Cruise Talk: Ships over 50

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»	Cruise Talk » Ocean Liners and Classic Cruise Ships » Ships over 50

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Author

Topic: Ships over 50

dougnewman
First Class Passenger
Member # 11349

posted 12-20-2008 06:57 PM

As I will be sailing in the 55-year-old REGAL EMPRESS next month I have been thinking about other ships that have had extraordinarily long careers.

So, counting from the year of the maiden passenger voyage to the year of the last one (or to the present, if the ship is still in passenger service), how many oceangoing passenger ships have made to 50 and beyond? So far I've got these:

GERMANIC 1875-1949 74 years
PARTHIA 1870-1936 66 years
DUNNOTTAR CASTLE 1936-2001 65 years
MONTEREY 1932-1994 62 years
ROMA 1947-present 61+ years
BERLIN 1925-1986 61 years
STOCKHOLM 1948-present 60+ years
OLYMPIA 1953-present 55+ years
VICTORIA 1953-2007 54 years
EMPRESS OF BRITAIN 1956-2008 52 years
SAN GIORGIO 1956-2008 (?) 52 years
AUSONIA 1957-present 51+ years
LAGUARDIA 1949-2000 51 years
TAHITIEN 1953-2004 51 years
VIRGINIAN 1904-1955 51 years
SANTA ROSA 1958-present 50+ years
HUASCARAN 1947-1997 50 years
INDEPENDENCE 1951-2001 50 years
JEAN MERMOZ 1957-2007 50 years
MONTEREY 1956-2006 50 years

Any others?

It seems 50 plus is quite rarefied territory for passenger ships, and 55 plus especially.

[ 12-24-2008: Message edited by: dougnewman ]

Posts: 2072 | From: Long Island, NY, USA | Registered: Sep 2007 | IP: Logged

Ernst
First Class Passenger
Member # 5369

posted 12-20-2008 07:07 PM

Doulos, Sea Cloud.

Posts: 9746 | From: Eindhoven | Registered: Jan 2005 | IP: Logged

geno-er
First Class Passenger
Member # 4202

posted 12-20-2008 10:03 PM

Did Oceanbreeze make it. I believe she went into service 1954 but forgot what year she was scrapped?

Posts: 159 | From: Pocono's, Pa. | Registered: Oct 2003 | IP: Logged

Cunard Fan
First Class Passenger
Member # 7530

posted 12-20-2008 10:11 PM

Does the Delta Queen count?

Posts: 2327 | From: Pasadena just north of Queen Mary | Registered: Sep 2006 | IP: Logged

lasuvidaboy
First Class Passenger
Member # 4527

posted 12-21-2008 01:53 PM

How about years in lay-up?? ss Independence spent about 17 of her 57 years laid-up.

Posts: 7654 | From: Hollywood Hills/L.A. | Registered: Mar 2004 | IP: Logged

PamM
First Class Passenger
Member # 2127

posted 12-21-2008 03:09 PM

Atalante 52 - 04? Princess Daphne & Danae?

Pam

Posts: 12176 | From: Cambridge, UK | Registered: Jun 2001 | IP: Logged

Indarra
First Class Passenger
Member # 6005

posted 12-21-2008 07:33 PM

UNITED STATES!

Posts: 274 | From: Tokyo | Registered: Oct 2005 | IP: Logged

Frank X. Prudent
First Class Passenger
Member # 1723

posted 12-21-2008 08:10 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Cunard Fan:
Does the Delta Queen count?

Well, she was towed from San Francisco through the Panama Canal to New Orleans, so I say, sure, why not! Although she was listed as a "sea-going barge" by the U.S.Coast Guard on her C.O.I. for the voyage.

Posts: 577 | From: Covington, Kentucky, U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 2000 | IP: Logged

Brian_O
First Class Passenger
Member # 3910

posted 12-22-2008 12:22 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Indarra:
UNITED STATES!

A little under 17.5 yrs in service and 39 years laid up. The Big U hardly belongs in a list of long serving ships.

Brian

Posts: 2698 | From: Pointe-Claire, QC Canada | Registered: Jun 2003 | IP: Logged

Brian_O
First Class Passenger
Member # 3910

posted 12-22-2008 12:24 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Ernst:
Doulos, Sea Cloud.

Victoria/Anastasis...1953 to 2008.

Posts: 2698 | From: Pointe-Claire, QC Canada | Registered: Jun 2003 | IP: Logged

thundergod
First Class Passenger
Member # 5619

posted 12-22-2008 09:20 AM

SS Virginian later Drottningholm 1905-1955

Posts: 138 | From: Sweden | Registered: Apr 2005 | IP: Logged

Linerrich
First Class Passenger
Member # 4864

posted 12-22-2008 10:08 AM

quote:
Originally posted by geno-er:
Did Oceanbreeze make it. I believe she went into service 1954 but forgot what year she was scrapped?

OCEANBREEZE nearly made the 50-year mark, but not quite (1955-2003). Still, a heck of a run with little or no time laid-up.

Rich

Posts: 4210 | From: Miami, FL | Registered: Jul 2004 | IP: Logged

geno-er
First Class Passenger
Member # 4202

posted 12-22-2008 11:17 AM

Thanks Linerich, lots of good memories on Oceanbreeze

Posts: 159 | From: Pocono's, Pa. | Registered: Oct 2003 | IP: Logged

Conte Di Savoia
First Class Passenger
Member # 1802

posted 12-22-2008 09:33 PM

Cunard's first Pathia entered service in 1870 and later was a transpacific liner for Canadian Pacific. Later renamed Victoria she sailed for Dodwell and Company on the Tacoma-Oriental run and later still she sailed in Alaskan waters for various companies and finally went to the breakers in 1952 at the age of 84.

Conte

Posts: 64 | From: Bay Shore, NY | Registered: Feb 2001 | IP: Logged

Conte Di Savoia
First Class Passenger
Member # 1802

posted 12-22-2008 09:34 PM

Sorry, she went to the breakers in 1954.

Posts: 64 | From: Bay Shore, NY | Registered: Feb 2001 | IP: Logged

Johan
First Class Passenger
Member # 4458

posted 12-23-2008 04:55 AM

HAL's "Ryndam" 1951,went to the breakers in 2003.

What is the definition of "service" : a special case is "Le Lydia", 77 years old and still "in service" :

JLe Lydia at Maritime Matters

[ 12-23-2008: Message edited by: Johan ]

Posts: 1895 | From: Antwerpen, Belgium | Registered: Feb 2004 | IP: Logged

dougnewman
First Class Passenger
Member # 11349

posted 12-24-2008 06:13 PM

List updated - thanks to all for your suggestions.

"In service" means carrying paying passengers from one place to another...static ships don't count.

Posts: 2072 | From: Long Island, NY, USA | Registered: Sep 2007 | IP: Logged

Kevin Griffin, London
First Class Passenger
Member # 6010

posted 12-26-2008 10:40 AM

Doug, Santa Rosa spent twenty years in lay-up from 1972 so should she really be in this list? Even if she is still around as The Emerald, she was revived and not in continuous service.

Similarly, Regal Empress spent 1974 to 1983 laid up, which should perhaps be deducted from her 55 years.

Posts: 148 | From: London, England | Registered: Oct 2005 | IP: Logged

Aris
First Class Passenger
Member # 1718

posted 12-26-2008 10:54 AM

Hapag's ALBERT BALLIN lasted for 58 years as the Soviet SOVIETSKI SOYUZ. However she spend about 10 years under water and under refit.

More Soviet liners might have hit the 50year mark, but it is hard to establish if they were active to the very end. Such are the UKRAINE (ex-BESARABIA) and the CARIBIA (ex-ILITCH).

The Chinese GUANGHUA (built as HIGHLAND PRINCESS) was reportedly scrapped at 50, but data on her final years is hard to find. Maybe she lasted less, maybe even more.

Also, the 1951-built ENRICO C., lasted as the OCEAN GLORY 1, until the age of 50.

Posts: 82 | From: Athens, Greece | Registered: Dec 2000 | IP: Logged

Olaf the Red
First Class Passenger
Member # 19867

posted 12-27-2008 01:15 PM

What about the America she survived in a somewhat for over 50 years.
Olaf The Red

Posts: 16 | From: aboard MY Grande Mariner | Registered: Dec 2008 | IP: Logged

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