there has been no ship since the France to equal the quality. There was always a couple of dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet, as well as other top quality performers. There were none of the tacky production shows that plague almost all contemporary cruise ships. After the shows, dancing and "Parlor" games that were played on the dance floor after everyone was a little high on Champagne, many of us went to the Caberet de l'Atlantique where there was a quiet jazz combo and a late night bar menu that included Beluga caviar, shrimp, foie gras, and hot dogs. People who made it to 4AM (I think that it was 4AM) 4 nights in a row, were inducted into the "Club des Noctambules". Many of my friends made it, but, I am ashamed to say that I never quite did.

Another high point of a transatlantic crossing on the France, was sitting on deck in bracing weather in a "chaise de pont" beautifully wrapped up by expert deck stewards in French Line plaid blankets.

After the France died (for me, of course, that was in September, 1974) I took transatlantic segments of cruises on the Gripsholm and Kungsholm. I was sort of a jinx on Swedish American, however, having been on board each ship when it was sold and it was announced that it would go out of service. I also crossed on the QE2 5 times in the late 70s, but she really felt much more like a cruise ship than a traditional ocean liner (to me, it's ironic that the QE2 is now considered to be the quintessential ocean liner).

I can't believe that I haven't discovered this thread earlier. It's wonderful and, for me, quite nostalgic. I took my first ocean voyages 30 years ago when my late father took me to France. We took the Queen Elizabeth (the 1st, and IMHO, the only real one) over and the France back. On the QE we were in A75, the bedroom of a suite. It was a magnificent, wood-panelled cabin. In the dining room (black tie every night, of course) we were at a table next to Leopold Stowkowski and his 2 sons by Gloria Vanderbilt. I had loved ships since I had visited my grandparents when they sailed from New York to Naples on the Independence in 1959 and had spent many afternoons, after school, visiting ocean liners at the old west side piers, but with this first trip I was really and truely addicted.

Our westbound crossing was on the ss France in cabin U53 (it's amazing that I can't remember what I did yesterday, but I remeber every stateroom that I have ever occupied) which was the bedroom of the Poitou suite, decorated by Madame Klotz who was responsible for many of the 1st class cabins on the Normandie. BTW, there is a wonderful photograph of U53 on page 150 of Armelle Bouchet Mazas' new book "Le Paquebot France, Le Style Francais".

After that, I crossed the Atlantic eastbound and westbound every year that the France was still in service. I also took the France's last Christmas/New Year's cruise from Le Havre to West Africa, and, later in the year, I took the last New York - Le Havre - New York round trip, arriving home on September 5, 1974: The France's last visit to NYC. There were many old friends, both among the passengers and the crew, on that trip. It was quite bittersweet. Our favotite deck steward said that he was in mourning, and we all concurred. At the last breakfast, M. Pellegran, the great & famous Maitre d'Hotel of the Chambord dining room, asked to be remembered to my parents and to my aunt and uncle, none of whom had been on board for several years.

Since then I have crossed the Atlantic on the QE2 (5 times), the Gripsholm, the Kungsholm, the Royal Viking Sea, the Royal Viking Sun and the Seven Seas Voyager (twice). I've crossed the Pacific on the Seabourn Pride and on the Seven Seas Mariner. I've also taken many cruises on the Mermoz (Paquet Cruises), the Vistafjord (in 1975 when she was new), all of the Seabourn triplets, the Silver Whisper, and all of the Regent Seven Seas ships. I'm sure that I have left a few out. Currently, we are booked for 19 days in November-December in South America on the Seven Seas Mariner and 19 days on the Europa from Barcelona to Rio in January-February.

I also have an extensive collection of ocean liner memorabilia that I started more than 40 years ago. Although I collect items from many companies, my concentration is on French ships. I am particularly interested in photgraphs of cabins and in deck plans. I am lucky enough to have some real gems such as many Byron (and other) photographs of 1st class cabins on the Normandie, company photos of cabins on the L'Atlantique and the Pasteur, deck plans of the L'Atlantique and the Pasteur, and (perhaps rarest of all) a brochure with photo interiors of Messageries Maritimes' Georges Phillipar which sank on her maiden voyage.

Boy, am I running on! I could go on with ocean liner memories all night, but I need to be up in the morning, and I haven't yet even broached your original topic of Saga cruises.

Marc, In your first post in this thread, you imply that you had problems with getting priority reservations in Signatures and/or Lattidudes. Please elaborate, if you can.

Unlike some RSSC cruisers, we like Signatures more than any other dining venue on board. We like to have dinner there as often as we are allowed to. On some cruises, that has meant only once a week. On others, such as the first segment of the Mariner's world cruise in 2003 when Signatures was half empty most nights, we were able to dine there every night.

Now that there are tiers for frequent cruisers, we were wondering how the priority reservations for gold members (which we are) work. Any information about this would be most appreciated. Our next RSSC cruise is the transatlantic crossing from Madeira to Ft Lauderdale on the Voyager in November.

Marc, Your response is quite disheartening. What were the problems with your dining experiences on the Mariner?

In November we are going to be on our first RSSC cruise since the Seven Seas Society tiers came into effect. As gold members (with approximately 100 days on RSSC) we are supposed to have priority for reservations in Signatures and Latitudes. Does anyone have experience with how this works?