Canberra

[Slow Foxtrot]

I spent 22 nights on Canberra in 1990 and the experience put me off cruising for 6 years!

Canberra worked in reverse vs the new builds (like Ventura etc) as regards looks, inside & out.

 

To compare a ship built 47 years ago to modern ships such as Ventura is fatuous in the extreme. Despite the ship apparently not suiting Mr Monocled Mutineer, if anyone cares to visit http://www.sscanberra.com they will get a true picture of the great affection in which Canberra was held by captains, crew and passengers alike.

[tom_uk]

No-one's arguing about the affection with which Canberra was held. I think that what Derek is saying is that although Canberra certainly looked beautiful she was not, by the end of her life, able to meet the requirements of today's cruise passengers, e.g. the need for universal provision of private facilities, and that this contrasts with Ventura which looks quite ugly but has fabulous facilities.

 

Presumably P&O also felt this way, since first they built a new ship, based very much on the Canberra experience but with all the facilities required, and then withdrew and scrapped Canberra herself. It's interesting that Oriana, with much the same passenger capacity, ended up with a GRT about 45% higher in order to provide those services.

 

I never cruised on Canberra but I always followed her progress with interest. When I was a small boy in the late 50s we used to visit relatives in Belfast, by ferry from Heysham and Liverpool, and I remember sailing up Belfast Lough and seeing Canberra during her construction several times. She impressed me mightily.

[Laticfanatic617]

Did they ever have Norovirus on the Canberra ?

 

When I first started cruising, about 15 years ago there was never any mention of Norovirus. It is only during the last 5 years or so that there has been so much coverage of Norovirus on cruise ships. .

 

 

probably the same reason why a class at any primary school will have loads of kids on inhalers and similar medication, whereas 20+ yrs ago they were never heard of! all down to our ability to fight infections etc..

 

hands up who ate dirt when they were young!

[The Monocled Mutineer]

Tom_UK:

 

Thank you for your excellent reply. Summed up very well.

 

~~~

 

Slow Foxtrot:

 

Your reply referencing my reply. I was contrasting the attractiveness of the Canberra externally vs the Ventura and then relating the same to the interiors and facilities but with an opposite result.

 

My favourite ever cruise on a P&O'er was on the Victoria - a ship about 5 years younger than the Canberra. She was attractive inside and out. I hope that isn't too fatuous for you.

 

I do not deny that Canberra is held with great affection by past passengers and officers. With a couple of exceptions (Crow's Nest), most of her interiors, private and public (that stinkhole, the Cricketers) were awful, in my view.

 

~~~

 

Sunny Side of Sale:

 

I ate dirt as a kid. (50s/60s). Still didn't stop me getting asthma!

[Laticfanatic617]

 

Sunny Side of Sale:

 

I ate dirt as a kid. (50s/60s). Still didn't stop me getting asthma!

 

 

ah..obviously not the 'northern' variety around these parts then eh? ;)

[Slow Foxtrot]

.....My favourite ever cruise on a P&O'er was on the Victoria .....

 

I do not deny that Canberra is held with great affection by past passengers and officers. With a couple of exceptions (Crow's Nest), most of her interiors, private and public (that stinkhole, the Cricketers) were awful, in my view..

 

Obviously 'the Cricketers', being a sports-type tavern, may not appeal to non-smokers and neither would similar rooms on the majority of other ships. I don't smoke myself but never at any time did I find it a 'stinkhole' as you so delicately put it. I feel, however, that few experienced cruisers would agree that 'most of Canberra's interiors, private and public, were awful' If that were the case then the 'great affection by past passengers' that you refer to would simply not make sense.

I must agree that Oriana was (and still is) a great P & O ship that embodied many of the best attributes of Canberra. But it was built in a different generation so comparisons seem pointless. Never the less, Canberra had many fine public rooms and the classical piano recitals in the elegant Meridian Room have yet to be bettered for atmosphere on any ship. It's true that there was no rock-climbing and ice skating as featured on some of today's slab-sided monstrosities, but on the other hand I doubt there will be web-sites extolling the virtues of these vessels in another forty years!

[Royalty X]

I spent two months on the Canberra back in 88/89 as part of her world cruise. I have such great memories of the old girl. The pics of her being scrapped are heartbreaking though. :(

[C at Sea]

We sailed on Canberra 3 times - 1995/6/7. Infact we sailed on her Farewell Season.

We hold her in great affection and she was the reason why we got hooked on cruising.

However, looking back I really cannot understand why! We had an inside cabin without private facilities - which now fills me with horror, but then we quite happily trotted down the corridor to use the loo or have a shower! I just cant imagine it now! Though I was younger then so maybe I wasnt so fussy!!

The cabins had 4 berths in them and our daughter shared with us but we had to pay an extra supplement to ensure we had sole occupancy of the cabin! Single travellers would share with strangers and think nothing of it! Again remarkable today!

We remember small outbreaks of what we termed "bugs" and what is now termed Novorvirus. Infact on our last cruise on Canberra, there was a really bad outbreak and a huge proportion of the ship went down with it. We were lucky, on our corridor section of 6 cabins only ours escaped it! Ofcourse in those days no-one mentioned the term Norovirus. There were daily announcements about the situation by the Captain and you would see crew dresses like spacemen fumigating cabins! There were also lots of mumblings about sueing etc.

Once while talking to a Captain at a Welcome Party onboard another P&O ship, we mentioned we'd started off cruising on Canberra. He replied that he remembered her well and that towards the end of her cruising life, every morning they would check what part of her had fallen off that day!

Through it all though we always enjoyed our cruises and even now as we sit on our cabin balcony in relative luxury we affectionately say "Do you remember when..."