Cruise Talk: What Sparked Your Interest In Passenger Ships?

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»	Cruise Talk » Ocean Liners and Classic Cruise Ships » What Sparked Your Interest In Passenger Ships?

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Topic: What Sparked Your Interest In Passenger Ships?

Rex
First Class Passenger
Member # 1113

posted 12-04-2000 04:32 PM

I am curious to know how everyone at this site became interested in ocean liners/cruise ships. For me, it was when my dad took my brother and me to see THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE in 1973, subsequently followed by a copy of A NIGHT TO REMEMBER in my grandparents bookcase. They gave it to me, and at the time, it was in great condition. Now it's so dog-eared and raggedy, but I still love it, especially Walter Lord's racy and fast-paced writing style.

What about everyone else?

Posts: 1413 | From: Philadelphia PA, USA | Registered: Feb 2000 | IP: Logged

Aussie1
First Class Passenger
Member # 25

posted 12-04-2000 04:54 PM

Rex,

for me it was sailing as a boy on many great liners due to my fathers work. At the age of 4 we sailed from Australia to Britain on Canberra. Two years latter we sailed to South Africa on SA Vaal, which today is the laid up Island Breeze/Big Red Boat 3. A year latter it was back to Britain on the Edinburgh Castle. Other ships included P&O's first Oriana, the Greek Ellinis (ex Matson's Lurline., Sitmar's first Fairsky(built as an aircraft carrier during WW2.) and a couple of Russian liners. (The Russian liners were grim ships back in the mid 1970's with unfriendly crew and poor food.) I guess I couldn't fail to end up with an interest in these grand old ships.

Posts: 493 | From: Sydney,NSW, Australia | Registered: Sep 99 | IP: Logged

jeff
First Class Passenger
Member # 614

posted 12-04-2000 09:54 PM

i got interested in cruise ships when i was taken for a ride aboard the QE2 with my parents back in 1975....with a major storm thrown in.....as we crossed the atlantic from southampton to new york........but now a days it seems as though the unique designs we once had in the past is now being replaced by carbon copies from carnival, princess and so-on.......borrring!!!!.....jeff

Posts: 180 | From: vancouver,b.c.,canada | Registered: Jun 99 | IP: Logged

PauloMestre
First Class Passenger
Member # 1613

posted 12-05-2000 04:15 AM

My interest for ships started because my father worked on a shipyard during my childhood. He worked in the design area being responsible for model construction so that shipowers could have something to display on the company officers.
You can now imagine what is like for a kid to have his dad working on shipyard and even better, making ship models... :-)
On the summer vacations all the shipyard worker children would go to the beach sponsored by the company, so every June/July morning we had to go with our parents to the shipyard so that company buses could take to the beach.
On the company birthday we toured around the shipyard and had a special party just for us.
... those were the days, arriving early morning to the shipyard and seeing all those metal monsters raising high above and dwarfing us...
Since then I have a rising interest on ships, now mainly focused on passenger ships.

Regards

Paulo Mestre

Posts: 311 | From: Alhos Vedros, Setubal, Portugal | Registered: Sep 2000 | IP: Logged

NAL
First Class Passenger
Member # 1102

posted 12-05-2000 02:53 PM

REX.....

What a good question. For me, it all started
with the stories from relatives about the
various crossings. I had my first crossing
on the SS Nieuw Amsterdam and a return on
SS Ryndam back during the summer of 1954.
From then on it was and is a passion that
has lasted til the present day. I am as
thrilled today when I board ship as I was
in 1954. Even some hurricane crossings
during which I became very sick have not
diminished by love of sea travel. I hope
many more still await me.

Posts: 2243 | From: Watsontown, PA | Registered: Feb 2000 | IP: Logged

Italian Cruiser
First Class Passenger
Member # 1684

posted 12-05-2000 03:10 PM

I'm interested to the ocean liners since I sailed on the Eugenio,Enrico and Carla Costa,the last faboulous italian liners(I'm so sad to see the first laid up in the horrific BRB2 colours,the second ruined by its last two owners and the third gone after the fire in 1994).My passion for the cruise ships is more recent.I think that they haven't the romance atmosphere of a liner(I don't like the megaships because I retain that the mediumsize ships like the Crown Odyssey and the Costa Allegra are far better!).

Posts: 887 | From: Orvieto (Italy) | Registered: Nov 2000 | IP: Logged

tg_lindo
First Class Passenger
Member # 806

posted 12-05-2000 04:24 PM

I just realized that my fascinations as an adult generally come from vacations my grandparents took (usually without me) when I was a child.

They went on the Boheme in late 1971 and I wore the souvenir blue shirt from Haiti constantly and gazed for hours at the brochure. A few years later they sailed on the Mardi Gras with Carnival. The photos made it look so glamorous! Now, they just look very retro and very strange.

But it was after they took me on Dolphin IV in 1980 that my interest went into high gear, with research papers for school and a library of brochures (where did they go?!?)

Posts: 349 | From: San Francisco, CA | Registered: May 99 | IP: Logged

Rex
First Class Passenger
Member # 1113

posted 12-05-2000 04:31 PM

The funny thing is, that when I was in the US Navy, I HATED ships and anything to do with the sea. I made a couple of mini-cruises on AZURE SEAS and VIKING SERENADE (what a lovely ship-

) from San Diego to Mexico after I got out, but I did not come to appreciate it until years later...I guess when you are around something all the time, you don't really appreciate it until it's not there anymore.

[This message has been edited by Rex (edited 12-05-2000).]

Posts: 1413 | From: Philadelphia PA, USA | Registered: Feb 2000 | IP: Logged

Paddy
First Class Passenger
Member # 357

posted 12-05-2000 05:09 PM

Always had Titanic books around the house (it was that staircase) -> Achille Lauro movie when on TV some years back -> talked to someone who had been on Seawing and loved it -> week later booked for Seawing ->fabulous holiday. Since then I have helped my addiction developd by feeding it thousands of cruise brouchures (which are really beginning to clutter up my study) and all the tv documentaries about cruises and the odd cruise here and there.

Paddy.

Posts: 763 | From: Belfast, Ireland | Registered: Aug 99 | IP: Logged

Bernard
First Class Passenger
Member # 1038

posted 12-06-2000 04:14 AM

I used to live on an island in the North of the Netherlands.

I went to the harbour every day to look at the ferry.

I always thought it was very impressive until i planned my first cruise in 1993.

The Westerdam was about 50 times as big as the ferry.

That's when i got hooked on cruising.

In six months from now, i'm moving back to the island.

The city is to busy for me.

Bernard, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

[This message has been edited by Bernard (edited 12-06-2000).]

Posts: 94 | From: The Netherlands | Registered: Jan 2000 | IP: Logged

claudio
First Class Passenger
Member # 1214

posted 12-06-2000 07:12 AM

WHEN I WAS 10 YEARS OLD MY FATHER TOOK THE WHOLE FAMILY ON A6 MONTH TRIP TO ITALY ON GUGLIEOMO MARCONI, IT WAS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SHIP 1 MONTH AT SEA FROM MELBOURNE ,FREMAMTLE, SINGAPORE, BOMBAY, ADEN, SUEZ CANAL, PORT SAID AND FINALLY MESSINA WHERE WE DISEMBARKED. THEN AS A 12 TO 15 YEAR OLD I USED TO GO ON BOARD ALL THE SHIPS THAT CALLED AT MELBOURNE, THEY USED TO STAY IN PORT 2OR 3 DAYS IN THOSE DAYS AND WOULD LET YOU ON BOARD WITH A VISITORS PASS. ANGELIA AND ACHILLE LAURO, SOUTHERN CROSS I REMEMBER YOU HAD TO WALK UPHILL TO GO TO HTE BOW. AUSTRALIS, ELLINIS,PATRIS, ORCADES, IBERIA. MY MOTHER THOUGHT I WAS NUTS.

Posts: 468 | From: melbourne australia | Registered: Apr 2000 | IP: Logged

WJCdiver
First Class Passenger
Member # 946

posted 12-06-2000 03:48 PM

When my parents took us on:
The Italia (Home Lines) in 1964 (7 days)
The Statendam (HAL) 1966 (11 days)
The Leonardo da Vinci (Italian Line) 1968 (7 days)
The Homeric (Home Lines) in 1970 (10 days)
The Leonarda da Vinci again in 1972 (7 days).

Posts: 159 | From: New York, NY | Registered: Dec 1999 | IP: Logged

Barryboat
First Class Passenger
Member # 33

posted 12-06-2000 11:36 PM

My interest was sparked when our family stayed on the Queen Mary in Long Beach in 1977. After that visit I began reading the booklets we brought back, and I built a model of the Queen Mary. I was hooked because I was fascinated by the huge size of the ship and all the workings of her engines, etc. I also became interested in the history of the ship. Then I discovered a whole sea of other ships all with interesting histories. I read everything I could find on the Atlantic liners. Wasn't much interested in other ship like tankers or warships...just the trans-Atlantic liners. Then of course I became even more fascinated with the Titanic story. I now have a huge library of ocean liner books that I have collected since 1978 or so.

Posts: 1851 | From: Bloomington, Minnesota (Home to the Mall of America) | Registered: Mar 99 | IP: Logged

BrionP
First Class Passenger
Member # 52

posted 12-07-2000 12:40 AM

That's funny Rex. It was the Poseidon Adventure that did it for me too. After I saw that movie I got my family to take me to the Queen Mary in Long beach for my birthday and then I was a goner. I've been collecting ship books, models, pictures ever since. As an adult I've cruised as many different ships as my bank account will allow.

Posts: 35 | From: LA, California | Registered: Feb 99 | IP: Logged

MagnmPI
First Class Passenger
Member # 299

posted 12-07-2000 02:18 PM

I was ten years old on Sitmar's Fairwind. It was about 2am and we were somewhere in the middle of the Caribbean. I snuck out of our cabin for a little walk on deck. As soon as I walked out onto to the promenade, the smell of the ocean, the sound of the sea against the hull, the breeze...I was hooked. Every cruise I go on now I try to get that same feeling, except now I can stop by the "pub" on the way out.

Posts: 545 | From: San Francisco Bay Area | Registered: Aug 99 | IP: Logged

BigUFan
First Class Passenger
Member # 1382

posted 12-07-2000 03:15 PM

I actually became fascinated with ships at a very young age, about five or six. Visiting the Passenger Ship Terminals in New York with my parents sent me on my way. I was completely fascinated with these huge moving objects, unable to comprehend how they could possibly move and not sink. As I got older, I would see my parents (or others) off at the terminals now and again. The very experience of watching them set sail fired my imagination, and I began to notice that even pulling up alongside a ship in port was an exciting occasion. There's an indescribable magic associated with shipwatching that is difficult to explain to the uninitiated.

Later my interest had subsided a bit due to any number of other interests interfering. Then came James Cameron's "Titanic," and I was off again. I haven't lost interest since.

Posts: 904 | From: Orlando, FL | Registered: Jun 2000 | IP: Logged

dockside
First Class Passenger
Member # 1622

posted 12-07-2000 04:05 PM

In the Fifties, my Grandparents used to spend every other summer in my Grandmother's village in Ireland. Grandmom wouldn't fly and Grandpop wouldn't sail. We would take Grandmom to New York and wave as one of the smaller Cunarder's (Ivernia, Fraconia or Saxonia) pulled away from the pier on Luxury Liner Row. Five days later, We stood on the Observation deck of Philadelphia International Airport as Grandpop boarded a TWA Super Constellation. I remember thinking the Ship looked like a better way to travel. I have sailed and I have flown. I was right Sailing is a MUCH better way to travel.

Posts: 52 | From: New Jersey, USA | Registered: Oct 2000 | IP: Logged

Paddy
First Class Passenger
Member # 357

posted 12-08-2000 06:44 PM

OOooooooooooooohhhh. To choose between a classic liner and a Trans World ("Transcontinental and Western" back then?) Super Connie. Can't I have both?

Paddy.

Posts: 763 | From: Belfast, Ireland | Registered: Aug 99 | IP: Logged

Rex
First Class Passenger
Member # 1113

posted 12-09-2000 02:42 PM

BrionP...

I know nowadays THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE looks kind of cheesy, but back then, it was off the hook! I thought it was a true story until my dad told me it wasn't. A few years later, he got Paul Gallico's novel for me, and the book was MUCH better than the movie...JUGGERNAUT came out around the same time, did it not? Do you remember?

Posts: 1413 | From: Philadelphia PA, USA | Registered: Feb 2000 | IP: Logged

nevadaflip
First Class Passenger
Member # 1682

posted 12-11-2000 11:17 AM

My first two TransPacific crossings as a GI on the troopships JAMES O'HARA (outbound to Japan) and returning home on the GENERAL HUGH GAFFEY started the interest, but getting a job with American President Lines as a Purser sealed my fate. Sailing passenger ships and freighters for 15 years, I was so lucky to see and visit many of the great passenger ships in round-the-world ports. You just can't take the sea out of a seaman, even though he lives in high desert Nevada!

Jerry

Posts: 280 | From: Minden, NV, USA | Registered: Nov 2000 | IP: Logged

dbr46
First Class Passenger
Member # 1544

posted 12-11-2000 12:12 PM

in the 1950's in the summer and on weekends i would go down to the piers in new york city all the great liners would be tied up there , and for 50cents you could go on board. many times i would tell the people on the gangway my mother was abourd and just walk on. iwas on board the united states, both queens and every other ship that docked at the west side piers

Posts: 10 | From: thiells, new york , usa | Registered: Aug 2000 | IP: Logged

tg_lindo
First Class Passenger
Member # 806

posted 12-11-2000 06:14 PM

dbr46,
I don't suppose you have pictures, do you? The interiors of the Big U, from my research, are underdocumented compared to the Queens.

Posts: 349 | From: San Francisco, CA | Registered: May 99 | IP: Logged

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