FIRST CLASS HISTORY: CRYSTAL CRUISE LINES AND ITS NOBEL PARENTS – NIPPON YUSEN KAISHA (NYK LINE)

September 20, 2012 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

FIRST CLASS HISTORY: CRYSTAL CRUISE LINES AND ITS NOBEL PARENTS – NIPPON YUSEN KAISHA (NYK LINE)

Excellent Video: N.Y.K. Line passenger ship M.S. Chichibu Maru sets sail in 1935 for Shanghai, Hawaii and San Francisco. The video is probably one of the few surviving films of NYK’s great passenger service.

The NYK Line seal proudly graces the bow of each Crystal Cruises ship.

Crystal Cruise Lines, most commonly seen as Crystal Cruises, is a Japanese luxury cruise line founded in 1988 and notable for its two medium-sized, high-end ships, Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity, which each hold about 1,000 guests. The line is a wholly owned subsidiary of the large Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen Kaisha – providing excellent travel since 1885.

The Crystal Serenity: The NYK Line seal proudly graces the bow of each Crystal Cruises ship.

Cruising The Past awards Crystal Cruise Lines for offering a shipboard experience that reflects the luxury of the great liners during the 1950s. Crystal presents first class travel that is first class. Their ships are deluxe and are not floating Vegas Strip resorts. Readers of Condé Nast Traveler have voted the line Best Large-Ship Cruise Line for 17 years. Readers of Travel + Leisure have voted Crystal Cruises World’s Best for 16 consecutive years. Both ships travel the world and visit destinations. The luxury cruise line also offers a World Cruise on the Crystal Serenity each year of about 110 days in length.

Crystal Cruises announed that their cruise fares became all-inclusive starting in the Spring of 2012.

NYK LINE M.S. CHICHIBU MARU - California Orient Service 1930s...

STORY OF NYK LINE: NIPPON YUSEN KAISHA

“NYK gained prominence in the North American cruise market by building Crystal Harmony in 1990. We are pleased with what Crystal Cruises has become and accomplished in the market. We understand that the cruise population has tripled since the time when we started our study on cruise business back in 1988. NYK firmly believes in the continuous growth of the cruise market and therefore, we are committed to increase our presence in the cruise industry.”
— Mr. Takao Kusakari, President, NYK Line

ARE THE RMS TITANIC TOURISTS ABOARD THE MS BALMORAL AND OTHER MEMORIAL CRUISES GHOULISH AND FOOLISH?

April 13, 2012 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

CRUISE HISTORY: ARE THE RMS TITANIC TOURISTS ABOARD THE MS BALMORAL AND OTHER MEMORIAL CRUISES GHOULISH AND FOOLISH?

Universal Pictures “Newsreel” of the RMS Titanic…

Where has the tourist demand to re-live a painful historical moment come from?

Reality shows?

Good luck to the tourists on MS Balmoral to re-enact the Titanic’s tragic maiden voyage.

Passengers on the MS Balmoral kill time having a drink in the observation lounge waiting to reach the site where the Titanic sunk. Seas look fairly rough.

The promenade deck on the RMS Titanic. Did this passenger survive?

With 1,309 passengers aboard, the MS Balmoral will follow the same route as the Titanic and organizers are trying to recreate the onboard experience minus the disaster from the food to a band playing music from that era.

The RMS Titanic sailing to a rendezvous with death.

We just hope when the MS Balmoral gets 375 miles south of Newfoundland the “tourists” will be greeted by 1,514 ghosts putting on a haunting apparition show to mark 100 years of ghoulish exploitation of their deaths.

A passenger on the MS Balmoral Titanic memorial cruise ship reenacts the famous pose of actress Kate Winslet from the film “Titanic”!

Passenger dressed aboard the MS Azamara Journey USA memorial Titanic cruise dressed as an officer says goodbye to New York on Tuesday.

Passengers enjoy a drink at the MS Balmoral Titanic memorial cruise ship, prior to the gala dinner in the Atlantic Ocean, Tuesday, April 10, 2012.

Passengers use disinfectant to clean their hands as they arrive for a gala dinner at the MS Balmoral Titanic memorial cruise ship, in the Atlantic Ocean, Tuesday, April 10, 2012. Today’s cruise-ships are far more disease ridden than the Titanic it seems.

Filed Under: CRUISE SHIP REVIEWS, CRUISING THE PAST VIDEOS, STEAMSHIP LINES, WHITE STAR - CUNARD LINE

GETTING THERE IS NO LONGER HALF THE FUN! COSTA CONCORDIA YOUNG DISABLED PASSENGER TOLD TO “SUE US” BY MICKY ARISON’S CARNIVAL CORP – CEO Micky Arison hires Burson-Masteller. A group of corporate media flacks to control Carnival Corp nightmare!

January 20, 2012 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

The Carnival Corp manner of cruising… watch this video about one of their ships…

COSTA CONCORDIA YOUNG DISABLED PASSENGER TOLD TO “SUE US” BY MICKY ARISON’S CARNIVAL CORP – Is it time to boycott Carnival cruises and their brands? Is the captain to blame or the American owners? Carnival Corp hires Brit media flacks Burson-Marsteller to handle cruise line nightmare? From the elegance of cruising in the past to the horror of “schlock” treatment by Miami based Carnival Corp.

(Left: American billionaire and owner of the Costa Concordia) American billionaire Micky Arison has hired a UK public relations firm to save Carnival Corp and the debacle resulting from the Costa Concordia disaster. Arison has been hiding out in Miami. He’s become a modern day Sir Bruce Ismay (the RMS Tiantic owner and coward) and is a cruise line version of President George W. Bush during the Katrina disaster.

(Left: This is the collection of extraordinary Brit media flacks – Burson-Marsteller – who have been hired by Micky Arison to handle Costa Concordia debacle and downplay how passengers were treated. Pathetic, huh? Considering one of them is a Rupert Murdoch hack. ) Clarence Mitchell, a British press agent and flack, media manipulator, connected to Rupert Murdoch, is handling the mounting corporate nightmare and faces a big task. He apparently handles cover ups and other related media corporate cover-ups. Arison, who is hiding out in Miami, wants Brit Burson-Marsteller to keep press and public away from him. He’s more concerned with his Florida basketball team than his passengers. His “Costa/Carnival” employee told a young disabled Argentine man to “sue” the American company if they were dissatisfied with the “showboat” cruise.

I love ships but would avoid any Carnival product like the plague. Arison represents everything that is wrong with corporate America. I sailed last year, Grill Class, on Cunard Line’s Queen Victoria and witnessed first hand the Carnival mystique of being totally ripped off by a third rate brand of this megalomaniac company.

Horrified passengers aboard Micky Arison’s nightmare ship Costa Concordia. One of his employees said passengers were exaggerating on the dangers. Look at the photos. A Costa Cruises (Micky Arrison’s Carnival Corp) executive has accused passengers of “sensationalism” over the disaster which saw its ship capsize off the coast of Italy. Assistant director Monica Bova said to hear passengers who were safe and sound on the docks say “no-one saved us” was outrageous. ”I have read, seen and heard so much nonsense from these survivors, who tended as usual to choose sensationalism rather than information,” she said.

Our thanks to Kirby Sommers for the following…

THE LATEST IN THE CARNIVAL CORP COSTA CONCORDIA MESS…

Click here to read more from Kirby Sommers

Micky Arison’s Carnival Corp told a young Argentinian disable man to “sue us” if he wanted anything from the greedy American/Israeli Company that owns Costa. In other words, Arison’s cruise line is telling passengers to “bugger off” if they want anything from the Miami based company that controls many ships.

Fernando Tofanelli, an Italian Argentinian student who lives in Surbiton, Surrey, asked the company for money to buy food and medicine, but says he was told he would not receive any kind of stipend unless he took legal action.

In a letter to Costa Cruises (owned by Arison’s Carnival Corp), he accused the cruise operator of “washing its hands” of survivors of the disaster, leaving them “destitute and traumatized”.

The ROTTERDAM IV – Holland America Line History

November 27, 2011 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Excellent video on the ROTTERDAM

Cruise and Liner History – The ROTTERDAM IV – Holland America Line History

Harland and Wolff, Belfast built Holland America Line’s ROTTERDAM IV in 1908. She held 530 First, 555 Second and 2,124 Third Class passengers. She was a liner with two funnels, Holland America’s first, 650 feet in length and 77 feet wide. Her registered tonnage was 24,170 and displacement of 37,190 tons. She traveled at an average of 16.5 knots. She was sold in January of 1940 to Dutch breakers.

Pool – Ziegfeld Chorus Girls…

The ROTTERDAM was one the finest, largest and most popular ships crossing the Atlantic and cost about $5,000,000 to build. She became famous because of her exceptionally attractive features, so that many discriminating travelers choose her in preference to many other Atlantic steamer. In luxurious appointments, in extraordinary size of rooms, averaging much larger than on any of our ships on previous Cruises, as well as in her extreme steadiness, almost eliminating seasickness, she was unsurpassed. She had 56 suites and rooms with brass bedsteads and private baths, and over 100 single rooms, together with a beautiful Palm Court, Verandah Cafe, Elevator, Social Hall, Library, 3 Smoke Rooms, a glass enclosed Promenade Deck, electrically forced ventilation of hot and cold air, etc. Most of the outside staterooms had two, and in some cases three, windows or portholes, some being fitted with a device that admits fresh air freely, even when the porthole was closed. One of her most attractive features was an immense Dining Saloon, seating nearly 500 people at small tables, where all of her passengers took their meals, and where an orchestra of artists of high merit played during lunch and dinner, as well as in the Social Hall in the evening.

The AORANGI – Trans-Pacific ocean liner operating from Australia and New Zealand to Vancouver during the 1930s into the early 1950s.

June 28, 2011 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Cruise and Liner History: The Aorangi was a 600-foot passenger liner built in 1924 by the Union Steamship Co. of New Zealand for service between Canada and Australia. But she went into service in troubled times for the world, and consequently got caught up in the midst of the worst hours of World War II.

The AORANGI – Trans- Pacific ocean liner operating from Australia and New Zealand to Vancouver – 1930s into the 1950s.

Even though this vessel was utilized as a troop ship, a supply ship, a hospital ship and even an escape vehicle for hundreds of civilians fleeing the war, the Aorangi miraculously emerged from the war unscathed and met its end in a scrap yard.

The grand salon.

Entering Vancouver on her maiden voyage.

The vessel’s early years were spent doing exactly what she was designed to do. She made regular trips from Vancouver, British Columbia to Sydney, Australia, with stops at Honolulu, Suva, Auckland and Wellington. The Aorangi boasted accommodations for 440 first class, 300 second class and 230 third class passengers. She had a typical liner’s profile with two masts and two funnels. She was powered by four propellers and reached a speed of 18.5 knots.

World civil unrest brought the liner in peril beginning in October, 1940, when it was utilized to send troops from New Zealand to Fiji. Then, in the summer of 1941, with the war raging in Europe, Aorangi was requisitioned by the British Ministry of War Transport and steamed from Sydney to the United Kingdom for war duty. After conversion for service as a troop ship, she joined a convoy of large liners carrying troops and supplies for the near east. She carried troops to India, the Middle East and also brought US and Canadian troops to Europe during the war, always escaping the terror of the German U-Boats and bombers from the sky.

In January, 1942, when the Japanese invasion of Malaya was occurring, Aorangi was sent to Singapore which was already under heavy attack by Japanese aircraft. The liner successfully got into Singapore harbor and escaped with her decks laden with hundreds of women and children, carrying them successfully to safety in Australia.

During the Normandy Invasion, Aorangi was there as well. She was by then serving as a depot ship for a fleet of about 150 tugs and auxiliary ships, supplying them with food, water, ammunition, engine parts and relief crews. She also served as a hospital ship and provided medical supplies.

From D-Day, which occurred on June 6, 1944, until the end of July, the Aorangi serviced 1,200 vessels and countless other small craft. Her hospital took in wounded men from the beachheads.

After this, the liner was converted and to serve as the commodore ship and joined the British Pacific Fleet at Hong Kong. After the Japanese surrender, she remained at Hong Kong as an accommodation ship for men released from war service and waiting to go home.

It was estimated that during the war years, this ship transported 36,000 troops and evacuated 5,500 refugees from war zones.

After the war, the Aorangi was returned to her owners and restored as a liner. It went back into service in 1948, but was then plagued by union problems among the stewards and seamen. Because of demands for higher wages, the liner operated at a loss.

She continued to operate with the help of subsidies by the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian governments until June, 1953. The liner was retired that summer, taken to Scotland and scrapped.

Filed Under: Cruise History, Cruise Memorabilia, cruise reviews, CRUISE SHIP REVIEWS, STEAMSHIP LINES, UNION SS CO OF NZ Tagged With: aorangi, rms aorangi, steamship lines, Titanic, trans pacific lines, union steamship company of new zealand

Cruise and Liner History: The Cunard Line’s RMS QUEEN ELIZABETH 1947

June 23, 2011 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Cruise and Liner History: The Cunard Line’s RMS QUEEN ELIZABETH 1947

Cruising The Past and Cruise History aboard the RMS QUEEN ELIZABETH: Enjoy 8MM travel footage from the fabulous website shipgeek.com as viewed on YOUTUBE. Deck scenes aboard CUNARD LINE’S RMS QUEEN ELIZABETH in 1947, accompanied by Ray Noble and his Orchestra! Home movies of another era. When “Getting There Was Half The Fun!”

Click on the following to see YOUTUBE video of the RMS QUEEN ELIZABETH:

Filed Under: CELEBRITIES AT SEA, Cruise Memorabilia, cruise reviews, CRUISE SHIP REVIEWS, CRUISING THE PAST VIDEOS, CUNARD LINE Tagged With: cruise lines, cruise reveiws, CUNARD LINE, Liner History, rms queen elizabeth, Samuel Cunard, Titanic, titanic sailing

TITANIC CENTENARY CELEBRATION!

May 16, 2011 By Michael L. Grace

Titanic Centenary Celebration!

by Tom Ruprecht

FROM THE HUFFINGTON POST – Satirical piece by Tom Ruprecht. He recently left Late Show with David Letterman after 12 years, and 11 Emmy nominations, as a writer on the show where he came up with many signature pieces including “Great Moments in Presidential Speeches.” He is also the author of George W. Bush: An Oral History (Andrews McMeel); an occasional NY Times Op-Ed contributor, contributor to McSweeney’s, The Wall St. Journal and GQ. He is also writing the film Detroit Rock City based on Chuck Klosterman’s memoir of the same name, collaborating with Craig Finn of the band The Hold Steady.

Titanic disaster revisited on luxury cruise.

Titanic disaster. Looking for a way to celebrate the tragedy? Well, the British company Miles Morgan Travel is offering a Titanic Memorial Cruise coinciding with the anniversary. I’m sure you’ve got questions, so I’ve taken the liberty of putting together a little brochure to give you some more information.

Will the trip be a faithful reproduction of the original Titanic voyage?

You bet! You’ll depart from Southampton UK on Sunday April 8 aboard the MS Balmoral. The ship will travel to Cobh, Ireland–the Titanic’s final port of call. From there you head across the Atlantic Tuesday April 10th, Wednesday the 11th, Thursday the 12th, and Friday the 13th (uh-oh!).

Elizabeth Taylor sailed Trans-Atlantic many times aboard Cunard Line.

March 24, 2011 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Elizabeth Taylor sailed Trans-Atlantic many times. These are photos of her voyages aboard Cunard Line.

1950: Aboard the Queen Mary… Newlyweds Elizabeth Taylor and hotel heir Conrad “Nick” Hilton Jr. set a course for romance when the Queen Mary set sail on May 24, 1950, 18 days after the couple said “I do” at the Church of The Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. Her 5-carat diamond engagement ring and platinum-and-diamond wedding band sparkling in the light as she waved good-bye, the honeymooners headed out on a 14-week excursion which would take them to Monte Carlo, Cannes and Cap d’Antibes, according to Kitty Kelly, the author of Elizabeth Taylor: The Last Star. While the newly dubbed Mrs. Hilton may have felt, like so many other just-married lovebirds, as though she and her husband were the only two on board, the luxury liner’s passenger list also contained the names of another twosome whose wedding caused a media frenzy in 1937– the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.

1964: Aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth… Richard Burton (1925-1984) with his wife, the screen actress Elizabeth Taylor, waiting to board the liner, ‘Queen Elizabeth’ at New York. (Photo by William Lovelace/Express/Getty Images)

1968: Aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth… Actress Elizabeth Taylor boards a train at London’s Waterloo Station bound for Southampton, where she will catch the transatlantic cruise liner Queen Elizabeth. She is recovering from a recent partial hysterectomy operation and is accompanied by her husband Richard Burton (1925 – 1984) and his daughter Kate. (Photo by Ted West/Central Press/Getty Images)

ELIZABETH TAYLOR (1932-2011)

Screen legend and social activist Elizabeth Taylor died early Wednesday morning, a rep for the actress announced. She was 79.

The actress died peacefully at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, Calif. surrounded by her children Michael Wilding, Christopher Wilding, Liza Todd, and Maria Burton. In addition to her children, Taylor is survived by 10 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.

An Historical Look at Cunard Line’s RMS QUEEN ELIZABETH… The first in a line of QE liners.

October 23, 2010 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Sailing on the RMS QUEEN ELIZABETH in the 1950s… when “Getting There Was Half The Fun”!

(Left: Captain docks the great Cunard Liner in New York) The RMS Queen Elizabeth was an ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line and was contracted to carry Royal Mail as the second half of a two-ship weekly express service between Southampton and New York City via Cherbourg. She was followed by the QE 2 and the new Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth.

At the time of construction in the mid-1930s by John Brown and Company in Clydebank, Scotland, the RMS Queen Elizabeth was known as Hull 552, but she was later named in honor of Queen Elizabeth, Queen Consort at the time of her launch on 27 September 1938, and in 1952 became the Queen Mother. Queen Elizabeth was a slightly larger ship with an improved design over her running mate, Queen Mary, making her the largest passenger liner ever built at that time, which was a record that would not be exceeded for fifty-six years.

She first entered service in February 1940 as a troopship in the Second World War, and it was not until October 1946 that she served in her intended role as an ocean liner. Together with Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth maintained a two ship weekly transatlantic service from Southampton to New York for over twenty years. With the decline in the popularity of these routes, both ships were replaced by RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1969.

The Captain’s Table – 1950s…

She was retired from service in November 1968, and was sold to a succession of buyers, most of whom had adventurous and unsuccessful plans for her. Finally she was sold to a Hong Kong businessmen who intended to convert her into a floating University cruise ship. In 1972 whilst undergoing renovations in Hong Kong harbor, she set on fire and capsized. In 1973, her wreck was deemed an obstruction, and she was scrapped where she lay.

(Left: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth – waving and being interviewed.)

On the day RMS Queen Mary set sail on her maiden voyage, Cunard’s chairman, Sir Percy Bates, informed his ship designers that it was time to start designing the planned second ship, which unlike Queen Mary, whose name was kept secret, was to be called Queen Elizabeth. The official contract between Cunard and government financiers was signed on 6 October 1936.

A QUEEN CHRISTENS A QUEEN – CUNARD’S NEW LINER QUEEN ELIZABETH

October 12, 2010 By Michael L. Grace Leave a Comment

Cunard’s much-awaited new ocean liner, the 2,092-passenger Queen Elizabeth, was christened today by HRM Queen Elizabeth today in Southampton, England.

(Left: Queen Elizabeth christens the Cunard Liner Queen Elizabeth.) Great Britian’s HRM Queen Elizabeth II today christened the historic Cunard Line’s third ship to bear the Queen Elizabeth name in a rousing dockside ceremony along the Southampton waterfront.

“I name this ship Queen Elizabeth,” the monarch said after taking the podium in front of 1,600 invited guests, uttering the traditional words delivered at so many ship launches. “May God bless her and all who sail in her.”

Dressed in a teal blue coat and matching teal hat, the 84-year-old monarch then watched with the crowd as a jeroboam of 2009 Baron Philippe de Rothschild wine was sent smashing against the 2,092-passenger vessel — the successor to the famed QE2 and one of the year’s most anticipated new ships.

As Cunard managing director Peter Shanks had noted just moments earlier during official remarks, the Queen was reprising a roll she played in 1967 at the launch of the QE2, which was retired in 2008.

FIRST CLASS HISTORY: CRYSTAL CRUISE LINES AND ITS NOBEL PARENTS – NIPPON YUSEN KAISHA (NYK LINE)

ARE THE RMS TITANIC TOURISTS ABOARD THE MS BALMORAL AND OTHER MEMORIAL CRUISES GHOULISH AND FOOLISH?

GETTING THERE IS NO LONGER HALF THE FUN! COSTA CONCORDIA YOUNG DISABLED PASSENGER TOLD TO “SUE US” BY MICKY ARISON’S CARNIVAL CORP – CEO Micky Arison hires Burson-Masteller. A group of corporate media flacks to control Carnival Corp nightmare!

THE LATEST IN THE CARNIVAL CORP COSTA CONCORDIA MESS…

The AORANGI – Trans-Pacific ocean liner operating from Australia and New Zealand to Vancouver during the 1930s into the early 1950s.

The AORANGI – Trans- Pacific ocean liner operating from Australia and New Zealand to Vancouver – 1930s into the 1950s.

Cruise and Liner History: The Cunard Line’s RMS QUEEN ELIZABETH 1947

TITANIC CENTENARY CELEBRATION!

Titanic Centenary Celebration!

Elizabeth Taylor sailed Trans-Atlantic many times aboard Cunard Line.

An Historical Look at Cunard Line’s RMS QUEEN ELIZABETH… The first in a line of QE liners.

A QUEEN CHRISTENS A QUEEN – CUNARD’S NEW LINER QUEEN ELIZABETH

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