Seabreeze

[luvscruzin]

Does anyone remember what year the Seabreeze sank? I think it was enroute for repairs maybe? Does anyone know exactly what happened? Sailed her back in 1996 and remember having a great time. Small, older ship, but lots of fun.

[dougnewmanatsea]

I believe it was December 2000, only a few months after Premier bankruptcy. She was owned by a subsidiary of the investment firm Donlandson, Lufkin and Jenrette who were investors in Premier. I believe DLJ claimed at the time that she was suitable for further trading but there were also abundant rumors that they were planning to sell her for scrap.

 

She ostensibly sank because of heavy seas off the US East Coast (Virgnia, or perhaps North Carolina IIRC). I don't know much more specific information as there hasn't ever been all that much released that I know of. I do know that several conspiracy theories have floated around which I personally do not buy into for various reasons.

[Lisa63]

Yes, she sank in December 2000. The ~40 crew members on board were all saved in an heroic rescue by the U.S. Coast Guard.

 

All we know for certain is that the engine room flooded during heavy seas.

[HOSKI]

I remember this also. I believe we were in the port that took impounded her from. We thought it was funny that she sank and heard the rumors of how she was insured way above value.

[GayleR]

Our first cruise was on the Seabreeze back in October 1989. We were originally sailing to the Eastern Caribbean, but due to a hurricane, we went the western route instead. The first night out from Miami, the ship was rockin and rollin :confused: . Not good for a first time cruiser:o , but I went to bed, got up the next morning, and all was well. We were out of the rough seas. I have fond memories of that ship.

[Bonnie J.]

WE loved the tiny SeaBreeze and the Dolphin and sailed both plus OceanBreeze before Premier bought them. Sailed SeaBreeze 5 times. It sank off VA & our NC coast.(We live right on the coast.)

It was a local news story with pictures of the crew being pulled up to our Coast Guard helicopter by the ship's pool. It was on its way south after being repossessd in August, I think in Nova Scotia, in mid cruise. It sank in 3,000 feet of water, too deep to even think about floating her. The picture of her going under was something to see! We really miss the old tiny ships with less than 1,000 passnegers! They were so much fun. We're still in contact with people we met on the SeaBreeze!

[worldsbestcandles]

It was my one and only (So far!) cruise experience... I had just turned 18 and danced on the Seabreeze for a short time in the summer of 97.... what a wake up call! It was beautiful, but I would never want to work on a cruise ship!

 

Imagine my surprise to see a shot of her sinking on 60 Minutes 3 years later... I remember the year we sailed the Carnical Destiny sailed out itinerary and our top deck wasn't even above their lifeboats! The ship only held 800 passengers....how things have changed.... in 10 years no less!

[perras]

Loved that old Seabreeze..

Was our first seven day cruise on that ship,

in 1992..Went on it again in 1999, and it was in kinda rough shape,

the sailing was delayed a couple hours, due to an engine problem..

Since the ship was only half full, they had only one dinner seating that week.

I had the most fun on that ship, less people, more partying,

no lines to wait in..! We've been on about 18 cruises now, and even

with all the anemities of the new ships, my fondest memories are of that ship..

[OhioGirl]

I have to agree...I started on Carnival, but went on the Dolphin 4 twice, and if you look at my signature at the bottom of this, you'll see I sailed on the SeaBreeze over 10 times..I even met the guy I'm seeing on my first sailing of the SeaBreeze...(we were friends for years, and started seeing each other 3 years ago..) I have such fond memories of her...from staying in cabin C-6

(the only time I got sea sick!) and tried to find my way back to my cabin during my first dinner on-board..not fun!!

I took my God-daughter for her graduation 1997 (she has now completed 4 cruises.. ) I love the older ship...the SeaBreeze, OceanBreeze and the Norway...too bad the cruise industry keep thinking bigger is better! I think if they made them smaller, people would be willing to pay a little more, for the luxury, of not having to stand in lines, bigger rooms, and much more interactions with the crew staff and other passengers....

 

Wish they could bring some of the Premier ships back into service..or re-design and build (with the new safety requirements) some smaller ships..

 

I know wishful thinking!!!

[Lisa63]

I have such fond memories of her...from staying in cabin C-6

(the only time I got sea sick!) and tried to find my way back to my cabin during my first dinner on-board..not fun!!!

C-6... that was one of the cabins forward of the small lounge, right? I could never figure out how to get there, despite trying several times.

 

Fortunately, our cabins were a bit easier to find... F055 our first time and E017 the second. We had D-16 booked for a cruise that never happened. :(

[OhioGirl]

Lisa you are right..C-6 was a great room, awful location..very difficult to find, especially when when your not feeling well...

 

We were on one of the last cruises on the SeaBreeze...we arrived for our sailing on Sunday, and the ship didn't pass inspection..they put us all up at a Ft. Lauderdale hotel (my carry on bag was left at the pier!..long sorry) but what an awful way to start a trip..

 

But all in all..it was fun..we celebrated my GodDaughters engagment (her husband gave her the ring in the restaurant in front of 12 family and friends..)

too cool...

 

Again, if she hadn't sank, if they would have kept her here in the states...

and got her up to codes..I would have continued sailing her...over and over..

 

I have been buying little things from e-bay, with the SeaBreeze logo...along with some Dolphin IV logo...(so nice to rememeber some of my wonderful first cruises....)

[travel-to-go]

This is a very old thread, but I haven't come over to this board before.

I, too was on one of the last cruises of the Seabreeze (or at least within her last year)

I chose her for several reasons. I went to Seabreeze High School (Daytona Beach Fl class of 72- Yes I am o-o-o-l-d!) And a Parrothead club had done the same cruise to riotous fun that I sort of regretted not being on,- I also liked the itenerary. Belize, Roatan, Not your usual Eastern/Western same ol', same ol'.

We took an outside cabin but it was pretty decrepit. I seem to remember it being way aft, and on a very low deck. A/C barely worked, and they kept trying to fix it. Finally ended up leaving ceiling tiles open Our Steward was a doll- very friendly, always trying to please. I still have our free bathrobes, also. One still in the plastic bag!

What a cruise!

We always become freindly with crew, staff and entertainers. Well, the entertainer was someone I actually knew! He did a routine of Jimmy Buffett and also Neil Diamond (and was good at both) I think he's in Vegas now- Hollywood Legends. As the cruise went along, strange things began to happen. Suddenly, every day we started getting brand new linens- like never been used before! We questioned some staff and were told on the QT that the ship was running out of water. They didn't have enough fresh water on board to do the laundry- hence, the broke out the fresh linens. That explained a lot. You see, this was the year following the devastating Hurricane Mitch, which did tremendous damage (and sank the Windjammer flag ship the Fantome) and killed thousands of people in Central America- Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua. Well, there was some business on the Isle of Roatan. They had taken a lot of infrastructure damage the previous year. It seems that our captain, according to rumors from the staff and crew, had sold our fresh water to the Island! The next thing we knew, it was announced that we would be making an unscheduled stop... In Mexico (Cozumel, where we had stopped earlier in the cruise) ...to take on drinking water! We had also been told not to drink water from our sinks, mid-cruises, only from the drinking water on the lido deck! Now if you needed drinking water, where is the first place you would NOT stop for it! Mexico!

 

While in Belize, there was a gay scuba club from Tampa on board who had planned a two tank dive through the shore excursions desk. This was a pretty large group. They took the ferry in to Belize and were picked up on the dock, as planned. The tour operator got them midway out to nowhere, and announced, not only did they not have enough tanks for everyone, half of them weren't even full! And the didn't have enough gas to get where the were going! It seems as though some rogue operator had picked them up..or something. Well, this nearly caused a mutiny on board the ship. There were angry meetings in the library, demands of refunds oftheir money for the scuba trip. (I seem to remember something about them almost getting stranded or threatened with being left if they didn't pay that tour operator as they were out in the middle of the sea off of Belize.

 

Well, this was nothing compared to what came next.

This cruise was the last week in October. That encompassed Halloween and the famous week of Fantasty Fest in Key West.

Key West is a gay-friendly town. Fantasy Fest is a mix of a little of everything, but amongst the festivities is a parade and ball which is more "drag" than not. There were men on board this ship who had booked this cruise all the way from San Francisco (with the added air fare) for this particular cruise for the express purpose of attneding this drag queen ball. Some of these men had bought $3000.00 gowns to go in drag!

 

Suddenly, the Captain announced that we had lost our berth at the new pier in Key West, and would have to tender in (Sold it is more like it) Well, this did not make many folks happy. I had just spent the previous week in Key West (at the Parrothead convention. along with Barry, the entertainer) and new that Premier "owned" that berth for that time. This was shortly after Key West started allowing cruise ships back in, and there weren't that many ships stopping there as yet.

 

Well, on our way to Key West, an announcement was made that the weather was too rough to tender and that we would be skipping that stop and going straight to Miami (or Ft Laud- I forget now) I've done a lot of cruising and tendering. And I honestly believe this was not rough.

Well, talk about a near-mutiny! There were a lot of very sullen, very angry people on that ship. These folks had taken this specific ship, one of the few to stop at Key West, expressly for the purpose of being there during Fantasty Fest!

 

Well, there were more things that added up after the fact, and we had gotten some inside information, but I guess it should have come as no surprise when the line went bankrupt a short time later. (for the second time- Once as Premier Cruises, once as Premier Cruiselines) Her ships were told to put in at the nearest port. A couple, including he Seabreeze, were in Montreal, or Halifax, due to the New England fall Leaf Peeper cruises. One was in Rome, I think (Citavecchia) where the crew was not allowed off the ship, and the ship was taken over and held pending payment to the port authorities. The ship was seized. Soon they ran out of food, fuel (hence Air conditioning and power to keep toilets running) and water. The crew was "held hostage" Finally, someone managed to get communications out- cell phone I guess and web pages sprang up to free these poor folks who were living in unsanitary conditions with no food or water (or very little) The government finally let them go.

 

The ships bounced back and forth in ownership, finally ending up with Jenrette, as someone mentioned. Seabreeze was towed to New York. Then the decision was made to scrap her. She started out, then suddenly an announcement was made that she would be refitted, I think in Newport News, and would sail once again! Those of us who loved her were cheered. Then the next thing we knew, she was taking on water in the engine room in fifty foot seas, off the continental shelf. The USCG sent two Sea Stallions for the sea rescue, creating a record for the most people on a Sea Stallion on one of the trips. I still remember the pictures of the Captain- a short, older, Greek man- I didn't have nice thoughts about him at the time (There were other rumors about decisions made on the ship attributed to him, too) I had the pictures from the USCG's web page bookmarked, but apparently they get archived after six months. I searched and searched to try to find them a few years ago, but to no avail Seeing the pictures taken from the Helicopter of that odd shaped wimming pool and all those deck charis piled up, the ship listing greatly, All I could thinks was that I swam in that pool. I sat in those chairs!

 

A very sad story. The insurance company paid off, as there was no way to bring her up from the depths she just happened to be at, most amazingly- Why wouldn't a worn out ship going to be refitted hug the shore, one might ask? Who knows. I believe her registry was Liberia- Which is another story entirely, as many in the ship business know. So no investigation was ever done. Case closed. A most humiliating end for the Seabreeze.

 

RIP

[seababe]

Oh we LOVED the ols "Breeze" sailed on her 7 times once a b 2 b she was quite a gal I have dishes from her ! it was family we had C-10 and put our snorkel gear in the bidget !

long live the Breeze as she is amoung the fishes just couldn 't have had a better time we had a group of 16 and decorated the tables etc. Next trip is Sat Nov. 26 Princess Sapphire my 50 th cruise I would much rather have been on the Seabreeze cindy Seal beach Ca.

[mousy56]

Seabreeze was my dear husband and my first 7 night cruise. Won it on a cruise auction with some friends. We went in Feb. or Mar of 1999 to the Panama Canal. What a great crew! I also won $800.00 on video poker which more than paid for our cruise. LOL I couldn't believe it when I saw her sinking. :-(

Michelle