Ship Nicknames

[PromenadeDeckWriter]

After reading several nonfiction books about old passenger ships, I was wondering about nicknames for current ships if any? From the readings, the older ones had nicknames bestowed upon them by crew and passengers alike. Some examples include the following: 

 

Old ocean liners: 

Aquitania "Old Irrepressible"

Berengaria "Bargain Area" & "Berry"

Imperator "Limperator"

Lancastria/Tyrrhenia "Old Soup Tureen"

Leviathan "Levi Nathan"

Lusitania "Lucy"

Mauretania "Maury"

Majestic "Magic Stick"

Olympic "Old Reliable" 

 

I see that HAL's Westerdam is oftentimes referred as "Westy" and Celebrity's Constellation as "Connie", so I was curious to see what other nicknames are out there. 

[SuiteTraveler]

Celebrity Milinium -  Milli

NCL Epic - Frankenship

Indepence of the Seas - Indy

Queen Mary 2 - QM2

Queen Elizabeth - QE

P&O Ventura - the Big V

Costa neoRomantica - Ugly

Any Aida ship -  Smiley

 

[Aquahound]

Carnival Triumph - The poop ship

 

Princess Grand Class ships - The shopping carts

[cruisemom42]

Prinsendam was often referred to on the HAL boards as the Elegant Explorer

[PromenadeDeckWriter]

Oh yes! Frankenship and the shopping carts! Thanks for the reminders! 

 

Two more that I remember after seeing the Prinsendam's - 

Nieuw Amsterdam (1938) "the Darling of the Dutch"

Rotterdam (1959) "Grande Dame"

 

Keep 'em coming!

[Heidi13]

In the early 80's 

• SS Canberra - Great White Whale
• QE2 - Black pig
• Sun Princess - Fun Princess
• SS Oriana - Big O
• SS Uganda - Ug Tug

[Luckiestmanonearth]

Diamond Princess - the Petri dish 

[John Bull]

In the 1940's Queen Mary (the original, now at Long Beach), was known as "The Grey Ghost" due to her wartime grey paintwork when she and her sister Queen Elizabeth were requisitioned as troop-ships.

 

JB 

[whogo]

Amera - (the former Prinsendam, Seabourn Sun and Royal Viking Sun) Die Prinzessin

 

[donaldsc]

I did a cruise to AK on one of the Princess ships.  I forget which one but we took it because we were taking the grandkids and the timing was right.  I was not impressed w the ship and even the grandkids were not impressed so I nicknamed it the "el Dumpo".  They did love AK however so the cruise was worth while.

 

DON

[PromenadeDeckWriter]

12 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

QE2 - Black pig

Dare I ask how she received that nickname? 

[rkacruiser]

S. S. United States was called and is still remembered as "The Big U".  

[Lady Chew]

Love the "Old Soup Tureen"  !!

 

At least most of these are actual nicknames, and not simply shortening the name, as in Celebrity Silhouette to "Sillie" or HAL Westerdam to "Westy"    That type of nickname has always bugged me, don't know why ... 

[neverbeenhere]

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/435336-ship-nicknames/

 

 

[ldubs]

On 7/26/2020 at 3:22 PM, Aquahound said:

Carnival Triumph - The poop ship

 

 

I take it that is the one that got stranded off Baja.  Not a pretty picture.   

[Heidi13]

10 hours ago, PromenadeDeckWriter said:

Dare I ask how she received that nickname? 

 

Before she was re-engined here boilers were somewhat unreliable

[Essiesmom]

10 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

I take it that is the one that got stranded off Baja.  Not a pretty picture.   

Nope.  That was the Carnival Splendor that had the fire.  Triumph had problems in the Gulf of Mexico.  EM

[ldubs]

8 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

Nope.  That was the Carnival Splendor that had the fire.  Triumph had problems in the Gulf of Mexico.  EM

 

Thanks. I can never keep them straight.  Our daughter was booked on the Splendor for a later date.  She was cancelled and ended up on another cruise line with a similar itinerary.  

[rkacruiser]

On 7/27/2020 at 5:42 PM, Lady Chew said:

At least most of these are actual nicknames, and not simply shortening the name, as in Celebrity Silhouette to "Sillie" or HAL Westerdam to "Westy"    That type of nickname has always bugged me, don't know why ... 

 

I think such nick names are disrespectful.  Maybe they developed because whoever first used them was too lazy to type out their full name?  

[Aquahound]

23 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

I take it that is the one that got stranded off Baja.  Not a pretty picture.   

 

13 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

Nope.  That was the Carnival Splendor that had the fire.  Triumph had problems in the Gulf of Mexico.  EM

 

4 hours ago, ldubs said:

 

Thanks. I can never keep them straight.  Our daughter was booked on the Splendor for a later date.  She was cancelled and ended up on another cruise line with a similar itinerary.  

 

Triumph had a fire too, which left her powerless in the Gulf and dubbing her the poop ship.  The Splendor fire was the one that later became known as the SPAM cruise because of the Navy's offering to deliver SPAM to the ship.

[cruisemom42]

4 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I think such nick names are disrespectful.  Maybe they developed because whoever first used them was too lazy to type out their full name?  

 

Disrespectful?  Why not view them as affectionate?  Haven't you ever given an affectionate nickname to a loved one, child, or even a pet?

 

Even Queen Victoria, that bastion of morally upright behavior, allowed her husband to call her Vicky.

 

 

[ldubs]

32 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

 

 

 

Triumph had a fire too, which left her powerless in the Gulf and dubbing her the poop ship.  The Splendor fire was the one that later became known as the SPAM cruise because of the Navy's offering to deliver SPAM to the ship.

 

Haha, I remember reading about the SPAM sandwiches.   SPecial All purpose Meat.  😋

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by ldubs

[Essiesmom]

14 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I think such nick names are disrespectful.  Maybe they developed because whoever first used them was too lazy to type out their full name?  

To the contrary.  Folks on the Celebrity board call Millennium 'Millie' and Constellation 'Connie' out of fondness for the ships.  Even employees refer to their ships by nicknames, as does @Copper10-8 on the HAL board, when referring to Westy...  EM

[davekathy]

Celebrity Constellation... Connie

[ColeThornton]

17 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I think such nick names are disrespectful.  Maybe they developed because whoever first used them was too lazy to type out their full name?  

 

I doubt that the ships will be offended.