Flavia

[Stowaway70]

I too went aboard as a high school student in 1970 when my class trip took the Flavia to Nassau. But such a trip from Minnesota was too expensive, so I hitch-hiked to Florida over spring break, took a plane over to Nassau ($30 round trip in that bygone era), and stowed away for the three days she was in port. The room steward was wonderful, he just made up an extra bed for me and never said a word. I just stayed in the room with a couple of my friends. Once I realized how easy it was to get onto a cruise ship, I hooked up with a couple pretty girls I'd met the night before the Flavia arrived, grabbed one of my buddies, and the girls sweet-talked the gangplank guys to get us all onto a couple other beautiful ships that were docked in Nassau. So we kind of made the rounds. Buffet overload! Ah, life as a stowaway. How sweet it was. Thanks for the memories.

[racingraysswimmom]

Just by chance I thought I'd look at this thread......WoW! It is great to read the experiences and memories of this ship.

 

Did the Flavia with my junior class at Good Counsel High School in Chicago in June 5 of 1972. It was an all girl HS and our nuns were the chaparones. It was my first plane ride and first cruise. This was a 4 day cruise to Nassau and Freeport.

 

I remember the great pizza and dressing up for dinner. We made friends with the bartenders and were served at age 16. The waiter and busboys tried hard to meet us after their shifts ended. Some of the girls made "dates" but most of us flirted alot and never showed up. Our room was 2 bunkbeds that slept 4 on the Portofino deck. After curfew (midnight) we would sneak out and watch our chaperones have a great time in the show lounge dancing with the Italian officers. What fun!:D

 

I also remember the diving of coins and the kids climbing up the ropes.

 

Speaking of past cruises....has anyone gotten credit for cruises this far back? I have a "C Club" book I had gotten in 1988 while onboard the Carla C, and they had written it in my book. Going on the Mediterranea in March 2008.

[DqALEX]

This ship was my first cruise. I was all of 14 years old. My father booked us and inside cabin, with four of us in there. I also remember going down a deck and you could look through a window and see in the pool underwater. I also remember the old slot machines in the casino, and walking up on the bridge when we got on the ship before we left Miami and no one was on the bridge yet. TRY DOING THAT TODAY. I wish I could remember more

[rgvspike]

I remember sailing on the Flavia back in 75 out of Florida. It was a short 4 day cruise to the Bahamas. It was a great little ship. In a lot of ways you could say its what drove me to start cruiseing again after all the time that past. I went with my family (I was 10, didn't have much choice of saying no) and we had a blast. The food. The staff. The whole thing still brings back a smile.

 

The only downside of the cruise was that the last night my brother sat down in the dinning room and didn't get up for 3 seatings. He ended up having 13 desserts and I threw up the next morning. :eek: LOL.

 

Glad to see the memory of her is still alive and well.

[Cruise Arizona]

My parents went on the Flavia in 1970 as well.

 

If you web search "Flavia Cruise Ship" you'll find a link to my slide show from my parents 1970 cruise. Really fun pictures. They looked like they were having so much fun on that cruise!!!

[Tuney]

My Wife Karen and I sailed out of Miami on 3 day Christmas Cruise in December 1976 for our honeymoon. We each gained 10lbs in those 3 days. The servers just stopped asking me if I wanted to try something on the menu. They just put some of everything on my plate.

 

It was the only cruise we had ever taken until our alaska cruise / tour this year on the HAL MS ZAANDAM. http://angeli-family.us/gallery2/main.php

[deputyfl]

Even though i wasnt on this ship, heres one of the casino chips that was used on the Flavia :)

 

Edited December 12, 2008 by deputyfl

[Ney Ney]

Bruce and I honeymooned on the Flavia in 1976 ! We had the "largest" cabin on the ship and you still had to stand on the bed to look out the tiny porthole, but we loved it !! I can remember the announcements made in Italian as well as English on the loud speaker ! And all the PASTA they served before your entree! But most of all I remember and miss the FLAVIA BAND ! I would LOVE to have a CD of their Italian music.I used to have the 8-track ,but it's long gone, unfortunately !! If anyone knows where I could get one please let me know.Anyway, The FLAVIA was wonderful.She and the NORWAY will always be my favorite ships.Going on # 24 next month! Thanks for the memories !! GINA

 

I know you wrote this a long time ago and may have since found a CD for the Flavia band. If not, I have the album of the band. If I can find a way to have it put on a CD I'd be more than happy to send you a copy. I loved the band too.

[Ney Ney]

I went on my Senior trip in July of 1973 on the Flavia and loved it. I still have so many wonderful memories from that trip.

[Ney Ney]

I went on my Senior trip in July of 1973 on the Flavia and loved it. I still have so many wonderful memories from that trip. What many of you have said brought back those memories. Thanks for whoever started this.:)

[jonad]

The Flavia was the first ship I cruised on, aged 8, in 1963 from Perth (Western Australia) to Genoa (Italy) through the Suez Canal.

Even at that age I had a ball and have loved cruising ever since.

[lorie414]

I sailed the SS Flavia as a 17 year old summer of 1976. My high school jazz band took a trip on the cruise ship, performing several times. We had a blast!

[cruiserdiver]

Wow, thanks for starting this thread. Everyone is right... great little ship with lots of fun! I sailed on the Flavia as a 10 year old kid back in 1975 out of Miami. I shared a cabin with my parents with a tiny porthole and my brothers had a cabin near us. I remember the keys were the old fashioned skelaton looking ones. It was lots of fun with great midnight buffets, great music "si si si la la la"... Yes, I have the signed flavia album too with the great pic of the ship on the inside of the cover. Our waiter Mario used to sing "only 16" to me at the table every night while he pampered all of us. I too remember the local kids climbing up the ropes and diving for the quarters. They would store them in their mouths until it looked like their cheeks were going to pop! That cruise got me hooked on cruising! :D

[cruiserdiver]

Here's our family picture from the Flavia Dining Room. Loved those red and white striped shirts the waiters wore.... ahh memories

[leoandhugh]

As Doug Newman reported FLAVIA began her life as MEDIA of Cunard Lines on which we made a crossing from GB to the USA with a stop in Cornerbrook, Newfoundland for a cargo of rolls of paper for newspapers. She had a sister ship called PARTHIA:)

[turris]

Being italian,i had the opportunity to work in the dining room with Costa for 16 years ,1972 to 1988.I worked on the Flavia on and off from 1973 till the last cruise in march 1982, A very fun ship ,with lot of good memories.:)

[turris]

Being italian,i had the opportunity to work in the dining room with Costa for 16 years ,1972 to 1988.I worked on the Flavia on and off from 1973 till the last cruise in march 1982, A very fun ship ,with lot of good memories.:)

P.S.

A nice picture of the Flavia dining room staff

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1239625507051718856ybxxXj

Edited September 28, 2009 by turris

[NCCruzQueen]

My first cruise was on the Flavia, Easter 1997. Of the 900 passengers, 600 were high school students. My 3 girlfriends and I enjoyed our 3 nighter to Nassau and Freeport, but my first night out, I got sea sick. That was my last cruise until 1992, when I found luxury on the Song of Flower. No comparison.

[Mrs.Linarcos]

P.S.

A nice picture of the Flavia dining room staff

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1239625507051718856ybxxXj

 

I'm glad I have the photo booklet, those are my downloads on Webshots. I didn't take too many interior photos as I did later and I wished I did. My late husband and I sailed on her in the early 80's. I'd loved to see ships that size again. Very homey and comfortable, family. :) :)

[scottish]

I am so glad I looked to see if other CC folk knew the Flavia. As a 12 year old I spent 6 weeks aboard her with my parents and 2 sisters sailing from Adelaide, Australia to Southampton, England in 1967.

My first cruise which I loved every minute of. The Suez Canal was closed at the time and so we sailed round the Cape of Good Hope. Thinking back, she handled the, sometimes, very big seas extremely well.

Will always remember our Crossing the Equator Ceremony in her Pool which had an underwater window that you could view from a deck below.

Thank you all for sharing your memories.

[4girlsgrandma]

wow.... haven't thought about her in a long time. My first cruise ! I thought she was so big. Dining room waiter was Antonio...such a nice guy ! I had no idea how to "prepare" for the rocking & rolling in and out of Nassau and got seasick. Antonio "adopted" me as a patient ...gave me crackers and informed me "no drink, no other eat"...LOL Had a ball and by today's standards she had no bells or whistles... :)

[cruisinonnie]

We did our first cruise on the Flavia July 1976. There were 4 of us in a tiny cabin with bunk beds. One of the beds had a spring that poked out until they turned the mattress. If was fun to dress every night for dinner and if you were more than 10 min late you couldn't get in. The food was wonderful and the wait staff a barrel of laughs. The matride always looked like he just got out of bed. There was a cabin steward Reno who would lurk in the hallways and try to get you to let him show "you something better than dinner" he didn't care if the husbands were around or not. I too still have the album. It was a 4 day cruise and the most sleep any of the 4 of us got was 7 hours total for the entire trip. We didn't want to miss a minute of anything. The walls were all wood and they had to put up these large thick mats to protect them when they were putting the luggage on and off the ship. We are now approaching 40 cruises so I think they made an impression.

[Cruzin Cat]

This is so cool! I recently starting going through my old photographs so I can scan them and I ran across the photo of my Mom and her dining companions on the Flavia. For grins, I decided to do a Google search on the ship to see if I could find any entries and found this series of entries! So glad I did!

My High School Senior class trip was on the Flavia in 1972. My Mom went along as a chaperone. I remember having a great time. It was quite an experience for a group of teenagers from North Carolina! A couple of friends had their motor scooters "stolen" in the Bahamas. We were all quite enamored with the bartenders! :) There were 4 of us girls in an interior room - very chummy! This brings back so many memories. I will have to post some of the photos when I get around to scanning them!

[OhJinkies]

I was just thinking about the Flavia today and found this thread. My first cruise (senior class cruise) was on the Flavia in 1981. I shared a four-bunk stateroom with three other girls, and our destination was the Bahamas. I don't remember a lot about the cruise -- I'm going to have to go find my pictures. Funny, I do remember the bus trip from Orlando to Miami -- we played the "Rumours" album by Fleetwood Mac several times over!

 

I also remember a lounge with an undulating aqua ceiling, and our waiters. The assistant waiter looked a bit like Rick Springfield. Not a fancy or luxe ship but a fun time, for sure!!

Edited August 12, 2012 by OhJinkies

[turris]

Please look for " Flavia Costa Cruise line" on Facebook

 

This the link for the Flavia lovers on Facebook. Ciao.