Mark

I am very surprised that with topics such as this one that we never see any of the old Single World team positng responses...people like Dominick, Julie, Julia and Beth? Cruising was part of their life and I am surprised they don't all still have an interest...

Head Shot,

 

Let me see if I can help with your confusion...first I think you forget to mention the stuffiest of the lines...that being Cunard.

 

Anyway..the lines that are not stuffy are Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Princess.

 

Here is an example of stuffy...I was on a Norwegian ship sailing out of NYC (Manhattan) and docked right next to us was the Cunard QE2. When the QE2 backed out before us they had a guy playing the bagpipes...passengers were dress in business casual...guys had sports jackets on and waiters were handing out glasses of champagne....on the NCL ship the barbqs were smoking away...the steel drum band playing and passengers in shorts and tee shirts were drinking beers out of the bottle and the drink of the day...it was a party atmosphere as compared to QE2...hope this helps you...

 

Mark:cool:

I am afraid I had a typo in my posting!

 

It was the Home Lines ship MV Homeric after it had been transformed into the Holland America Line Westerdam...conversion included the stretching of Homeric.

 

I remember the little Italian Captain when I first sailed on MV Homeric...tiny and old guy named Capt Salvatore Musumicci...not sure if I spelled it right...anyhow, he had had the crew build him these unique large varnished wood planters that he kept out on the bridge and he grew vegetables in...my guess was tomatos, peppers and basil. When docking the ship or leaving port, he never believed in using radios...he whistled a lot and waved his arms and hands...a real old timer but a nice guy!:cool:

Hey Singleworld,

 

The description of your cruise director sounds like the guy who played one in that funny cruise movie Out to Sea with Walter Mathau, Jack Lemmon and Dyan Cannon...which I might add was filmed on the Home Lines MV Homeric after she had been transformed into the Home Lines Westerdam.

 

Mark

Singleworld,

 

What is you name? I spent a number of vacations cruising with Singleword and had a great time.

 

I remember Dominick, Julie McCormack, Julia Stramm, Beth Grosholtz and some blond Califrornia type surfer guy!

 

I was so sorry to see Home Lines go as I was so sorry to see Singleword go!

 

I would love to undestand the real reasons that both of these fine companies ceased to exist?

 

Mark:cool:

Yes, S of A still does look good in those photos...when I look at S of A, I can see where the Sovereign, Monarch and Majesty all got their good looks from...seems like they just decided to take the S of A and make it a lot bigger...one of the reasons I still think Sov, Maj adn Mon are the best looking ships in the RCCL Fleet along with of course the old Nordic Empress...seems like most of the new ships....including RCCL may have more creature features but look like floating refrigerators...I have seen the Queen Mary 2 in NYC and she does not have the lines or looks of QE2!:cool:

Long live Captain Leif Otto Bang and of course RCCL!:cool:

Doug,

 

You are right...your posting jarred my memory...Horizon and Zentih were the Home Line ships I was thinking of...designed specifically to handle the Home Lines prized NYC Bermuda run in size and tonnange.

 

Mark:cool:

Like I said it could have been a situation like Sitmar but am not sure which company...do know that it was built in France...contrary to the many complaints, I always enjoyed sailing on Nordic Empress...keep in mind she was designed and built for shorter Carribean cruises and not 7 to 10 day ocean crusies.

 

I did read that RCCL did buy the Viking Serenade used as a former ferry

 

I remember another similar story that NCL bought the Dreamward from the German shipyard that had been built for Home Lines which basically sold off its assets to other companies and went of business...unfortunately. I am not sure if the Dreamward story is true but it was what I heard.

 

Mark:cool:

Laurie,

 

Nordic Empress was not designed and built by RCCL as were Nordic Prince, Song of America, etc. My recollection is that it was build in France for another cruise line that did not take possession for some reason...could have been Sitmar when they were sold or something like that ... so RCCL bought it and made some modifications but did buy it new! The other ship that they had bought and not built was the Viking Serenade which I believe had been a ferry before RCCL bought it.

 

Mark

When I sailed on Nordic Prince it had been stretched and did have a full working casino. The Captain is still with RCCL and is one of the most famous on their staff Leif Otto Bang.

I am happy that the Rotteredam is safe from the Indian Breakers in Alang and is looking so good! Too bad all that money spent on her could not have made her seaworthy once again...she certainly looks seaworthy!

 

I regret that a similar arrangement was not made to save that grand old lady SS Norway (France) from those Indians and their blowtorches in Alang!

 

Long live the Rotterdam and long live the Norway for we shall never see ships like them again in the future...I am willing to bet there are people who go on cruises today and have no idea what teak decks look like!

Cruiselover

 

FYI...I believe that all former RCCL cruise ships are still alive and well and sailing the seas in other parts of the world for other cruise lines. A positive thing for the design, building and maintenance of all RCCL cruise ships! This appears to be one of the things that RCCL continues to do well and not cut costs on....thankfully!

 

I guess you saw the sad news that we will be losing another classic RCCL ship when Nordic Empress (aka Empress of the Seas) leaves the fleet in the near future to go to Europe and sail for Pullmantours.

 

:cool:

Like I said, having sailed on both Nordic Prince and Song of America, I believe that Nordic's lounge was added onto the smoke stake and Song of America had the loundge as an integrated part of the ship as did all RCCL ships that followed her. Anything more than that would have to come from our expert Host Doug.

 

By the way Doug, why doesn't RCCL recycle any of the names like HAL or Princess? I would love to see a new Nordic Prince or Song of America...after all, these are two ships that made RCCL what it is today!:cool:

I believe with Nordic Prince her Viking Crown Lounge was an "add-on" for lack of a better term and therefore was a lounge tacked onto the smoke stack...remember my earlier posting that you had to use an outside stairway to access the lounge. Song of America as far as I know had the lounge integrated into her design and as actual part of the ship had interior stairs and elevator access....it would have been too expensive and time-consuming to remove.:cool:

Yes...it was my first cruise with RCCL and I remember the Captain was Leif Otto Bang...how could you forget a name like that...apparently at the time he was know as being their top captain and somewhat of a celebrity with RCCL cruisers. Sailed on her from NYC to Bermuda...had a great time.

 

I loved that old ship even with all of her shortcomings and lack of creature comforts...like no television! I remember it was a hassle to visit the Viking Crown Lounge since you had to climb an outside (exposed to elements) stairway at the stern of the ship....was not fun in rain or wind.

 

The quality of design and building of that ship is why she is still sailing today with passengers while many other ships end up "beached" at Alang with a bunch of Indians with blowtorches roaming the decks!

 

Long Live Nordic Prince!

RCCL used to provide a new deck of RCCL playing cards in each cabin:cool:

What I do remember about Dominick was that when we would meet him in the morning he would always have dark sunglasses on (in the ship) and look like he had one royal hangover...probably did!

I sailed on the 13th Cruise of Homeric to Bermuda and loved the ship and the crew. I was sorry to see the cruise line disbanded and assets sold. The Captain was a little Italian guy named Salvatore Musumicci who had boxes on the brige where he grew basil and tomatoes!

 

I remember when Homeric became Westerdam for HL and they filmed that comedy Out to Sea on it!

 

Does anyone know the real story behind why Home Lines disbanded??? I could not believe it when it happened since they had a loyal following and a great market.

NJ,

 

I sailed with Singlewworld on many cruises and always had a great time. My favorite SW escorts were Julie McCormack and Julia Stramm. I remember that there was also this other guy Dominic O'something and a guy who looked like a California beach boy. However, I preferred Julia and Julie. My fondest memories were of the parties onboard and in ports...lots of drinking! The group photos were always a nice momento of the cruise.

 

I was sorry to see SW go out of business and am not sure of the actual reason since I believe they had a corner of the singles cruise market that was one that could have grown larger over time. I had heard that the travel agency that owend SW, Gramercy Travel had been sold to another company that had no interest in the SW concept...don't know how accurate this story is. I tried for a while to find a replacement for SW and gave up and just cruise on my own and make my own parties.

 

Regards

 

Mark:)

I prefer the late seating. If I get to go on one vacation per year, I do not want to have dinner with a lot of kids. Early dinner sittings tend to have a lot of parents who take their kids of all ages on cruises.

I remember a cruise when there was a 50ish Canadian couple that would get off the ship wearing these matching khaki safari hats/shirts/shorts. They looked like a couple of geeks...may be appropriate for a safari but not a cruise!