Saga Rose Greenland Voyager August 2007

[Saga Ruby]

Admiral Ma’am takes this opportunity to memorialize our organizational status at this time:

 

1. A kazoo band for piping passengers aboard.

 

2. A flag of convenience, either Liechtenstein or Burkina Faso. Liechtenstein is landlocked, rich, and Admiral Ma’am has a passing acquaintance with Hans-Adam II, the reigning monarch, so perhaps this country is a good choice. Back in the day, the monarch’s "kids" used to run around the country’s acreage in Gogomobiles. And a mountainous country for a maritime proprietary is perfect.

 

3. We have a Founding Father, a Chief Engineer, a Chief Financial Officer (that would be you, D’maniac of Kapricorn), a Scot who seems to be missing in action, and Michael, our Security Officer who is in charge of the Israeli security guards - or Gurkhas, as he so chooses. And we are in the market for an Executive Chef whose staff can produce wild loin of reindeer with lingonberry sauce, aged pheasant (not the canned variety) and chocolate Whiskey cake, with further menus to be discussed at a later date.

 

4. A decision about using real cabin keys - or not.

 

5. A note to all you lurkers out there: Everyone on the Nostalgia Cruise will be getting "end of cruise" accounts to be settled regardless of their activity in posting. D’maniac, who can count propeller rotations, will be handling personal accounts and we are confident that he will not miss one penny, pence, lira, franc, deutschmark, euro, peso, dirham, Aussie dollar, Egyptian pound . . . .

 

6. The NC swipe card needs a name because every good cruise line has a cutesey-poo designation for their onboard account cards. The "James Cook" card? The "Neptune" card? The "Ariel" card? Thoughts?

 

7. Open seating or traditional? On this point, Admiral Ma’am must speak ex cathedra as does Il Papa and hereby directs that anyone eating in the grand dining room must look nice. You know it when you see it.

 

8. Our kind appreciation to Conte for brilliantly supplying the ship’s logo and company flag. Negotiations have commenced with Liechtenstein for a FOC lacking any further input.

 

9. It is the Purser’s Office, not Reception.

 

10. All decks and railings are teak, as are all deck chairs, and there are 2 more chairs than there are passengers. The Nostalgia Cruise is never crowded. There are no 4-story atrium elevators nor is there a single piece of neon onboard. Mirrors placed with discretion are allowed.

 

All input, thoughts, and comments are welcomed.

 

Admiral Ma’am

[Druke I]

Gurkhas are good, as are the Israelis, but top-notch is GSG9, Germany.

 

Reference the flagging, have you considered UAE, Dubai in particular? They are particularly efficient in many ways.

 

Although I think of my self as a traditionalist, I do like the open seating arrangements in Oceania's dining rooms very much.

[dougnewmanatsea]

Actually the official name of the Italian Line is Italia Societa per Azione di Navigazione, (Italia the Company for the Advancement of Navigation).

Thanks, slight slip of the mind there - I am pretty sure "Societa _ di Navigazione" is the format for some Italian shipping company names though, isn't it?

 

Of course Italia no longer exists, having disappeared into CP Ships a few years ago (along with other great names like Lykes Lines), only for that to be taken over shortly after by Hapag-Lloyd.

 

So rather oddly, Hapag-Lloyd is now the official successor of Italia.

 

But Italia's parent, Finmare, is still around in the form of Gruppo Tirrenia.

[Kapricorn]

All input, thoughts, and comments are welcomed.

Admiral Ma’am

 

What kind of ships would be in the Nostalgia Cruise fleet? Apartment blocks on barges or 25,000-ton luxury ships with no more than 650 passengers?

 

Even though the fleet would be under the flag of Liechtenstein, would the crew be all Italian? I appreciate their kind of service.

 

As for dinner seating, I have mixed opinions. I like traditional, to sit with the same group of table companions with table attendants who know my preferences. However, 5:30pm or 6:00pm is way too early for me, and 8:30pm is too late. I don't know what is a good compromise.

 

The "Neptune" card sounds like a good name. No chunky cabin keys for me!

 

Michael must be adrift in a BC Ferries lifeboat?

 

D'maniac of Kapricorn.

[Druke I]

Why would I be adrift in a BC ferryboat?

 

I am in a landlocked part of NorCA! Perhaps something was lost in the translation.

[Saga Ruby]

Why would I be adrift in a BC ferryboat? I am in a landlocked part of NorCA! Perhaps something was lost in the translation.

 

Our Chief Financial Officer has confused the names of Michael and Graham, our missing Scots friend. The CFO is superb with numbers but not so facile with names.

 

About dining on the Nostalgia Cruise - I enjoyed open dining on Nautica but do like traditional for reasons already stated. The waiters quickly know your preferences, and I don't have to memorize 7 names at each dinner seating. On a 25-day cruise, that's a lot of names! I don't really care one way or the other; either choice suits me and is not a deal killer in choosing a cruise.

 

I followed the link for Europa and am very interested in that ship. Size, style, service all seem topnotch. An all-German passenger list would be a new challenge for me - it would be fun to have intensive German lessons while onboard.

 

Ruby

[JDRMYS]

My partner and I are off across the pond -- by air, alas -- but we'll be taking 2 ships once we get there. The 1st is P&O's 40,000+ ton ferry Pride of Bilbao which we are taking from Portsmouth to Bilbao. The 2nd is the Europa which we are taking for 9 days from Barcelona to Santa Cruz de Tenerife. We've decided to see for ourselves if the Europa is really as fabulous as its reputation.

 

We still prefer crossing oceans by sea and are booked for transatlantics on the Seven Seas Voyager (our 4th TA on her) in 2008 and on the new Seabourn Odyssey in 2009. I sure hope the Europa is good enough to compensate us for giving up what is turning out to be our annual November westbound TA.

 

On another topic: On my first TA, in 1967 with my father, we were on the old Queen Elizabeth in 1st class. There were no cabin keys at all. Later, as I seemed to end up, by chance, on the last voyages of the France, the Gripsholm, and the Kungsholm, I started to purloin my cabin keys as souvenirs.

[Kapricorn]

Our Chief Financial Officer has confused the names of Michael and Graham, our missing Scots friend. The CFO is superb with numbers but not so facile with names.

Ruby

 

I confess that I am atrocious with remembering names, and which is who!

 

On my first TA, in 1967 with my father, we were on the old Queen Elizabeth in 1st class. There were no cabin keys at all. Later, as I seemed to end up, by chance, on the last voyages of the France, the Gripsholm, and the Kungsholm, I started to purloin my cabin keys as souvenirs.

 

These cabin keys certainly wouldn't be missed by the ships' companies, being the last voyages. These would be valuable memorabilia. I'm sure that I had a cabin key on the Victoria in 1972, as well as on the Song of Norway in 1982, though Ruby said that she didn't have cabin keys until the late 1980s. Do let us know what you think of the Europa.

 

Donald D'maniac.

[Kapricorn]

FYI, I'll be out of action November 1 to 5, when I will be enjoying the sun and action in Palm Springs. I'll be staying with a former class-mate (and her husband) from school times way back in 1955-1958.

 

D'maniac of Kapricorn.

[Saga Ruby]

Admiral Ma'am appreciates the advance notice of our CFO being on leave for a few days. Soaking up the rays of the sun is an admiral, uh, admirable pursuit for a citizen of Vancouver in November.

 

Would that be a direct or nonstop flight from Vancouver to Palm Springs?

 

Ruby

[Conte Di Savoia]

We had a pleasant time aboard C. Columbus on Monday. We were a group of nine, all travel agents except for my partner and me. The line toured us around after Champagne cocktails followed by a lunch in the restaurant. It was a near-cruise experience. Columbus will not be doing its annual Great Lakes cruises for the foreseeable future because the water level has fallen in the lakes making it difficult to navigate the locks and some harbors. The famous lakers, the bulk carriers which move ore and grains etc. have had to lighten their loads. More global change. I did pick up a brochure on Europa. It looks wonderful to me. One day we will make it on board. I look forward to JDRMYS's comments upon return. Welcome aboard JDRMYS. My partner and I live not too far from you. We are opposite Fire Island Lighthouse but on "the mainland".

[Kapricorn]

Would that be a direct or nonstop flight from Vancouver to Palm Springs?

 

Ruby

 

I am flying on Alaska Airlines. Going south, I'm on a small Horizon Air craft to Seattle, changing planes after a short interval for a 737 nonstop to Palm Springs. On the route back home , the 737 has a brief stop in San Francisco, but I don't get off, and stay on to Vancouver. No more than 5 hours of traveling either way. I will be quite comfortable as long as the schedules are adhered to.

 

D'maniac.

[Saga Ruby]

I will be quite comfortable as long as the schedules are adhered to. D'maniac.

 

I hope the schedules are on-time for your flights. Tell me something - as you come and go in the US, do you Canadians have an easy time of it or do you constantly go thru Immigration procedures like we do internationally? After 9/11, I assume the tone and timbre changed at the "border" but maybe there is an expedited way of ingress and egress.

 

Ruby

[Kapricorn]

Ruby, Canadians flying by air have quite an easy time entering the USA, using passports (though they must be without criminal records). Before embarking on cruises in Vancouver to Alaska, Canadians and Americans go breezily through the same USA customs booths, while all those from outside North America are directed to another group of booths where they are fingerprinted and photographed.

 

Until two or three years ago, Canadians had to surrender their passports at American cruise terminals and, with other "aliens," submit to USA customs scrutiny at the end of cruises before disembarkation, but this is no longer the case.

 

At Vancouver International Airport, USA insists on having USA-bound passengers remove their shoes for scrutiny through the X-Ray machines. Sigh. We don't do that in Canada for internal flights.

 

D'maniac.

[Saga Ruby]

Welcome aboard JDRMYS.

 

I also look forward to hearing comments from a recent Europa passenger so pull up a deck chair when you return and tell us all about it. Admiral Ma'am has ordered a kazoo salute upon your arrival at the gangway.

 

To Conte: I bought the Greenland/Iceland cruise video on Saga Rose and asked the photog (Mark) if the NTSC, rather than PAL, system was possible so I could watch it at home. He promised to run it off in NTSC system mode and I thought, "Uh huh." He said he would leave it under my door on Disembarkation Day. This scenario seemed doomed for failure as the photog’s office is always busy on Last Day. But sure enough, when I awoke, the DVD was under my door, I brought it home, and it works just fine on my DVD. This whole magilla is a new concept to me. How strange and wonderful to come home and see the Inuit choir on Saga Rose singing "Amazing Grace" in my own living room.

 

I have been musing about the grand staircase and dining room on Saga Rose. For 25+ years, I have dreaded the baked Alaska parade on "my" ship and yet somehow Saga Cruises pulls it all together quite nicely with the staircase and sparkler parade. What puzzles me is that the oh-so-studied staircases on the mass market behemoths have no impact on me whatsoever. Perhaps the forced "fun factor" of mass markets are a turn-off for me.

 

I was caught by surprise about the Great Lakes cruises being unavailable for now. I think of the Kiel Canal and other European rivers as being unnavigable at times, but didn't realize that the cargo carriers on the Great Lakes are having to compensate for this warming climate. Very interesting.

 

Ruby

[Druke I]

Reference the Great Lakes - there is a rumor that Hornblower Yachts may buy the two Cape Class packet ships built for now defunct Delta Queen Co., and run them into the Great Lakes.

 

Ships, built shortly before 9-11, are in "as new" condition, and stored by MarAd.

[JDRMYS]

You do seem to live very close to our summer house. If you are in Bay Shore, you are only about 10 minutes from our ferry terminal. When we drive between the Island and the city we go right past you. Our favorite route is via Ocean Parkway which is a longer ride in miles, but a faster and much prettier one.

 

We were invited on the Columbus last year, but I had an important business appointment and had to decline the invitation. I had hoped that we would be invited this year, but we weren't.

 

We are looking forward to the Europa. We have recived our documents which are quite different from those for cruise lines catering to Americans. There is no ticket other than the cruise ID & credit card. Each card has the cruiser's name, passport number and nationality, cabin number, cruise number, embarkation port and debarkation port listed. There is also contact information and there are 2 sets of luggage tags: one set for the outside of our suitcases and one set for the inside. There is no shore excursion book or anything else that attempts to sell us anything.

 

It is interesting that much of the information that is on the credit/key cards is information that most of us Americans would consider to be very private and confidential.

[dougnewmanatsea]

My partner and I live not too far from you. We are opposite Fire Island Lighthouse but on "the mainland".

That means three of us here live within about 10 mi of each other :eek: .

 

We should meet sometime. Do you ever go to any of the "shippy" events in NYC?

[Conte Di Savoia]

You do seem to live very close to our summer house. If you are in Bay Shore, you are only about 10 minutes from our ferry terminal. When we drive between the Island and the city we go right past you. Our favorite route is via Ocean Parkway which is a longer ride in miles, but a faster and much prettier one.

 

Yes, we are in Bay Shore and we love to use the Ocean Parkway as well. Occasionally we have spotted cruise ships sailing along that route as they approach or leave NYC. Last year when we sailed on QM2 on a crossing, we sailed passed Fire Island light about three hours after leaving the pier in Brooklyn.

For our "out of town" members of the group I should explain that the Fire Island Lighthouse, built in 1858 and at that time the tallest building in New York State, was where transatlantic shipping first made landfall. They then followed the sea lane into New York Harbor. This was the shipping freeway of its day.

 

 

That means three of us here live within about 10 mi of each other :eek: .

 

We should meet sometime. Do you ever go to any of the "shippy" events in NYC?

 

We sometimes attend events sponsored by the Long Island Chapter of the Steamship Historical Society. I know that you have recommended joining the World Ship Society. I guess I should do that. It would be fun to get together for more in depth discussions. By the way, Doug, I am enjoying your new blog which can be found by clicking here.

[JDRMYS]

That means three of us here live within about 10 mi of each other :eek: .

 

We should meet sometime. Do you ever go to any of the "shippy" events in NYC?

 

I belong to World Ship Society and Steamship Historical Society of America, but I rarely go to their events any more. I did used to go to some events (mostly Ocean Liner Museum events) with my late friend Ken Schultz. Actually, I met my partner, 30 years ago, only because I missed a World Ship Society meeting by going to the wrong address.

 

Are there any intersting events coming up?

[Saga Ruby]

I confess total ignorance of Fire Island or the Ocean Parkway. I will pull out my handy dandy Natl Geo World Atlas and try to learn why it takes 3 hours to sail a ship from Brooklyn out to open waters. I also would like to see a photo or sketch of the original Fire Island Lighthouse if it were convenient for posting by a Nostalgia Cruise member.

 

Michael, our security officer, has peaked my interest in a Great Lakes cruise. I am heartily sick of 10-18 hour plane rides and it would be a pleasure to go to an area of the US with which I have no familiarity. I’m now officially confused - can we, or can we not, sail on a yacht or ship in the Great Lakes in 2008? By the bye, Admiral Ma’am looked into hiring a GSG9 security force but we will have to settle for Gurkhas or Israelis, not a bad choice. My German was so poor that the booking office for the GSG9s hung up on me.

 

To JDRMYS - Admiral Ma’am asks if you could give us a more familial name for the Nostalgia Cruise? Her fingers are worn to nubs by using the Caps Lock key for your CCritic name. And when do you sail on Europa?

 

Ruby

[JDRMYS]

1) I'll think about a new name -- but the current one has a sentimental connection.

 

2) We leave home on Wednesday, November 7 but don't board the Europa in Barcelona until November 14. I've spent all day packing 2 suitcases which we are going to ship to our hotel in Barcelona. The hard work is over! We're spending a week getting from Stansted airport to Barcelona (by P&O ferry from Portsmouth to Bilbao; by car, with stops in southwestern France, from Bilbao to Barcelona) and don't want to tote our cruise and formal clothes around with us.

[dougnewmanatsea]

For our "out of town" members of the group I should explain that the Fire Island Lighthouse, built in 1858 and at that time the tallest building in New York State, was where transatlantic shipping first made landfall. They then followed the sea lane into New York Harbor. This was the shipping freeway of its day.

And the first Marconi wireless station in the US was built in Babylon for the same reason. So our little corner of the world has a nice connection with ocean liner history.

 

We sometimes attend events sponsored by the Long Island Chapter of the Steamship Historical Society. I know that you have recommended joining the World Ship Society. I guess I should do that. It would be fun to get together for more in depth discussions. By the way, Doug, I am enjoying your new blog which can be found by clicking here.

Glad you like the blog! Tell your friends ;) ...

 

As you know I belong to both SSHSA-LI and WSS PONY - they are both good organizations with membership that very much overlaps. I don't get to nearly as many events as I'd like but I do as much as I can.

 

I belong to World Ship Society and Steamship Historical Society of America, but I rarely go to their events any more. I did used to go to some events (mostly Ocean Liner Museum events) with my late friend Ken Schultz.

As I imagine you know, the Ocean Liner Museum still exists now as the Ocean Liner Council of the South Street Seaport Museum, and it does still hold events sometimes. This past winter there was a great NORMANDIE Ocean Liner Council event I went to, for example.

 

Are there any intersting events coming up?

Next thing I'm going to is the WSS PONY Ocean Liner Bazaar on 1 December. This is an event as much for socializing as for looking at (and maybe buying) ship memorabilia. (I rarely ever buy anything other than the occasional book since I have neither the budget nor the space for collecting.) It's in a place called the Abigail Adams Smith Auditorium, 417 E 61st St, 10 AM to 2 PM. I forget just how much admission is but it's a token amount (something like $5. If you decide to come let me know so I can look out for you :) .

 

I confess total ignorance of Fire Island or the Ocean Parkway. I will pull out my handy dandy Natl Geo World Atlas and try to learn why it takes 3 hours to sail a ship from Brooklyn out to open waters. I also would like to see a photo or sketch of the original Fire Island Lighthouse if it were convenient for posting by a Nostalgia Cruise member.

It doesn't take three hours to sail a ship from Brooklyn out to open waters. The journey from Brooklyn to Fire Island might be three hours but the overwhelming majority of that is in the open Atlantic (albeit sticking close to land). Parts of Brooklyn are, at least nominally, on the Atlantic, though it does not exactly border on true "open water". The cruise terminal is at the very southern end of the East River (really an estuary) right where it empties into Lower New York Bay and by extension the Atlantic so anyhow, it is not far from the ocean at all.

 

As for the lighthouse, unfortunately I can't find a photo of the original 1826 light on the web. There are lots of photos of the "new" (1858) light including on the offiical lighthouse web site. The lighthouse is one of the most iconic buildings on Long Island and probably the most famous symbol of the Great South Bay (the shallow waterway between Fire Island and the mainland of Long Island).

 

I’m now officially confused - can we, or can we not, sail on a yacht or ship in the Great Lakes in 2008?

You can, just not on as many different ships as you could in other recent years. You can still go on American Canadian Caribbean Line's rather Spartan GRANDE CARIBE or GRAND MARINER. But Hapag-Lloyd has, as pointed out earlier, withdrawn C. COLUMBUS from this market and Cruise West has also withdrawn its SPIRIT OF NANTUCKET (now joining the rest of the fleet on the West Coast), which was on the Lakes for many years as NANTUCKET CLIPPER.

 

C. COLUMBUS was the only "real" (i.e. oceangoing) cruise ship to sail the Lakes for many years. The others are small coastal ships, though a much smaller oceangoing ship, Compagnie des Iles du Ponant's LE LEVANT, also made some Great Lakes cruises earlier in the decade.

 

I quite like the idea of a Great Lakes cruise and am sorry I never got the chance to do one of C. COLUMBUS'. There are a number of other "large" ships that can get in to the Great Lakes, chief among them Monarch Classic Cruises' OCEAN COUNTESS (ex CUNARD COUNTESS) and MSC's RHAPSODY (ex CUNARD PRINCESS). These sisters are, I think, the largest passenger ships that would be able to go through the St. Lawrence Seaway into the Great Lakes. (They're slightly larger than C. COLUMBUS.) However, as far as I know, neither ship has ever been to the Lakes during the 30 years since they were built.

[Saga Ruby]

1) I'll think about a new name -- but the current one has a sentimental connection.

 

Admiral Ma'am wishes to clarify - I have a firm belief that one should use a name with which one is comfortable. My sole concern was that I would get the alpha string upside-down backwards. I ask that you be so kind as to overlook any slip of my dancing fingers and we move on.

 

How long have you been shipping luggage ahead ? I've thought about it (North Pole wardrobe in June then Paris in July) but always shied away for purposes of securing what is nowadays unlocked luggage. I have purposely avoided New York City airports after the "unlocked luggage" rule came into effect.

 

Are you allowed to lock your cases before pick-up by the courier?

 

Ruby

[JDRMYS]

We've been shipping suitcases to cruise ships for more than 10 years. We have been lucky never to have never had a bad experience, yet -- but I'm still afraid that something might happen. We have had some bad experiences with checked suitcases on airplanes.

 

Ususally we use the luggage service recommended by the cruise line. For our Europa cruise, we have assumed that Hapag-Lloyd is not equiped to pick up luggage in the USA for shipping to the embarkation port. Therefore, we are using The Luggage Club which was recommended to us by our TA. We hope that our bags will be at our hotel in Barcelona when we arrive. We will be travelling for 10 days in the UK, Spain and France before we get to Barcelona, and we didn't want to lug all of our bags around with us -- especially not on and off the P&O ferry Pride of Bilbao (40,000 tons, sailing from Portsmouth, UK to Bilbao, Spain) which will certainly not have porters to help us.

 

What is the "unlocked luggage rule"? We always use the TSA approved locks that the TSA can open.