The Weekly "E-News" Supplement to

Ocean & Cruise News 

A Publication of The World Ocean & Cruise Liner Society

 

by Bill Miller

 

Bill Miller is considered an international authority on the subject of ocean liners.   This includes the great ships of the past, those “floating palaces,” as well as the current generation of cruise ships, the “floating resorts”.  Called “Mr. Ocean Liner,” he has written some 60 books on the subject as well as over 1,000 newspaper & magazine articles.   To date, he has made some 275 voyages on some 200 different ships:   crossings, cruises, coastal mail boat runs and even trips on container cargo ships and tropical banana boats.   A native of Hoboken , the once busy New Jersey port across the Hudson from New York City , Miller was named Outstanding American Maritime Scholar in 1994.  In July 2004, he was selected as the fourth recipient of the Silver Riband Award from the Ocean Liner Council at New York's South Street Seaport Museum. He has also appeared in numerous television documentaries, prepared the immigrant ship database for the Ellis Island Museum, serves on the selection committee of the American Maritime Hall of Fame and is adjunct curator of the Ocean Liner Council at New York’s South Street Seaport Museum.   In 2004, Miller has no less than 6 new books in the works, all of them about passenger ships.     * FUTURE VOYAGES *   The following is my sailing schedule as of the date of publication of this copy of  the "Weekly Update" to Ocean & Cruise News .   Readers are invited to meet me aboard any of the following voyages should they be sailing. Jan. 21st - Crystal Symphony Antarctica, Chilean Fjords & Cape Horn (18 Days from Valparaiso to Buenos Aires) Feb. 19th - Queen Mary 2 Caribbean (7 Days from Fort Lauderdale) Feb. 26th - Queen Mary 2 Caribbean (11 Days from Fort Lauderdale, but ends at New York) Mar. 25th - Seven Seas Voyager  (30 Days from Dubai to Fort Lauderdale) June 4th - Zenith            Bermuda (7 Days from Cape Liberty, New Jersey) Jun. 26th - Silver Cloud            Battle of Trafalgar Fleet Review Cruise (9 Days from Honfleur to Copenhagen) Jul. 17th - Queen Mary 2 Transatlantic (6 Days from New York to Southampton) Jul. 23rd - Queen Mary 2 Norwegian Fjords & Northern Europe (11 Days from Southampton) Aug. 3rd - Queen Mary 2 Transatlantic (6 Days from Southampton to New York) Sep.  3rd - Crystal Symphony Transatlantic (14 Days from Southampton to New York) All trips are subject to change     Membership Office: WORLD OCEAN & CRUISE LINER SOCIETY P.O.Box 329 Northport, NY 11768 Phone: (631) 261-5556 Email: membership@wocls.org Join the World Ocean & Cruise Liner Society Today.. Membership: $30 Per Year - USA $36 Per Year - Foreign Includes: 12 Monthly Issues of Ocean & Cruise News Plus 52 Weekly Issues of this "Weekly E-News Supplement" *   *   *   *  *   Weekly E-News Only Membership Cost: $25 Per Year  for 52 Weekly Issues     Coming In The January Issue of  Ocean & Cruise News New Ships 2005 by Tom Cassidy Ship of the Month The Deutschland by Bill Miller And Much More !!   For Your Marine Bookshelf BILL MILLER CRUISES EVERYWHERE INC. offers an interesting array of ocean liner book titles. Where appropriate, all books come autographed. Our latest listing includes: THE SITMAR LINERS: PAST & PRESENT ... by Peter Plowman, from Rosenberg Publishing in Australia, a splendid, deluxe, oversized hardcover that begins with a color painting on the dustjacket of the Fairstar by Stephen Card ... the rest of the 175-page book is a maritime treasury of fine, mostly unpublished photos and a rich, detailed text ... the great cast of Sitmar passenger ships begins with their earlier, Australia-routed liners such as the Fairsea and Castel Felice, and then changes to Sitmar Cruises in the 1970s and the likes of a new Fairsea, Fairwind & Fairsky. This book is a fine addition to a maritime book shelf — we have a few copies, shipped all the way from Sydney. Not to be missed at $55 a copy. THE NEW YORK HARBOR BOOK  We just received a few copies of this 1986-produced book, published by TBW Books up in Maine and co-authored by Frank Duffy & Bill Miller ... well-created hardcover detailing history & highlights of the great Port of New York: the ships, the shipyards, the great terminals, historic sights ... lots of detail, information & interesting reading ... b&w photos ... $20 per copy.     THE LAST WHITE EMPRESSES  ...by Clive Harvey, from Carmania Press, softcover biography of last three Canadian Pacific Empress liners , 120 pages  With wonderful b&w and color photos, at $33.75 PICTURE HISTORY OF THE QUEEN MARY & QUEEN ELIZABETH    ... by Bill Miller, from Dover Publications, softcover history of Cunard Queens & other fleet members, 128 pages .... $16.95.  (Available from Sept. 3, 2004) PASSENGER LINERS SCANDINAVIAN STYLE ... fine hardcover from Carmania Press, 20th century Scandinavian liners & cruise ships ...$55. PICTURE HISTORY OF THE SS UNITED STATES ... by Bill Miller, from Dover Publications, soft cover history of  great American flagship, 128 pages  ...$16.95. PICTURE HISTORY OF GERMAN & DUTCH LINERS  ... by Bill Miller, from Dover Publications, softcover history of great liners from 1920s onward, 118 pages...$17.95 SS FRANCE/SS NORWAY  ... by Bill Miller & Luis Miguel Correia, from Liner Books, softcover history of the great French and later NCL liner, 128 pages ...$25.00 PICTURE HISTORY OF BRITISH OCEAN LINERS by Bill Miller, from Dover Publications, softcover history of 20th century British passenger ships... $16.95. More than 30 other ocean liner titles in stock And New Titles Still at the Shipyard LINERS OF A GOLDEN AGE by Bill Miller,  from Carmania Press, deluxe hardcover, due for Christmas 2004   ON THE WATERFRONT: THE GREAT SHIPS OF HOBOKEN by Bill Miller, due early 2005 for 150th anniversary of famed Jersey waterfront city. PICTURE HISTORY OF THE ANDREA DORIA by Bill Miller, from Dover Publications, softcover biography of Italian liners, due spring 2005 THE SHIPS OF NEW YORK HARBOR IN HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHS: 1935-2005   ... by Bill Miller, from Dover Publications, photo-filled history of liners, freighters, docks, etc, due late 2005 BRITISH PASSENGER SHIPS PICTORIAL ... by Bill Miller & Luis Miguel Correia, from Liner Books, photo-filled coverage from Queen Mary of 1936 top Queen Mary 2 of 2004, due later this year And Our "One-of-a-Kind" & "Out-of-Print" Department SS UNITED STATES: THE STORY OF AMERICA'S GREATEST OCEAN LINER by Bill Miller, highly sought after 1991 bio of America's greatest liner, mint condition, hardcover, often sells for $250 per copy on Ebay,  Offers Accepted GRAND LUXE: THE TRANSATLANTIC STYLE ... by John Malcolm Brinnin, lavish, oversized hardcover book, published 1988, Mint condition $100 LINERS IN ART ... by Ken Vard, lavish, oversized hardcover book, published 1990, superb condition ... $100 PAQUEBOTS ...  by Daniel Hillion, grand hardcover book on 20th century French liners, published 1993, mint ... $75 OCEAN STEAMERS: A HISTORY OF OCEAN-GOING PASSENGER STEAMSHIPS 1820-1970 ... by John Adams, photo-filled hardcover published 1993, mint ... $75 THE LINERS: A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY ... by Rob McAuley, softcover companion to television series of the same name, published 1997 ... $50 OCEAN LINERS ... by Robert Wall, hardcover, published 1977, superb condition ... $75 LOST LINERS ... by Robert Ballard & Rich Archbold with paintings by Ken Marschall, splendid softcover, published 1997 ... $75 TRANSATLANTIC LINERS 1945-1980 by Bill Miller, hardcover published 1981. First class condition...$50 TRANSATLANTIC LINERS  AT WAR...by Bill Miller & David Hutchings, hardcover published 1985, fine condition.....$50 THE LAST BLUE WATER  LINERS...by Bill Miller, hardcover, published 1985....$50 LUXURY LINER ROW - PASSENGER SHIPS AT  NEW YORK...by Bill Miller, soft cover, published 1981....$50 Please pay by check or money order payable to: Bill Miller Cruises Everywhere  PO Box 1463  Secaucus, New Jersey 07096  NJ residents must pay 6% sales text. Handling charges:  1 item - $3.50; 2-4 items $4.50; and $1.50 for each additional item thereafter.   This "Weekly Update"  to Ocean & Cruise News  Is Sent To Members of The World Ocean & Cruise Liner Society each week.  To unsubscribe please reply to this message with the word "Remove"  in the subject line.     All material  Copyright 2004  "The World Ocean & Cruise Liner Society. Reproduction or re-transmitting without permission is  strictly forbidden.

CARNIVAL: Never losing momentum, the world’s largest cruise line is spending record amounts on current advertising.

COSTA is expanding yet further. The Company has just announced the ordering of a second 112,000-ton mega-liner, a sister to the Costa Concordia, which is due in 2006. Both will be the largest liners yet to fly the Italian colors. But then shifting of other vessels usually follows and so the 37,000-ton Costa Tropicale, the former Tropicale of Carnival Cruise Lines and their first new build back in 1981, is being swung over, within the Carnival family, to P&O Australia later this year and becomes that Company's third ship, joining the Pacific Sun (ex-Jubilee) and the Pacific Sky (ex-Fairsky, ex-Sky Princess. Australia is on a huge upswing for cruising. MSC Cruises is reportedly ready to invest heavily in that market, perhaps using their earlier ships such as the Melody and Rhapsody, but in fact perhaps in due course even the new Opera and the Lirica as MSC adds more and more new tonnage. MSC is now ready, for example, to build two 128,000 tonners to carry over 3,000 passengers each.

CRYSTAL CRUISES: They must be the first — Los Angeles-based Crystal has released its 2006 sailing schedule with lots of good changes. New itineraries include a 3-day sampler cruise as well as new itineraries to the Amazon, Libya and Peru. In all, Crystal’s three luxury ships will visit some 214 ports or 20% new ports and 50% more countries than in 2004. In all, the company is offering 97 cruises.

CUNARD: An aging lady, so we think, but during her Christmas Caribbean cruise from New York, the 35-year-old Queen Elizabeth 2 had air conditioning problems and then, on January 1st, a power failure for about an hour and which left the 963-footer wallowing.

IMPERIAL MAJESTY CRUISE LINES: Senator Leo Raptakis of Rhode Island is enthusiastic. As a child, he sailed, like thousands of other Greeks, on the Greek Line flagship Olympia. She later became the Miami-based Caribe I and then the Regal Empress. She still sails as the latter, but her Coast Guard certificate expires in November 2009. Raptakis is not wasting time — he is helping Greek officials, who are considering saving the 51-year-old liner as a museum, to both Greek shipping and as a symbol of worldwide Greek migration by sea, at Faliron Bay near Piraeus. The Greek Government is also said to be shopping for a World War II-built Liberty ship, the backbone of many Greek shipping fleets such as Onassis and Niarchos. But if the Greek project fails to land the 611-foot long Regal Empress, Raptakis is thinking New York and possibly a berth at the Intrepid Air & Space Museum at Pier 86, at the foot of West 46th Street. But he’s not quite alone — evidently another Greek-American has been eyeballing the Glasgow-built ship for a berth in the old Brooklyn Navy Yard and for use as a hotel & entertainment center.

LOUIS CRUISE LINES is evidently filling a wide cavity. After assigning the Calypso and the Ithaca to 3 & 4 day cruises from Piraeus to the Greek isles, a third ship is evidently now needed. And so, they are adding the 800-passenger Seawing, the former Southward of Norwegian Cruise Lines and that was completed back in 1972. A 17,000-tonner, she was then considered a rather large, year-round cruise ship.

NEW YORK: Monday night, January 3rd — it was “dirty weather,” as the British would call it — chilly rain, low clouds, the great Manhattan skyline obscured. Mystery prevails in ways. But on this evening, that majestic lady of the seas, the Queen Elizabeth 2, departed, in fact her last appearance here until next September. The great ship, long and glowing, indeed the moving of a multi-layered bracelet of shimmering jewels, her orange-red funnel as her centerpiece, her royal crown, moves from her West Side slip & a great journey begins. Anxious passengers line her decks, some remaining aboard for all of the three-month circumnavigation, and some being those fabled millionaires, with extra suites and added trunks of clothes, buckets of caviar and fresh flowers by the day. The throaty whistles sound and, in the cold mist, echo across the Bay. They signal departure — the start of a romantic journey, the great liner, passing the Lower Bay and Miss Liberty, and finally out into that charcoal-colored world known as the Atlantic. Bon voyage, great lady!

RADISSON SEVEN SEAS had announced a re-branding, a new identity, for early this year. But there’s been some rethinking and the new name will now come next summer. In another change of plans, the Paul Gauguin, scheduled to leave the RSSC fleet in 2006, will now remain in Tahiti service until January 2007.

SOUTHEAST ASIA: No cruise ships have reportedly been affected by the catastrophic Tsunami. Star Cruises, with a large passenger fleet, has altered schedules and ships such as the Star Flyer have altered course and made changes as well.

 

AND HEARD ALONG THE BOAT DECK... Regency Cruises, a Greek company with New York headquarters, had no less than 6 cruise ships in its fleet at the beginning of 1985 and there were reports of a seventh and possibly more on the way. In all, Regency had over 4,000 berths to sell in the Caribbean, Alaska, Eastern Canada and in the Mediterranean. But in a year of fierce competition, ferocious discounting and both newer and larger ships coming on line, and then coupled with Regency’s own precarious financial state, it all ended quite suddenly. That October, the Company’s Madison Avenue offices in Manhattan closed abruptly and the ships were ordered to nearby ports and to land their passengers. Many travelers even had to find their own way home. The Regency fleet fled, some to lay-up. Regency, owned by Greece’s Lelakis Group, which also had holdings in shipyards, ferries, hotels and real estate, started cruise operations in November l985. They introduced the 23,200-ton Regent Sea. She had been the Navarino, cruising the Mediterranean and South Atlantic waters for another Greek company, Karageorgis Cruises. Before that, she was the celebrated Swedish American liner Gripsholm. She had been first commissioned in 1957 and, even into her Regency days, remained an elegant ship. Success was rather instant. In little more than a year, Regency bought Paquet Cruises’ Rhapsody, a 24,000-ton vessel that had been Holland America’s Statendam, also built in 1957. She became the Regent Star. Soon afterward, the Company acquired two Swedish containerships and planned to gut them before rebuilding as the passenger-carrying Regent Sun and Regent Moon. But these plans went astray and instead the pair found their way into the hands of Costa Cruises and became their Costa Marina and Costa Allegra. In 1988, the Company bought Royal Cruise Lines’ Royal Odyssey (ex-Shalom, ex-Hanseatic, ex-Doric) and made her over as the Regent Sun. Within a few more years, by 1992, it added the completely rebuilt former Grace Line cruise ship Santa Rosa, which became the Regent Rainbow. Then, in 1993-94, Regency added two more ships: the Regent Spirit (ex-Anna Nery, ex-Constellation) and then the Regent Calypso (ex-Canguro Verde, ex-Durr, ex-Ionian Fantasy, ex-Ionian Sea, ex-Sun Fiesta, ex-Regent Jewel). The latter operated Regency’s first Far East cruises. At the time of the collapse, the Company was about to take delivery of the 22,000-ton Fair Princess of Princess Cruises, which was to become the Regent Isle. She too had a long history, having been the Cunarder Carinthia of 1956 and then Sitmar’s Fairsea. And Regency had other projects and plans on their drawing boards. One included the Regent Sky, a 30,000-ton ferry hull originally built in 1986 for Stena Line, but sold incomplete to Lelakis and towed to Greece four years later. She was to have been delivered in ‘96-97 as a 1,700-passenger ship, the largest yet in the Regency fleet. But even before, in 1993-94, there were reports that Regency was interested in operating the 52,000-ton, 1,700-passenger United States if she could be resurrected by her then Turkish owners. There were even rumors that she would become the Regent States for sailings in the Caribbean. Lelakis also owned the veteran Atlantic passenger ship Stefan Batory, the former Holland America Maasdam of 1952, and which had been in use as a workers’ hotel ship at the Company shipyard at Chalkis in Greece. There were rumors that she too might be converted for cruising. And just before the collapse, Regency was negotiating a lucrative five-year lease for the Regent Sea. She would even take on her earlier, well known name of Gripsholm for German charter cruising. By the end of 1995, with the Company closed and its scattered fleet in the hands of banks and other creditors, the future of ships such as the Regent Sun and Regent Star were still clouded in uncertainty.