Singleworld

[Mark]

Where are those wonderful Singleworld Escorts today? What are they doing and how do you get in contact with them?

 

I remember Julia Stramm, Julie McCormack and Dominick Something?:cool:

[HomeLover]

I started cruising with Singleworld. That was a fun time. There is no way to get in touch with the escorts. There is another group for single travelers which was founded by someone who worked at Singleworld, but knows 'nothing' aout the hosts. The company is called "Aim High". On the other thread for Singleworld, you mentioned a host who looked like a "California Beach Boy". I believe his name was Dawson.

[tvaud]

I started cruising with Singleworld. That was a fun time. There is no way to get in touch with the escorts. There is another group for single travelers which was founded by someone who worked at Singleworld, but knows 'nothing' aout the hosts. The company is called "Aim High". On the other thread for Singleworld, you mentioned a host who looked like a "California Beach Boy". I believe his name was Dawson.

 

I remember sailing with Dawson! My first Singleworld cruise and one other was with Joe Venages...at least that's what my failing brain brings up. The hosts made a single cruiser feel relaxed and safe, and they were very knowledgable. I had a great time for the first few cruises. After having a few sailings under my belt, I tended to venture out on my own. It was a great way to sail and not pay single suppliments.

Cindra

[NancyJewel92]

My first cruise was with Singleworld, aboard Home Lines' Oceanic in September 1980. (NYC - Bermuda) Marty was our host and he was fabulous.

 

What a terrific way to travel! Like many others, I was directed to SW at a travel agents' suggestion as a great way to travel without paying a single supplement charge. I WAS a great service. My SW-given cabinmate was considerably older than me, but she was dynamite! A real feisty lady from Brooklyn, NY. I recall SW as being very thoughtful in their planning. And Marty took super great care of us.

 

Several my SW mates kept in touch for a while after the trip (meeting in NYC for dinner) and some of us even traveled together on other trips, though no cruises.

 

I also had the fun of staying in touch for a few of years with my Oceanic waiter, Hermenegildo Fomiati (Gildo for short). I would visit him every few Saturdays in NYC when he'd be in port have have some hours off (oh for the care-free days when a visitor could get on a ship! :D ) and when he returned from his time off between contracts. As these things do, though, eventually the contact faded away.

 

The small world that it is, eight years after this cruise, I had relocated from NJ to Orange County NY and found myself regularly commuting with a fine Italian gentleman (Gino) who worked for Home Lines at their offices in the World Trade Center. He told me that Marty had become a became a cruise director with Home Lines. Sadly, Mary passed away in the late 1980's - early '90's.

 

It is amazing how the finest details of one's first cruise can be so clear so many years later. Those warm memories really live on.....

[njcruisingmom]

Can't remember the names of our hostesses, but all were wonderful. I sailed the Celebration, the Seaward and the Skyward ( to the Eastern, Western, and Southern Carribbean) in the late 80s early 90s. I had a blast! These were the best vacations I'd ever had. Now I'm married (took a cruise for our honeymoon) and have two kids ( took them on a cruise last year) but I'll never forget my Singleword vaca's

[Mark]

How about Julia Stramm, Julie McCormack and Beth Gresholtz (not sure of the spelling for Beth)...and then there was that guy who was a legend at singleworld Dominick something who had an Irish or English accent...don't know where any of these folks are today unfortunately!:cool:

[Vesna]

The hosts made a single cruiser feel relaxed and safe, and they were very knowledgable. I had a great time for the first few cruises. After having a few sailings under my belt, I tended to venture out on my own. It was a great way to sail and not pay single suppliments.

 

Cindra

 

I too joined and participated in several single world cruises in the late 1980's, early 1990's. What fun! I was mostly on the Norway, for the 50's-60's rock n roll theme cruises, they were the best!

Singleworld was great as you had instant friends on the ship if you were traveling alone, which I usually was, and you could participate with the "group" as much or as little as you liked. I tended to get a single cabin by myself as the discount was reasonable with Singleworld versus the regular cruise line prices. Several times I managed to find stray singles on the ship and introduced them into our Singleworld group and we all had a great time! Those were the days, too bad they don't have Singleworld today.

I also enjoyed the fact that it was all ages, from youngish (20's) to older (60's) and everyone usually had a great time.

I cruised with Domminick and Kathy and can't remember the others, unfortunately I lost all my cruise photos and momentos. Hope all past cruisers are doing well.:p

[fent33]

Yep - His name was Dawson Wallace --- and he was a good leader/escort. Sailed with him twice and met him on another cruise. The Singleworld concept worked out well for me - saved a lot of money and met a guy I've been friends with for 20 years

 

Carnival Holiday and Celebration ships

[Arubalisa]

The hosts made a single cruiser feel relaxed and safe, and they were very knowledgable. I had a great time for the first few cruises. After having a few sailings under my belt, I tended to venture out on my own. It was a great way to sail and not pay single suppliments.

 

Cindra

AMEN! I could not have said it any better!

[Mark]

I am surprised that we never see any of those SW folks jump in and post on this website...especially on threads that discuss Singleworld!:cool:

[Arubalisa]

Maybe they got tired of cruising? :confused:

[Shipwreck!]

Ok, none of you rememebered me, but I use to be a Singleworld Hostess. My name is Leslie, and we're still here - lost some times, but still here!

 

After leaving Singleworld I worked for Crystal Cruises, and then my father got sick so I came home (California) and tried to find a job. Not many companies want to hire a girl that use to call BINGO. So, I joined NCL because they were able to keep me out of California. Now I'm building cellular sites for Nextel.

 

Working on my resume today, want to get back into the industry, just don't want to be "at sea" all the time. We'll see....

 

Gotta tell ya, those were some of the funest days of my life!

[Mark]

Leslie,

 

What can you tell us about all the other Singleworld escorts...like where they are today and what they are doing? I remember reading somewhere that Julia Stramm, who is a graduate of Julliard, was doing a type of music called inspirational Christian or something like that...of course we all know that her dad the coach recently passed away.

 

Please advise

 

Mark

[HomeLover]

Mark,

I just googled Julia Stram (one M) and there are 2 sites about her spiritual recordings. Thought you might like to know.

[NJcruisemom]

My first cruise was with Singleworld. Our guide was Judy (don't remember her last name) but our group called her Ju-day, Ju-day, Ju-day. I just came across photos of her and our group. We were on the Costa Carla out of SJ in Aug. '84. I remember other passengers wanted to know if they could join our group. Everyone exchanged addresses and some kept in touch for some time after. Still wondering if Diane and Jim ever got married.

 

This post could also fall under "Perks that no longer exist" cause IF:D I remember correctly there was a "cocktail party" for singles & singleworld members almost every night, with free cocktails of course.

 

BRING BACK SINGLEWORLD!

[familycruzr]

I remember sailing with Dawson! My first Singleworld cruise and one other was with Joe Venages...at least that's what my failing brain brings up. The hosts made a single cruiser feel relaxed and safe, and they were very knowledgable. I had a great time for the first few cruises. After having a few sailings under my belt, I tended to venture out on my own. It was a great way to sail and not pay single suppliments.

 

Cindra

 

I also sailed with Dawson on my first cruise, Carnival Holiday, in 1987. We had such a great time!

[Singbz]

Mark - I sailed with Dominick in the 80's...1985 I think ! It was one of Carnival's original ships. We weren't part of the Singleworld Group, but our head waiter sat us with their group. He was great, I even still have a picture of him in an old album. Wow, brings me back to a nice memory....

[SINGLEWORLD]

I worked for Singleworld in the early to mid 80's. Mostly on Home Lines because that was my favorite. Sometimes on Carnival and NCL - Norway. I remember Dawson - heard of Dominick. But unless we were in port together, we never really met each other. I had other jobs on the ship prior to Singleworld - but that was the best. I met and married an officer from the Oceanic and now 22 years and 3 kids later - living happily ever after. We bring our kids on a cruise every year. Mostly on Celebrity. Cruising is the best way to travel.

[Mark]

Dominck was a great guy and a real party animal even though he was at the time middle aged and older than us (in his group). Every morning we would meet Dominick and he would sit behind his table and look like...well...like he had been out too late and had more than he should have had to drink...dark sunglassses on (inside the ship) and a cigarette hanging from his mouth...smoking rules on ships back then were much less restrictive...I beleive I was with him on a Singleword Cruise on the old Norway...Dominick made sure we had a blast!:cool:

[DaveNetMan]

OK I know this is an old thread, but I just had to put my 2-cents in. I too cruised many times with SingleWorld, back in the late 80's to early 90's. My first time was when I had always wanted to cruise, I finally saved up some money, but none of my friends had any money to join me, so I decided that wasn't going to stop me and asked a travel agent if there were any such groups for single travelers. I have such GREAT memories from all my trips, and made so many great friends! I got lucky with the cabin mates I got booked with, because they were all wonderful! I eventually took 7 cruises with SingleWorld. I even met my (now) wife on a SingleWorld cruise! Me from Ohio and her from Buffalo NY!

 

Oh let's see how many SingleWorld reps I can remember. In no particular order, I remember Dominic, Jeff, Jackie, Coleen, and one 'California tan' guy I remember vividly but can't recall his name. Oh, the stories I could tell!

 

I'm very sad to see that SingleWorld is no longer around. I'm sure they had thousands of satisfied customers like myself. I would have never taken my first cruise alone if it wasn't for them!

 

Dave

[cruisin'since'75]

I sailed with Singleworld several times in my years cruising with Home Lines. I knew they worked on other lines, but the only cruises I wanted to go on were with Home Lines. Singleworld hosts and hostesses were always the nicest people; never pushed you to do things you didn't want to, encouraged you to try new things and meet new people if that's what you were about; never seeming to have a bad day, and I'm sure they experienced many of those, but never, ever did it show in their job performance. Someone once said that they HAD to be nice because it was their job to do so, but frankly, the Singleworld people went above and beyond what they HAD to do, and you gotta give credit where credit is due.

One cruise there were three of us girls and we wanted to spend as little money as possible so we were looking for a fourth person to share a cabin with - those Singleworld discounts were fabulous! At any rate, Singleworld found us a fourth, Patty M. from mid-state NY State, I believe, who was a little older than the 3 of us, but a great lady who had lots of energy, absolutely no qualms about trying something new or different, and the greatest way of phrasing things that kept us laughing all the time.

At any rate, my two friends were smokers, Patty and I were not. It really bothered her. She couldn't breathe, her eyes got all red and swollen, so with the advice of our Singleworld host, she went to the Purser's Office. In those days that poor guy took care of EVERYTHING that wasn't related to sailing the sea! Patty explained the problem, she cried a little, and he moved her and I into a gorgeous (for the times) outside cabin which I think he kept calling a suite - it was a huge space, and that's where we spent the rest of our 7 day cruise in such luxury and the other two girls had the original cabin space for 4 just for the 2 of them, and it was amazing. I figure Singleworld worked that deal for us, 'cause it wouldn't have happened otherwise, for sure.

Ahh, to go back to those days for just a week or so...;)

[DaveNetMan]

Speaking of SingleWorld cabin 'upgrades'... On one (out of 7) of my SW cruises, it just so happened that there were only TWO people in our SW group... myself (male) and a woman. And because of this, they understandibly did not send an SW escort. They ended up refunding my $25 SW membership fee, plus I had the cabin all to myself! I don't fault SingleWorld at all, this was beyond their control, plus I still had a good time!

[Norwaylin]

How about Julia Stramm, Julie McCormack and Beth Gresholtz (not sure of the spelling for Beth)...and then there was that guy who was a legend at singleworld Dominick something who had an Irish or English accent...don't know where any of these folks are today unfortunately!:cool:

 

Dominick's last name was O'Carroll. It just popped into my head when I read your post.

[Timssister]

Ok, none of you rememebered me, but I use to be a Singleworld Hostess. My name is Leslie, and we're still here - lost some times, but still here!

 

After leaving Singleworld I worked for Crystal Cruises, and then my father got sick so I came home (California) and tried to find a job. Not many companies want to hire a girl that use to call BINGO. So, I joined NCL because they were able to keep me out of California. Now I'm building cellular sites for Nextel.

 

Working on my resume today, want to get back into the industry, just don't want to be "at sea" all the time. We'll see....

 

Gotta tell ya, those were some of the funest days of my life!

Leslie...I remember you! Have lost contact with you.

Picture this...Oct 1989...SS Norway....you and I share a table with 2 male "singleworld" passengers....your group wants to give me a medal for sitting there the whole week!

I know you remember my brother Tim.....hence "Timssister" Hope to hear from you