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5 STAR CRYSTAL CRUISES CARRIES ON DELUXE PASSENGER TRADITIONS OF THE GREAT NYK LINE…

February 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment

THE M/V HIKAWA MARU was operated by the NYK Line (now Crystal Cruises). She was the only Japanese passenger vessel to survive WW 2. In her 30 years of service, the HIKAWA MARU crossed the pacific 254 times, carrying around 25,000 passengers and a great volume of cargo.

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5 Stars Rating: Crystal Cruises maintains the great glamor, first class standards and excitement of ocean travel.   When getting there was half the fun.  

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nyk ad posCrystal Cruises Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of NYK Line,  currently has two large, luxury-class cruise ships, Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity. These ships are highly regarded around the world, and the company has won the prestigious Travel & Leisure magazine’s World’s Best Large-Ship Cruise Line award for 16 consecutive years, an unprecedented achievement in the industry.  Cruising The Past awards the Crystal Cruises one of the best and most reliable cruises lines operating. Carrying on the great tradition of the NYK Line.

A brief history of NYK Line… 

Michael L. Grace is an authority on the history of NYK Line and trans-Pacific passenger services.

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Filed Under: Cruise History, Cruise Memorabilia, cruise reviews, CRYSTAL CRUISES, Nippon Yusen Kaisha NYK LINE, STEAMSHIP LINES

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

September 20, 2012 By 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

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Filed Under: Cruise Memorabilia, CRUISE SHIP REVIEWS, CRUISING THE PAST VIDEOS, Nippon Yusen Kaisha NYK LINE, STEAMSHIP LINES

SAILING TO JAPAN DURING THE JAZZ AGE

November 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

CRUISING THE PAST – SAILING TO JAPAN DURING THE JAZZ AGE – ACROSS THE PACIFIC – ABOARD THE NYK LINES AND OSK LINES

Jazz Age Destination – 1920s – YouTube video – great films of the fabulous Orient before WW2.

M/S Asama Maru (1929) and M/S Tatsutu Maru (1930) – NYK Line

One of Japan’s proudest periods in passenger shipping was the 1929 building of two of the finest and most luxurious ships ever to sail the Pacific Ocean – the Asama Maru and Tatsuta Maru. They were routed on NYK Line’s premier express service, regularly sailing from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kobe and Yokohama to Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Their passenger areas were of the highest quality, much of it in traditional European style. There were polished woods, stained glass skylights, fine dining rooms, lounges, library, gift shop, hair salon, comfortable cabins and a swimming pool on deck. This was luxury cruising at its finest. Notable passengers who sailed on these fine ships included Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin.

The Asama Maru was the first to enter service in 1929 and she soon set the record for the fastest crossing of the Pacific on the Yokohama to San Francisco route. Her sister, the Tatsutu Maru entered service in 1930. In 1936 the Tatsutu Maru become the first merchant ship to pass under the new Bay Bridge linking San Francisco and Oakland. In 1937 the Asama Maru suffered a mishap when she was driven aground in Kowloon Bay during the Great Hong Kong Typhoon. After the outbreak of the Second World War both ships were requisitioned as troopships but unfortunately both were sunk and did not survive the war and it was left to the Hikawa Maru to re-establish the trans-pacific service.

The OSK AND NYK LINES were the equivalent of Japan’s Cunard and US Lines before WWII. The Japanese trans-pacific service was booming during the interwar years following the First World War. NYK and OSK were ordering new and more luxurious ships for the prestigious trans-pacific service. Seen below are elegant postcards from Japan’s two major shipping companies – during the heyday of their passengers service between WWI and WWII.

OSK AND NYK LINE POSTCARDS – PROMOTING THEIR LINERS

Click below to see a large collection of wonderful post cards from NYK and OSK Lines.

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Filed Under: Nippon Yusen Kaisha NYK LINE Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Trans-Pacific Liner Memories – the NYK and OSK passenger ships – postcards from the heyday of Japan’s great trans-Pacific passenger fleet area between WWI and WWII.

October 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Trans-Pacific Liner Memories – the NYK and OSK passenger ships – postcards from the heyday of Japan’s great trans-Pacific passenger fleet area between WWI and WWII.

M/S Asama Maru (1929) and M/S Tatsutu Maru (1930) – NYK Line

One of Japan’s proudest periods in passenger shipping was the 1929 building of two of the finest and most luxurious ships ever to sail the Pacific Ocean – the Asama Maru and Tatsuta Maru.  They were routed on NYK Line’s premier express service, regularly sailing from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kobe and Yokohama to Honolulu, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Their passenger areas were of the highest quality, much of it in traditional European style. There were polished woods, stained glass skylights, fine dining rooms, lounges, library, gift shop, hair salon, comfortable cabins and a swimming pool on deck. This was luxury cruising at its finest. Notable passengers who sailed on these fine ships included Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin.

The Asama Maru was the first to enter service in 1929 and she soon set the record for the fastest crossing of the Pacific on the Yokohama to San Francisco route. Her sister, the Tatsutu Maru entered service in 1930. In 1936 the Tatsutu Maru become the first merchant ship to pass under the new Bay Bridge linking San Francisco and Oakland. In 1937 the Asama Maru suffered a mishap when she was driven aground in Kowloon Bay during the Great Hong Kong Typhoon. After the outbreak of the Second World War both ships were requisitioned as troopships but unfortunately both were sunk and did not survive the war and it was left to the Hikawa Maru to re-establish the trans-pacific service.

The OSK AND NYK LINES were the equivalent of Japan’s Cunard and US Lines before WWII.  The Japanese trans-pacific service was booming during the interwar years following the First World War. NYK and OSK were ordering new and more luxurious ships for the prestigious trans-pacific service. Seen below are elegant postcards from Japan’s two major shipping companies – during the heyday of their passengers service between WWI and WWII.

OSK AND NYK LINE POSTCARDS – PROMOTING THEIR LINERS

Click below to see a large collection of wonderful post cards from NYK and OSK Lines.

[Read more...]

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Filed Under: Nippon Yusen Kaisha NYK LINE Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

JAPAN’S Trans-Pacific Liners – Baseball players from Yale – The ships were the fastest between the US and Japan prior to World War II.

September 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment


Cruise Ship History: JAPAN’S Trans-Pacific Liners – Were the fastest between the US and Japan prior to World War II.

In 1935, at the invitation of Waseda University, the Yale University Baseball Team came to Japan from New Haven, Connecticut on NYK’s Tatsuta Maru , and returned aboard Asama Maru.  The team is seen with the captain and a ship’s officer.  Six years Japan and the USA would be at war.
Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), which literally translates to the Japan Mail Steamship Company, was first created in 1885, the result of a sensible merger between two Japanese shipping companies, Yubin Kisen Mitsubishi Kaisha (The Mitsubishi Mail Steamship Company) and Kyodo Unyu Kaisha (The Union Transport Company). Two red stripes were adopted for the new company’s house flag, symbolizing the mutual goodwill of both companies and the hope that their combined fleets would one day serve the entire world.

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Filed Under: Japanese Passenger Liners, Nippon Yusen Kaisha NYK LINE Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,