Great Cruising Memories

[ryndam]

As the world's lockdowns/shelter-in-place/travel bans/quarantines/etc. continue, I've been rummaging through ancient collections of ephemera. I uncovered these today while on a paper search for some unrelated documents. I thought some might be curious...or not...

 

The first letter is from Commodore Marr, the captain of the Queen Elizabeth on her final voyage from New York to Southampton in October 1968. I enquired about obtaining a cabin key from the ship as a souvenir memento. In hindsight, over 50 years later, the letter is probably a more interesting keepsake than a key would have been.

 

The second letter is a polite "bug-off" letter from Harland & Wolff in Belfast from 1967, long before Robert Ballard found the ship's remains.

 

The third letter is another "bug-off" letter from Chandris Lines in 1971 concerning the Queen Frederica. This was long before the Internet. Fortunately, so much printed ephemera has now been scanned and is now readily available electronically.

 

In the same box are menus, daily programs, passenger lists, bar sheets and a whole lot of other miscellaneous papers from various liners that sailed from NYC in the 1960's-70's. Back in the day, for a modest $.50 donation to Seaman's Charities, I spent many hours visiting the liners before they sailed; on a good day, I'd race from Pier 84 at 44th Street up to Pier 97 at 57th Street and board as many ships as time would allow. I think one Saturday I managed to board no less than five in the space of about 5 hours.

 

Hope some of this brings back fond memories.

 

Rob

[rkacruiser]

11 minutes ago, ryndam said:

In hindsight, over 50 years later, the letter is probably a more interesting keepsake than a key would have been.

 

I agree.  On the websites of oceanliner memorabilia dealers, cabin keys of many ships can be found.

 

11 minutes ago, ryndam said:

Back in the day, for a modest $.50 donation to Seaman's Charities, I spent many hours visiting the liners before they sailed; on a good day, I'd race from Pier 84 at 44th Street up to Pier 97 at 57th Street and board as many ships as time would allow. I think one Saturday I managed to board no less than five in the space of about 5 hours.

 

Lucky you!  By living in New York, you easily had that opportunity.  It was my family's 50 cent/person donation to the Seaman's Charities in the late 1950's for our visit to the Queen Mary that ignited my interest in "doing what I just witnessed others are doing" as they sailed for Europe.  

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Thank you Ryndam,  Always nice to see personal ephemera.  I would love to see one of your bar lists from the 1960’s.  
 

Your letter from Harland and Wolff is a “keeper” since they no longer exist.  All the White Star records were destroyed.  They sat in a warehouse in Liverpool for years and then, sadly, they were hauled away to a dump.  

Edited December 14, 2020 by CGTNORMANDIE

[Heidi13]

18 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I agree.  On the websites of oceanliner memorabilia dealers, cabin keys of many ships can be found.

 

 

 

There must be thousands available from the days of when they used actual keys, as many pax didn't return them upon disembarkation.

 

As 3rd Officer on the Princess ships, one of my tasks was key control, manufacturing replacement keys every week. On a 750 pax ship I would cut 1/2 dozen to a dozen keys almost every week.

[marco]

We also visited many, many ships in NYC when anyone for 50 cents (later $1.00) could go aboard and check out the ship.  On occasion, we would, just to check it out, but mostly it was to see someone off.  In some instances, there were probably 5 visitors for every passenger. Particularly true when the "Oceanic" sailed for just a 7 day Nassau cruise. The coolers, deli trays, party platters,  pizza boxes, flowers, etc, etc.  You'd think folks were immigrating and you'd never see them again!  Then the band would play out on the deck, the horn would blow and hundreds of folks would be on the dock and folks from the ship would be throwing streamers and confetti as the ship backed out of it's berth, ready to sail down the Hudson.....Yep.....Great Cruising Memories!!!!!

[rkacruiser]

35 minutes ago, marco said:

36 minutes ago, marco said:

 Particularly true when the "Oceanic" sailed for just a 7 day Nassau cruise. The coolers, deli trays, party platters,  pizza boxes, flowers, etc, etc.  You'd think folks were immigrating and you'd never see them again!

Yes, I remember my sailing on the Oceanic; there were many parties underway before sailing!

[rkacruiser]

38 minutes ago, marco said:

Then the band would play out on the deck, the horn would blow and hundreds of folks would be on the dock and folks from the ship would be throwing streamers and confetti as the ship backed out of it's berth, ready to sail down the Hudson.....Yep.....Great Cruising Memories!!!!!

 

The most memorable Bon Voyage Party that I was a part of was when my traveling companion and I sailed on Royal Viking Sky from New York to Copenhagen and continuing on a North Cape Cruise.  My parents drove from Ohio and my Brother and Sister-in-Law drove from the D. C. area to New York to see us off.  I had ordered a couple trays of canapes and a couple bottles of Champagne to be delivered to our stateroom for the party.  All of us toured the ship after we embarked, then went to our stateroom and partied.  "All ashore that's going ashore" was sounded.  My family went up on the roof of Pier 88 and we went out on one of the upper decks where the ship's band was playing.  The whistle sounded, we backed out into the Hudson with people on the pier waving, etc.  There were only 250 guests aboard for the trans-Atlantic sailing, but the number of visitors were many and the joyous, exciting atmosphere aboard and ashore was memorable.  

[Heidi13]

49 minutes ago, marco said:

We also visited many, many ships in NYC when anyone for 50 cents (later $1.00) could go aboard and check out the ship.  On occasion, we would, just to check it out, but mostly it was to see someone off.  In some instances, there were probably 5 visitors for every passenger. Particularly true when the "Oceanic" sailed for just a 7 day Nassau cruise. The coolers, deli trays, party platters,  pizza boxes, flowers, etc, etc.  You'd think folks were immigrating and you'd never see them again!  Then the band would play out on the deck, the horn would blow and hundreds of folks would be on the dock and folks from the ship would be throwing streamers and confetti as the ship backed out of it's berth, ready to sail down the Hudson.....Yep.....Great Cruising Memories!!!!!

Those were great days, as we had similar examples in Southampton, Sydney and Vancouver. With visitors, the ships were all a buzz on TAR days. In those days, the "all ashore" announcements were definitely required. Couple of times we had visitors depart with the pilot.

[rkacruiser]

Another memorable sailing day party was when my Mother and I sailed on S. S. Monterey of the Pacific Far East Lines from Los Angeles to Hawaii, a Hawaiian cruise, and a return sailing from Hawaii to Los Angeles.  We had relatives who lived in the LA area, so we had flown into the city a couple days early to visit with them.  They were visitors aboard the Monterey on the day we sailed, but the party was more subdued due to their age plus they were non-drinkers.  Yet, it was enjoyable.  When we sailed, they were on the pier, we were on one of the open decks with streamers, waving, etc.  After we had pulled away from the pier and was on our way out to sea, my Mother noticed that the bracelet she had been wearing was not on her wrist.  We returned to the area where we had been thinking it had fallen onto the deck.  Not there; we concluded that when she threw some streamers, the clasp had opened and the bracelet went overboard with the streamer.  If there are any scuba divers out there, find out which pier from which the Monterey sailed and do a search of the sea bed near the pier.  You might find a bracelet in all of the years of accumulated muck and silt.  

 

(The bracelet's loss did not dampen that cruise.  This was our first visit to Hawaii and that was more memorable than the bracelet.)

[CGTNORMANDIE]

Because DW and I sailed a number of times back in the 70’s we were witness to many raucous bon voyage parties.  We even participated in a number of them.  One of the wildest was the Amerikanis leaving Boston.  We had a contingent of pax from Southie...South Boston.  To say that they liked to drink would be an understatement.  We saw coolers, cases of beer and bags of ice lining the passageways.  One of the revelers got so wasted he ended up falling asleep on a sofa.  He actually ended up taking the cruise with us...LOL.  In those days you could actually walk down a passageway and get dragged into a cabin party with total strangers...just one big party.  
 

RK, I also remember watching the Oceanic sail from New York Harbor on a Saturday afternoon at 5:00 PM.  Of all the ships sailing that day the Oceanic stood out as the top party ship with the most “spirited” Bon Voyage.  

[marco]

Whenever we sailed on an "Italian Line" ship.... and I can still hear in the back of my head..."La nave e en partenza!"

[George C]

Really miss bon voyage parties and leaving from NYC when I lived there in 70’s and early 80’s . My favorite ship was Rotterdam although Oceanic was also great. Curious did anyone every sail on U S Lines? My first job was working for them as a computer operator in 60’s there headquarters was 1 broadway at tip of Manhattan and we had the perfect view of the Statue of Liberty, never sailed on them but heard lots of great stories.

[ryndam]

On 12/13/2020 at 7:27 PM, CGTNORMANDIE said:

 I would love to see one of your bar lists from the 1960’s.  

Well, you can't just see one...I've scanned several.

From 1969:

The first two images are from the QE2.

The next two images are excerpted from the Bremen's very lengthy wine & bar list.

The next three images are from the Queen Anna Maria.

The final three images are very rare from Voyage #1 of the Caribia (ex-Caronia).

 

Rob

[ryndam]

On 12/13/2020 at 7:27 PM, CGTNORMANDIE said:

  I would love to see one of your bar lists from the 1960’s.  
 

And here are a few more from the 1970's:

From 1970:

Three pages excerpted from a lengthy wine & beverage list from the Amerikanis.

One page from the Rotterdam.

 

From 1971:

Two pages from the bottle price list on the Homeric.

 

And as an unusual coda from 1967:

The final three pages of misc. prices excerpted from a thick Italian Line price list.

 

Rob

[CGTNORMANDIE]

THANK YOU SO MUCH RYNDAM...BOB!!  These really bring back some great memories!  Were you on the Caribia?  Wasn’t she the “Green Goddess” the Caronia?  These bar lists bring back memories of nights at sea spent in a blissful trance.  
 

Loved the skeet shooting for 16 cents per shot...LOL.  

[rkacruiser]

7 hours ago, marco said:

Whenever we sailed on an "Italian Line" ship.... and I can still hear in the back of my head..."La nave e en partenza!"

 

Is this the Italian version of the "all ashore" announcement?  

[CGTNORMANDIE]

7 hours ago, marco said:

Whenever we sailed on an "Italian Line" ship.... and I can still hear in the back of my head..."La nave e en partenza!"

“The sheep es leefing”...

[rkacruiser]

45 minutes ago, ryndam said:

The final three images are very rare from Voyage #1 of the Caribia (ex-Caronia).

 

12 minutes ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

 Were you on the Caribia?  Wasn’t she the “Green Goddess” the Caronia?  

 

I am 99.99% sure she was Cunard's former Green Goddess.

 

Ryndam, many, many thanks for your contribution!  Those lists bring back so many memories.  And, oh my, look at the prices!

[ryndam]

14 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

I am 99.99% sure she was Cunard's former Green Goddess.

 

 

This is a really good website for all things Caronia/Caribia aka "Green Goddess".

https://www.*****.info/home.php

 

There's a whole section about the ship's very brief life as Caribia (of which I was a contributor).

https://www.*****.info/caribiandx.php

 

Rob

[Heidi13]

The Cunard pax prices in the 60's were actually very reasonable, compared to current mark-up. For a comparison, from 1975, our cost from slops chest was 5 pennies, or 10 c per beer. So with inflation, Cunard wasn't too expensive in the 60's.

 

We purchased full bottles of Whisky, etc for 75 p or US $1.50. Moet was really expensive at just under UKP 2, or about US $3.50 per bottle.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

13 hours ago, ryndam said:

 

This is a really good website for all things Caronia/Caribia aka "Green Goddess".

https://www.*****.info/home.php

 

There's a whole section about the ship's very brief life as Caribia (of which I was a contributor).

https://www.*****.info/caribiandx.php

 

Rob

Thanks so much Ryndam...Bob.  The websites you have posted are superb historical references.  Cunard was just recovering from WW II when Caronia made her debut.  All their tonnage had been tied up in the war.  It would take more than four years before Cunard got their ships in working order and sailing on schedule.  They were taking a gamble on Caronia that would pay off big time.  They bet a new ship that they could attract a new crop of affluent passengers mostly Americans.  Remember that America had just come out of the biggest World War in history.  This on top of a severe Great Depression that lasted more than a decade.  Nobody new what was going to happen going forward.  Fortunately WW II had created a new economy.  More than 90% of all manufactured goods sold worldwide, in 1949, were made in America.  Cunard was betting that they could tap into this new market.  The Caronia quickly became known as the Green Goddess...”the millionaires ship”  The rest, as they say, is history.  

[CGTNORMANDIE]

14 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Ryndam, many, many thanks for your contribution!  Those lists bring back so many memories.  And, oh my, look at the prices!

Calculating drinks at 60 cents and fast forward to now at 10 times the previous rate.  That would be $6.00 a drink...still cheap compared to the going rates they charge today.  

[CGTNORMANDIE]

11 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

The Cunard pax prices in the 60's were actually very reasonable, compared to current mark-up. For a comparison, from 1975, our cost from slops chest was 5 pennies, or 10 c per beer. So with inflation, Cunard wasn't too expensive in the 60's.

 

We purchased full bottles of Whisky, etc for 75 p or US $1.50. Moet was really expensive at just under UKP 2, or about US $3.50 per bottle.

AHHHHH those were the days.  Yes drinks were a lot cheaper in those days.  When I sailed to England in 1965 I took $110 with me for three weeks.  I still had money when I got home.  A bottle of Moët at $3.50 now times ten would be $35.00 still a lot cheaper than the $50-$60 they are currently charging.  

[marco]

Just checking "currency values".....50 cents in 1969 would be equivalent to $3.50 today.  I don't think you could get an alcoholic drink on ANY ship for $3.50 today.  But then again, we paid approx $350 for a 7 day cruise in  an inside cabin in1969 and today that value would be approx $2500.  No mainstream line is charging $2500 for an inside cabin for a 7 day cruise, so they have to make their money on something other than the cruise fare and drink prices is one way..

[rkacruiser]

8 hours ago, marco said:

No mainstream line is charging $2500 for an inside cabin for a 7 day cruise, so they have to make their money on something other than the cruise fare and drink prices is one way..

 

Including shore excursions, the photo shop, the spa, etc.  Have to keep those dividends coming to us shareholders, at least in the "days of old".