SPRING 2012 Millergram (Ocean Liner News)
AZAMARA: Return from the Titanic centennial cruise! I must say it – the Azamara Journey is one of the very best passenger ships I’ve sailed aboard – and that’s lots & lots of ships in the past 50 years. She’s surely one of the very best cruise ships on the seas these days. She is an absolute “dreamboat”. And I all but have to stop myself, well sometimes, in singing out (or scribbling) her praises. In my personal 1-to-10 rating with 10 being the maximum, the meter on my tally machine flew so far to the right, jumping past 10, it then broke down in a flush of white smoke:
1. Service 14.9
2. Crew 14.7
3. Food 13.9
4. Overall ambiance & tone of the ship 12.9
5. Overall cruise experience 12.5
Yes, there’s other nice touches – like entertainment (excluding, well of course, all the splendid specially-added events, occasions, speakers, detailing, etc created by Miles Morgan Travel for this centennial Titanic cruise), the very informative daily programs, diverse & interesting stateroom TV programming, splendid 4 o’clock teas, being kept in very updated touch, cabin accommodations & on and on. Well, three long & hearty blasts to the yacht-like, all-white Azamara Journey, to her officers & crew, and to her owners. Just superb – from stem to stern!
COSTA: Salvage! In a joint effort, a US and an Italian salvage company will right the 112,000-ton Costa Concordia in a 12-month long process. The 965-ft long ship will then be towed away, her future beyond undetermined.
ISLAND CRUISES: Niche cruising! Geared primarily to the UK & European cruise markets, the Island Escape will go all-inclusive as of Mar 2013. The 40,200-ton, 1,544-bed ship dates from 1982, beginning her days on the New York-Bahamas run as the cruise-ferry Scandinavia & then later joined Royal Caribbean, becoming the Viking Serenade.
NEW YORK: Assignments! While the 140,000-ton Norwegian Breakaway has been assigned to year-round cruising from New York, her sister, the 4,000-passenger Norwegian Getaway, will do year-round cruising from Miami. The ships are due in 2013 & ’14 respectively.
OCEAN LINER COLLECTIBLES: Moonlit seas but in Boston! One of my favorite recreations of the great ocean liners was in poster art – those large, very colorful, often artistic depictions of the ships, life onboard & their faraway destinations. I am giving an illustrated talk about the Floating Palaces: The Great Atlantic Liners on Thu May 3rd, at the International Poster Gallery at 205 Newbury St in Boston. Telephone: 617-375-0076.
OCEAN LINER HISTORY: Soldiers at sea! Seventy years ago, in 1942, the world’s largest liners, the Queen Mary & Queen Elizabeth, began weekly troop relays on the North Atlantic. Along with 1,000 crewmembers, the gray-painted Queens had refitted, wartime quarters for 15,000 soldiers each. The Queen Mary went on, in Jul 1943, to establish an all-time record – 16,683 sailed aboard the 81,200-ton ship on a crossing from New York to Gourock in Scotland.
PEACE BOAT: Changing cast! The 1965-built Oceanic, used by the legendary Home Lines until 1985, is one of the very last steam-turbine liners. She sailed for Premier, another name gone from ocean cruising, as the Starship Oceanic and then as the Big Red Boat I. Later back under the name Oceanic, she cruised for Spain’s Pullmanturs until 2009 when she was sold to Japan’s Peaceboat Organization for educational cruises, mostly trips around the world. But now, the Japanese have secured the Ocean Dream (the former Tropicale of Carnival & dating from 1981) and so the 47-year old, 39,000-ton Oceanic might be headed for the boneyard.
PONANT CRUISES: Cruising French style! Upon the great success of two earlier, 264-bed sisterships, L’Austral and Le Boreal, a third sister will be built & named L’Equitorial.
QUARK EXPEDITIONS: Charter deal! The former French Le Diamant is now owned by Bahamas-based interests & will chartered next winter to Quark, who will sail her as the Ocean Diamond. But before, the 226-passenger ship – the former Song of Flower – will be used by her former French owners, Ponant Cruises, for a summer season in Scandinavian waters.
ROYAL CARIBBEAN: Trouble at sea! The world’s largest liner, the 225,000-ton Allure of the Seas, had an engine room fire while at sea on Apr 21st.
SAGA CRUISES: Mishap & disruption! While there were engines troubles on the maiden voyage of the recently refitted Saga Sapphire and with her inaugural Saga cruise being abbreviated, her 2nd cruise has now been canceled to allow for further repairs to the 33,000-ton, 1981-built ship.
VIKING OCEAN: Order signed! The long-awaited order for two 49,000-ton, high-end sister ships for Viking River Cruises’ new deep-sea division has gone to Fincantieri in Italy. Each ship will carry 998 passengers in luxury quarters & there is an option for a third sister.
