Your first cruise ship

[Starboy90056]

Our first cruise was in 1981 on Sitmar's Fairsea. Ever since then, it's been hard to match the quality and intimacy of that ship and its crew. However, we keep trying to find a better cruise (and any cruise is better than none), but with the changes of the last two decades the old Sitmar ships will be hard to match. OUr favorite lines today are HAL, Princess and Celebrity.

[Copper10-8]

Our first cruise was in 1981 on Sitmar's Fairsea. Ever since then, it's been hard to match the quality and intimacy of that ship and its crew. However, we keep trying to find a better cruise (and any cruise is better than none), but with the changes of the last two decades the old Sitmar ships will be hard to match. OUr favorite lines today are HAL, Princess and Celebrity.

 

RMS Carinthia (1956-2006) Built by John Brown & Company Ltd, Clydebank, Scotland and delivered in June 1956 to the Cunard Steamship Company as RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Carinthia for their Liverpool-Montreal route, known as the Dominion service. In 1951, Cunard decided to order a series of four (initially two) identical liners, eventually referred to as the Saxonia class. Carinthia was the third ship of that class. Per Cunard's tradition, all four ships were named using the Latin names of provinces of the Roman and Holy Roman Empires; Saxonia (1954), Ivernia (1955), Carinthia (1956) and Sylvania (1957).These ships were largest ships to be operated to Canada at the time and were designed for luxury and speed carrying both passengers and cargo up the St. Lawrence river.

 

Her launch on 14 December 1955, performed by HRH Princess Margaret, was only the fourth time a Cunarder was launched by a member of the British Royal Family.The previous ones being RMS Queen Mary (by HM Queen Mary in 1934), RMS Queen Elizabeth (by HM Queen Elizabeth in 1938) and RMS Caronia (by HRH Princess Elizabeth in 1947). Carinthia was handed over to Cunard and set sail for Liverpool where she arrived on 17 June 1956. On 27 June, she embarked 890 passengers for her maiden voyage to Canada where she arrived for the first time on 27 June 1956.

 

Although it was planned that the new Saxonia-class ships would replace the old pre-war vessels that had been running the Canadian service, at the time that Carinthia entered service in 1956, the Franconia, Ascania and Scythia were still fully committed on the Canadian run. Subsequently, Franconia and Ascania would be withdrawn from the service in November 1956. Early in 1957, Scythia was transferred to the Liverpool- New York service and in January 1958 she was sold for scrap and at that time, the Canadian service was entirely in the hands of the new quartet. At the time of her entry into service, Cunard announced that Carinthia would undertake a “dollar earning cruise” out of New York to the Caribbean during the 1956-1957 Christmas and New Year holiday season. Consequently, in mid-December she departed Liverpool via Cobh, Ireland and Halifax, Nova Scotia for New York. She made her first ever port of call in Halifax on 20 December. Two days later, she left New York on a 14-day cruise that took her to Martinique, Trinidad, La Guaira (Venezuela), Curacao, Cristobal (Panama) and Port au Prince (Haiti), arriving back in New York on 6 January 1957. After returning to Liverpool, Carinthia underwent a brief overhaul. She made her first call at Rotterdam, the Netherlands on 31 October 1959 and remained there until 2 November.

On 20 November, she made her first port call Southampton. In April 1960 she made a record breaking crossing between Montreal and Greenock in 5 days, 6 hours and 27 minutes, averaging 21.8 knots. Carinthia narrowly avoided disaster on 30 August 1961 when, bound for Montreal from Liverpool and Greenock and in thick fog, 30 miles west of Quebec, she collided with the 7,013 ton Canadian ss Tadoussac. As a result, both vessels sustained damage with Tadoussac having windows and lifeboats smashed. Carinthia had 873 passengers on board at the time but luckily, there were no casualties onboard both vessels. It was later reported that only frantic last minute maneuvers by the pilots onboard each ship had avoided a head-on collision.

 

 

Between 29 December 1963 and 30 January 1964, Carinthia and sister Sylvania underwent refits in Liverpool which included the addition of private bathrooms as well as new interior decorating to eighty of their Tourist class cabins. This however, turned out not to be enough to make them competitive with other ships then in service, or being built. Both ships were pure transatlantic liners and were not suited for seasonal cruising. However, as the demand for transatlantic voyages in mid-winter was rapidly declining, a decision was made to send Carinthia and Sylvania on a series of winter cruises. So, on 7 January 1966, Carinthia sailed from Liverpool on a Mediterranean cruise. Two days after her return, she departed again on a similar 13-night cruise.

 

On 23 November 1967, Carinthia would depart Southampton for her final voyage across the Atlantic under the Cunard flag. This last voyage did not take her into her ususl route up the St. Lawrence since winter ice had become a hazard. Instead, she docked at Halifax and sailed from there back to England on 3 December. Six days later she was in Southampton and her Cunard Line career was over. She was laid up alongside the Caronia which had also been retired the previous month.

 

 

Carinthia and Sylvania would spend over two years laid up at Southampton’s 101 berth in Western Docks. On 31 January 1968, the pair was purchased for 2 million British Pound Sterling and the buyers were initially reported to be the Fairland Shipping Corporation and the Fairwind Shipping Corporation. Carinthia was to be renamed Fairland and Sylvania Fairwind. Instead however, they would sail for the Italian-based Sitmar Line or Societa Italiana Trasporti Marittimi S.p.A.

 

At the time of the purchase, Sitmar had the Australian government contract to carry immigrants from Southampton to Australia. However, almost as soon as Sitmar had bought the two ships, the Australian government awarded the contract to the Greek Chandris Line. Consequently, Fairland and Fairwind continued to lay up at the Southampton waterfront as Sitmar attempted to work out other ways of employing them. In the end, it was decided to totally (dude) rebuild the two ships into deluxe cruise ships based in Los Angeles, CA. Grandiose plans had them sailing north to San Francisco and Vancouver, BC before crossing the Pacific with calls at Honolulu, Hi. Papeete, Raitea, Pago Pago and Suva before arriving in Auckland, New Zealand and then Sydney. After about three months of cruising from Sydney a return voyage would be made to California. While one ship would be cruising from Sydney, the other one would be doing the same from Los Angeles. These trans-pacific voyages were due to start in May 1972.

 

The contract for the rebuilding of the ships was awarded to Arsenale Triestino, San Marco of Trieste, Italy. On 6 January 1970, Fairwind left Southampton under tow arriving in Trieste on 18 January. She was soon joined by Fairland on 21 February. While the ships were being rebuilt, Sitmar continued to market their proposed Pacific liner service and cruises, establishing Sitmar Cruises, Inc. However, despite their efforts they found that they could not arouse sufficient interest. Sitmar eventually saw the light and decided to market the new ships purely as cruise ships out of L.A. (Fairland had been renamed Fairsea) for Mexican Riviera cruises in the winter and to Alaska in the summer.

 

Upon leaving the Italian yard, Fairsea emerged as an elegant Italian cruise ship. Her superstructure was now extended forward while her once enclosed promenade from which to view the cold Atlantic had been opened up to allow passengers to enjoy tropical sea breezes. The greatest change was aft, where she now had tiered sun decks, a lido area and three outside pools. She also had a new raked funnel and had been repainted in an all white livery, with just three short blue stripes at her bow and her uppermost decks painted buff to match her funnel with now had the “V” (for Vlasov). On 3 November 1971, she left Trieste for Los Angeles via the Panama Canal, calling at Cadiz, St Thomas, Antigua and Acapulco. The voyage was a series of firsts for the former Cunarder: her first voyage through the Panama Canal and her first time in the Pacific. She arrived in Los Angeles on 9 December 1971 and then continued to San Francisco where she was officially presented to the press and representatives of the travel industry.

 

On 14 December 1971, Fairsea departed San Pedro (L.A.) on her first 6-day cruise to the Mexican Riviera. For the southbound portion, after departing at 9pm, the next two days were sea days. Her first call would be at Puerto Vallarta in the state of Sinaloa and the next day was again a sea day, before Fairsea would arrive in Acapulco on the morning of the 6th day. Her passengers would use the ship as their hotel that day and it was not until the following day that they would transfer to hotels in the city, flying home three days later. For the northbound cruise, passengers would fly down to Acapulco and after three nights there would board Fairsea for the cruise home via Zihuatanejo and Mazatlan. Both the southbound and northbound cruises could be combined to make it a 12-day round trip.

 

Between August and November, Fairsea was employed on two longer cruises: 17 days from Los Angeles to Acapulco, Balboa, through the Panama Canal to Cristobal, Cartagena, Colombia, Aruba, Martinique, San Juan, PR and Port Everglades, Fl. After an overnight stop at that port, she would begin the return cruise to Los Angeles. This was also 17 days and by calling at different Caribbean ports enabled the round trip to be marketed as a 35-day cruise.

 

In 1988 in anticipation of their new and larger cruise ships soon to enter service, Sitmar embarked on a program to update their image. The buff funnels were repainted deep blue and the V logo was replaced with a stylized swan in white and red. As a result of this re-branding all the ships were renamed with the addition of the Sitmar name as a prefix. However everything soon changed when on 28 July 1988, P&O announced that they were taking over Sitmar Cruises. Under this new ownership all Sitmar ships were to adopt the identity of P&O’s subsidiary, Princess Cruises. Fairsea was renamed Fair Princess with her sister becoming Dawn Princess. Both ships continued to operate their Sitmar schedules for a while. In 1993, Dawn Princess was withdrawn from service, however surprisingly, Fair Princess remained part of the Princess Cruises fleet. In 1995 however, news came that Princess Cruises was selling Fair Princess to Regency Cruises who would rename her Regent Isle.

 

Regency Cruises announced that the Fair Princess would be renamed Regent Isle and she was to sail from San Francisco to Hawaii on 14 October 1995. However, just days before Regency Cruises was to take delivery of her, it was revealed that the company was in serious financial difficulties. They stopped operating on the weekend of the 28th and 29th of October 1995. When Regency Cruises collapsed, the sale of the Fair Princess had not been finalized. As a result P&O / Princess Cruises were left with a ship they did not want. She was sent to for lay up at Ensenada, Baja California Sur, Mexico to await her fate.

 

In the summer of 1996 P&O announced that their P&O Australia ship, Fairstar would be replaced by the Fair Princess which would move to Australia. The Fair Princess was refitted in San Diego’s Southwest Marine dockyard to meet the new SOLAS requirements that had just come into effect. After crossing the Pacific, Fair Princess sailed her first cruise from Sydney to the South Pacific on 7 February 1997.

 

When the newly transferred Pacific Sky joined the P&O Australia fleet in November 2000, Fair Princess was repositioned to sail from Auckland, New Zealand. However, P&O announced on 19 June 2000 that they had put the by now 44-year old ship up for sale. Her buyers would be Chinese interest who wanted her as a casino ship. In 2000 she was positioned in Sydney for use as a hotel ship for the Olympic Games. At the conclusion of the games she had less than two months left as a Sydney-based cruise ship. A few days after her final cruise she slipped out of Sydney virtually unnoticed on 15 November 2000.

 

 

In February 2001 it was announced that her new owners, a company called China Sea Cruises, had changed her initial name of Emerald Fortune to China Sea Discovery. They would use her on the overnight gambling run from Hong Kong. This endeavor turned out to be far from successful. She was then used for cruises from Hainan Island which was also short lived and by June 2001, she was arrested and laid up in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. On 2 October 2002, she resumed cruising from Keelung, Taiwan. By 2003, she was laid up again, this time in derelict condition in Hong Kong. In early summer 2005 she was auctioned off and sold for scrap. On 20 November 2005, the former Carinthia under the delivery name Sea Discovery arrived at Alang, India and was beached. Thus the last surviving ship from the Saxonia Sisters quartet will soon be no more. On 17 February 2006 the beached and partially dismantled Sea Discovery suffered a serious fire in her engine room. The fire trapped some workers inside and nine of them had to be taken to local hospitals with burns. The fire left the ship a charred hulk from stem to stern.

[Copper10-8]

Some more pics of the former RMS Carinthia:

 

 

As Cunard's Carinthia in Liverpool in 1957

 

 

And a couple as Princess Cruises' Fair Princess

 

 

As Fair Princess for P&O Australia in 1997

 

 

One more as P&O Austrilia's Fair Princess

 

 

And one as China Sea Discovery in 2001 in better days

[Copper10-8]

As Sitmar's Fairsea in 1986 at Vancouver

[IRL_Joanie]

Oh Man, I cannot remember the name of our first cruise ship. But it was on Seneca Lake, outside of Seneca Army Depot, Romulus New York in 1974.

 

Our 2nd cruise I do not remember it's name either but I can tell you this, when we got off the ship 3 days later we were met with the news that Its' sister ship "The Achille Lauro" had been hijacked!!! Our cruise was Italy to Pireaus/Athens Greece 1985. (I know I have to change the date in my sig block below):rolleyes:

 

Joanie

[Copper10-8]

Oh Man, I cannot remember the name of our first cruise ship. But it was on Seneca Lake, outside of Seneca Army Depot, Romulus New York in 1974.

 

Our 2nd cruise I do not remember it's name either but I can tell you this, when we got off the ship 3 days later we were met with the news that Its' sister ship "The Achille Lauro" had been hijacked!!! Our cruise was Italy to Pireaus/Athens Greece 1985. (I know I have to change the date in my sig block below):rolleyes:

 

Joanie

 

The sister ship of the Achille Lauro was the Angelina Lauro, built in 1938/1939 in Amsterdam as the "Oranje", commissioned by the Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschapij (Nederland Line / Netherland Line) aka the Netherlands Shipbuilding Company. She was launched by Queen Wilhelmina and named Oranje in honor of the Royal House of Orange on 8 September 1938.

[Himself]

I think everyone who posts on this page has been hooked. The only exception would be those who are about to take their first cruise. They will not be hooked until after their first cruise and then they will be hooked.

[Travelrd]

My first cruise was not that long ago but it was with HAL on the Oosterdam. It was fabulous! I had a mini suite and didn't know what to expect, but it more than met my expectations about a cruise, the ship and fellow passengers. Everything was perfect and it really got me hooked on cruising. My parents went on about 8 cruises. Their first cruise was on the original Love Boat ship on a Christmas/New Years cruise roundtrip from Los Angeles to Acapulco. We lived in Los Angeles and my parents, actually my father, got the bug to cruiseand dragged my mother with him. She eventually learned to like it but refused to go on a HAL Alaskan cruise with him because ddn't like cold weather. Whenever they would ask me if I'd like to go with them, I'd say no thanks. They are deceased and I took my first cruise at age 62. I'm sorry now that I waited so long but I'm trying to take one cruise a year now. Hope I can continue to afford it. Since I'm single and got spoiled with mini suites, it does cost me more, but I love it.

 

Thanks.

[DocF]

Somewhere around 1960, I went on the Chicago, Duluth and Georgian Bay Line's steamer, North American from Navy Pier in Chicago to Mackinac Island and return. This was the annual Grand Rapids, MI Chamber of Commerce cruise. They chartered the whole boat.

 

Doc

[IRL_Joanie]

The sister ship of the Achille Lauro was the Angeline Lauro, built in 1938/1939 in Amsterdam as the "Oranje", commissioned by the Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschapij (Nederland Line / Netherland Line) aka the Netherlands Shipbuilding Company. She was launched by Queen Wilhelmina and named Oranje in honor of the Royal House of Orange on 8 September 1938.

 

 

THANK YOU JOHN!!!!! I thought it had the same name of Lauro but was unsure.

 

I have now modified my signature to include her name;)

 

Joanie

[bikker59]

The first cruise ship I ever stepped on was in the Bahamas in 1983, in the the Nordic Prince, I had just graduated from college and was there with my best friend..we talked our way onto the cruise ship..can you imagine today?? The guy let us on, we stayed for a few hours, had some drinks and then left...I thought it was so great, but I was too poor to afford a cruise...

My first cruise was in 1990 on the Festivale from San Juan for a southern Caribbean cruise.. I remember that ship being so dark, the dining rooms..I think the only balconies were suites, and our room had a tiny port-hole..

Cruising has come a long way...thank goodness... ;)

[innlady1]

Here's Copper John's thread that you requested!

[cruisingbajan]

Carnival Triumph...April 29, 2006

[cal516]

My first cruise, as a pre-teen with my parents, was on Homeric in 1958. It was a 14 or 16 day Caribbean cruise from NYC. My dad spoke Italian so we were treated like royalty.

 

For those who never experienced a Home Lines cruise, there is really no way to describe the experience which cannot be bought today, at any price.

 

[NYC cruiser lady]

My first cruise was also in 1958. The SS Mauritania. I was 4 years old and had a great time!

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

Mine was a 14 day Western Med. cruise on the Legend of the Seas and oh yes did it get me hooked! Departed July 16, 2005 from Southampton.

 

She is still sailing with RCI but shes got moved to 6 day cruises out of China which surely cant be a good thing.

 

[mickaleen]

The sister ship to the Achille Lauro was the Angelina Lauro. I remember seeing her (listing badly) berthed at St Thomas after the 1979 fire almost destroyed her. It was a pretty scary sight sitting there right next to our ship.

 

My first cruise was a 14 day Caribbean tour on RCCL's Nordic Prince in May 1976. The usual suspects AND Aruba, Curacao, and Martinique. It was the best trip ever and since.

[wingsrn123]

1st cruise was on RCCL Majesty of the Seas 5/26/1996 to the Western Caribbean. Our Honeymoon cruise. Of course we were hooked!

[Seago2]

John- as I leave on my 3K pax ship I will be thinking of your classics... I've really, really enjoyed this thread more than you know. Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks-

[sintacks]

John:

Coincidentally, about a week before I happened upon this thread, I was doing some housecleaning and came across a folder for the last (1997) Grand World Cruise of ss Rotterdam V. My wife and I were privileged to sail the first leg of this cruise from Los Angeles to Auckland. I still have the personalized notepaper, a formal photo of us on the stairs of the Ritz-Carlton Lounge, and a menu from a dinner hosted by John Scheringa, the Hotel Manager in the Grand Voyage Room, February 2, 1997. We have fond memories of this trip; not only were we upgraded from inside cabin to boat deck (about eight levels) but we received commemorative gifts virtually every evening in our cabin. Alas, despite the upgrade, the shower stall was the smallest I have come across, Oceania ships included!

Happy memories indeed!

Dave/Val Davies

[berwyn]

Our honeymoon on the Song of Norway 1980.

[dotshub]

Our first was the Dolphin IV in 1989. and YES we were hooked!

:)

[Sadebud]

My first cruise was in July, 1973 on Sitmar's FairSea. It was 14 days, RT San Franciso to Alaska! I was 6 years old, and still remember sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge! AND snow in July. Hooked ever since!!!!

[Copper10-8]

The first cruise ship I ever stepped on was in the Bahamas in 1983, in the the Nordic Prince, I had just graduated from college and was there with my best friend..we talked our way onto the cruise ship..can you imagine today?? The guy let us on, we stayed for a few hours, had some drinks and then left...I thought it was so great, but I was too poor to afford a cruise...

My first cruise was in 1990 on the Festivale from San Juan for a southern Caribbean cruise.. I remember that ship being so dark, the dining rooms..I think the only balconies were suites, and our room had a tiny port-hole..

Cruising has come a long way...thank goodness...

 

 

mv Nordic Prince (1971-present) Built by in 1971 as mv Nordic Prince by Oy Wärtsilä Ab/Wärtsilä New Shipyards, Hietalahti/Helsingors/Helsinki, Finland for (then) Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. She was the second new and purpose-built cruise ship built for RCCL and had two sisters - Song of Norway and Sun Viking. After being delivered to her owners on 8 July 1971, she soon crossed the Atlantic and on 31 July 1971 began sailing seven- and fourteen-day cruises out of Miami, FL. During her career, RCCL also operated her in Alaska, on the Canadian and American west coast and on Panama Canal transits.

 

 

In June 1980, Song of Norway was lengthened at the Wärtsilä yard by 85 feet, to increase her total passenger capacity to 1,024 as well as increase her size to 23,000 gross tons (her original size had been 18,416 GT). At the yard, she was basically cut in half and a a new hull section was inserted (a smiliar operation had been performed on her sister Song of Norway). Unlike cargo ships, this had never been done with a cruise ship. She was back in service on 17 June 1980. When RCCL acquired new tonnage in the late 1980s, Nordic Prince was operated on some world wide cruises.

 

 

Nordic Prince became the first RCCL ship to be supplanted by larger tonnage and on 15 March 1995 she was sold to British-based Sun Cruises, part of the Airtours/MyTravel Group. Before the ship entered service for her new owners, the RCCL hallmark glass-enclosed Viking Crown Lounge around her funnel was removed.

 

Renamed mv Carousel, the ship began cruising for Sun Cruises on 6 May 1995. During her time with Sun Cruises she spent summers cruising in the Mediterranean but during the winter seasons she returned to the Caribbean. On 13 February 2000, Carousel was grounded near Cancun, Mexico, which led to cancellation of five cruises while she was being repaired. Toward the end of her service with Sun Cruises the ship received My Travel funnel colors. In the early 2000s Sun Cruises started pulling out of the cruise business.

 

 

On 19 July 2004, Carousel was sold to Cyprus-based Louis Cruise Lines, but chartered right back to Sun Cruises until May 2005. She would be Sun Cruises last ship in service.

 

On 13 June 2005, Louis Cruise Lines renamed the ship mv Aquamarine and, started operating her on 7-day cruises around the Mediterranean with Genoa, Italy as her home port.

 

 

On 3 April 2006, the ship was chartered for five years to Germany-based charter operator Transocean Tours who renamed her mv Arielle. However, this charter was terminated early on 28 October 2007 and the ship returned to the Louis fleet in early 2008 and reverted back to the name Aquamarine.

 

 

On 9 May 2008, Aquamarine was diverted to Milos on the Greek island of Paros in the Southern Aegean Sea, after a 1.5-meter gash was found on her hull at about 1.5 m above the water line. The ship's hull was damaged after it scraped against a pier during its departure from the port of Iraklio/Heraklion in Crete enroute to the resort island of Santorini with 1,200 passengers onboard. It was discovered that the gash was above the water line so the ship proceeded to Piraeus for repairs. When these were completed, she continued with her three and four-day Aegean cruises for Louis Cruise Line.

[debsjc]

My very first one was a school trip, on some converted car ferry type ship which sailed from Brindisi in Italy, in 1983.

 

My first proper cruise was with Cunard Crown, on the Crown Jewel from Fort Lauderdale in about 1993. Anyone know what happened to that ship?