Bella cruiser

Hi

I, like everyone else, have been watching this operation with fascination. One aspect has confused me a little, I wonder if anyone can tell me why did the salvagers cut CC's funnel off?

I can understand if it was so badly damaged that it risked collapse during the righting of the vessel, or it was a critical balance issue. However, if it was just to remove the Costa logo it seems a little extreme to me to get the oxy out for this and remove all this steel when they could have just have painted it out.:confused::confused:

I am sorry if this has been answered before, I could have missed it in this massive fast moving thread.

When I was young I sailed on the Tjiwangi - Royal Interocean Lines (RIL) which was a Dutch line.

Also on Marco Polo - Dominion Far East Line which did a few years sailing out of Australia and was a joint venture between H C Sleigh & Jardines.

But my favourite was the beautiful little purpose built passenger cargo ship Cathay - E&A (a wholly owned P&O subsidiary ). She carried about 300 passengers and she and her sister ship Chitral, made continual Asia return round trips of about 6 weeks duration.

I did quite a few on Sitmar too.:)

I missed a lot of school but I still managed to turn out ok:cool:

According to this the Fairsky became the Sky Princess. Which we sailed on. You're correct that I blurped on the name it was never the Fair Princess. But it did sail for Princess as the Sky Princess.

Here's the link:

http://www.cruise-ships.com/princess-cruises/transferred/sky-princess/

Yep, Fairsky (the second ship of this name owned by Sitmar) became Sky Princess in 1989 when P&O/Princess bought out Sitmar cruises, she was only 5 years old at the time.

After her time in the Princess fleet she was transferred to the P&O Australia fleet being renamed Pacific Sky. She was subsequently sold to the European line Pullmantur (spelling?) where she was renamed Sky Wonder and then Atlantic Star (not sure why they renamed her).

She had been laid up in Marseilles for several years looking for a buyer but as she was the last of the cruise ships with steam turbine propulsion and required a great deal of technical knowledge, a buyer couldn't be found for her:(

She is currently in Allaiga Turkey being broken up next to the old Love Boat Pacific Princess. Very sad that this much loved ship is gone too soon.

Correct me if i'm wrong Barry but to this date Carnival AUSTRALIA has only one ship , one product, can't see it changing however i won't ever say never to trying the U.S product

That is true at this moment but don't forget Carnival Legend is coming to join her sister.

What???

 

I have never heard the term 'ranga' before until I read this thread. As a child I recall my father saying a red head was called 'blue', but that was 40 years ago.

.

Wow, I can't believe you have never heard of the term 'ranga' for a red head it's in common usage. So is 'ginga' and occasionally 'ginger ninja' but only if you are a friend. :D

I think the term 'blue' is not regularly used any more, but most people still know it's meaning.

Very funny thread , for the cringers, I am sure the Americans and other foreigners can detect the humorous nature of some of these posts.

I don't know about KenOath and didn't go to school with him/her/it.

Seriously Pushka, you don't know what this means, use your imagination. You have obviously spent some time ...far...away from here

British in origin and more namely from East London!

 

Australian slang is alive and well but is used differently to Cockney slang, Cockney slang only pronounces part of the rhyme word its meant to mean and Australian slang says all of the rhyme so its more obvious .

 

ie Dog & Bone in OZ,just Dog in UK, I am a Cockney and was born into rhyming slang but some Australian slang has also become abbreviated since ww2 and belongs to Australians.

 

ie "Me Old Cheese" Meaning "The Cheese and Kisses" The Miss,s:D

 

Av a Butchers at his Barnet he must ave a syrup? bet hes well Aunty!:D

 

Have a look at his hair he must have a wig I bet he is bald!

 

 

No need to wear a Dicky or a Whistle just av a Bugs hop in the Kipper there,s a Rub just down the Frog,n and ya can get a few Pigs down ya Greg:D

 

You dont need a shirt or suit just have a wash get in the car there is a pub just down the road where you can get a few beers down you!

 

 

This is how We talk in Perth:D Do the rest of Australia talk differently?:D

This is very funny, I think I understand about a quarter of these sentences. On ya Mate:)

I have heard about this ship before, I think she is one of Costa's older models (1993) and had a major refurb (and I mean major) in 2011 when she was renamed Costa neoRomantica.

I like their bridge cam page too, thanks for finding it David, but I think their is an error on it as I am sure her GRT increased with all that added superstructure up to around 57,000 - 58,000.

Hmm, just going flat out so the ship sits low in the water and waiting for low tide and the crossing of fingers doesn't sound a very professional approach, wonder why they would take these kind of risks?:eek:

I think unless she has an amazing hinged funnel like Norwegian Dream (ex Dreamward and soon to be the new Superstar Gemini) there is no way she is going to fit under the bridge.

Not sure if it's the case now or not, but when we sailed, quite a few of the items on the room service menu weren't available elsewhere on the ship. So the option to "go for a walk and get the food yourself" as you so eloquently put it, was not viable.

Ignorance is bliss, I guess...:rolleyes:

Personally, I think most people mainly use room service for late night snacks or early morning coffee, so it probably wont work out too expensive. I don't think too many people sit in their cabins eating all their meals by themselves unless they have agoraphobia or similar.

If anyone is too worried about this, I would bring pizza or whatever food you want back to the cabin from elsewhere on the ship as suggested and if there is something you just must have on the room service menu then just order that.

The bright side is I don't think anyone is going to die of starvation on a cruise ship, room service or not.

I remember the old days when your cabin steward would bring coffee, tea, juice, fruit and pastries to your cabin early in the morning just to make sure you had the strength to shower dress and drag your self to breakfast....No extra charge.:)

Superstar Gemini was my parent's very fave ship they were very dissapointed when she was sold.

Last I heard about Gemini was that she is laid up at Tilbury, London & was used during the Olympics as worker'accommodation.

I am a little confused David, are we supposed to post large photos of everyone who is accompanying us on our cruise, like Sutho?:confused: Or will the ship name, cruise details and date do?

Hmm, I don't think you could possibly build a functioning passenger carrying replica even if you wanted to, even externally, as the lifeboat placement alone would not be SOLAS compliant. Someone hasn't thought this through very well.:rolleyes:

I think that if you come up with this kind of idea and you are rich, you are considered eccentric and if you are poor you are just considered crazy.

Thanks for all the info. I tried the above link though and it is marked as private so can't be opened.

It opened straight away for me.

I certainly be donating to Chrissy, she is a fantastic lady. Also my 9yo son and I have started a special project and we are collecting some basic school supplies for the kids on Penticost, their school is said to be deeply in need of items our kids take for granted.

Remember, whilst Vila has a number of cruise ships each week, only about 2-3 ships go to Penticost each year and they have little/no other tourist exposure.

Hi David, could you please include our cruise on the list? Pacific Pearl P220, 11 nights Pacific cruise departs 3 June 2012. Thanks

Jenny

 

On our cruise to UK on Oriana, you should have heard the howls when we missed going to the Pyramids. Some/many of the Poms claimed that this port stop "was the only reason they came on the World Cruise" -- ALL 84 days of it!!!:p

 

Barry

Yes Barry, I remember you missing Safaga, which meant that you missed the Valley of the Kings:(, when we were all following your blog and being disappointed for you. Did you get to do the pyramids from Port Said?

It shouldn't have been as bad for the Brits on board because they can fly to Cairo in around 4 1/2 hrs or so. (not at the moment of course :eek:)

I really can't get over the wildly differing reviews I have read about Pacific Pearl . They range from " I would never set foot onboard this ship again" to "This is the best ship in the P&O Fleet"

 

Barry

I also have been reading all reports on the Pacific Pearl with interest as she is next on our list and have been confused by the huge variety of opinion. I've seen her described as the best thing going on one review to the cruise ship from hell on another. :confused: :rolleyes:Yet I am still keen to try.

Like Sandy and Musicorn, I was nearly talked out of cruising on the Pacific Sun last year because of the negative remarks and disparaging comments. If it wasn't for the more balanced coments comming from a couple of well travelled contributors we would have cancelled and missed out on a fantastic cruise.:)

My opinion is that dissatisfaction is a cumulative poison and if people have one serious negative issue during their cruise (like plumbing issues or missing a port), they then let every little thing add to their dissatisfaction until they are unable to enjoy themselves or any even notice any positives. It's just human nature. I also think this is why we get the extremes of comment.

From www.wikipedia.com

 

The "old" Star Princess is now the Ocean Village.

 

The Regal Princess is still sailing for Princess Cruise Lines.

Hi, I've got a couple of updates on these ships if anyone is interested.:)

The old 'Star Princess' (ex Sitmar Fair Majesty, Star Princess, Ocean Village (1)) will be sailing for P & O from New Zealand & Australia from December 2010. She is to be called 'Pacific Pearl'.

The old 'Regal Princess' is also sailing for P & O Australia as 'Pacific Dawn' (since 2007). Her sister ship 'Pacific Jewel' (ex Crown Princess, A'Rosa Blu, AIDAblu, Ocean Village 2) joined her in Australia in December 2009.

Jenny

Actually, I think he meant the M.V. Fairsky which was used as transport for migrants in the 50's and 60's. I sailed on her in 1963, but I'm not sure what happened to her. I do have a feeling that she was eventually sold for scrap though.

I cruised on Fairsky (1941-1979) as a kid and remember her very well, the last time I saw her she was named Philipine Tourist. It was when I was on the Fairstar in November 1978 in Manila, we berthed on the other side of the terminal to her, some of the passengers and crew went on board for a look around but were only allowed to go on the main deck containing the public rooms. Some said that thought that she had never been fully repaired after her previous accident.

This is what I know about her history.

Fairsky hit a submerged wreck leaving Jakarta Harbour in June 1977 and was holed. Her quick thinking Captain ran her aground on a sandbank to prevent her from sinking and the passengers were dissembarked via the tenders like a tender port.

She was patched and taken to Singapore where Sitmar decided that she was uneconomical to repair. She was subsequently sold to the Philipines as a floating Casino and renamed "Philipine Tourist". She remained there until November 1979 when sadly, she had a serious fire on board, she was then towed to Hong Kong and broken up.

Regards

Jenny

Hi everyone, thanks so much to all the contributors to this thread, it makes planning for our trip so much easier. You guys are great!! :) Things have changed a lot since I went on my last cruise.:confused:

We are going on Pacific Sun on 18 September 2010 out of Newcastle. I have not cruised in many years and this trip will be the first for my husband and 7 yo son (hopefully they will fall in love with cruising) so cruising can become our yearly family holiday like my family did when I was a kid.

Jenny

Past cruises

Tjiwangi x2 - 1971 and 1973

Marco Polo - 1972

Cathay - 1974

Fairsky - 1975

Arcadia - 1975

Fairstar x5 - 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 & 1980

Future cruises

Pacific Sun - 18 September 2010