Romy Formica and the Favolosi from Home Lines' S. S. Oceanic

Thanks for sharing the unforgetable memories of the Oceanic. Let me know how your next Italian cruise goes - compares to the best, OCEANIC . CIAO!

I, too, had been on the Oceanic about 20 times from the mid-1970's to the mid 1980's!! Boy do I miss them! Who could forget Everett Everrett with his mustache and natty plaid dinner jackets! He was such a nice man. And Donzelli wasa the best! They had the Italian Hall rocking one night doing Greek dances of all things! And I cannot help but remember every time I hear Al Di La or Mala Femmina played!! It was always so romantic! And the disco was always great fun up top! It was one of the most beautiful bars I remember anywhere! The Oceanic had such gorgeous artwork everywhere! Does anyone know where one of the ship's engineers, Romano Secci is today? We had a fantastic waiter on the Atlantic, too - Franco! He was so professional but such a sweet person, too! We're going to try an MSC Italian Cruise next April. I hear they're the closest to Home Lines.:) :)

Ciao,

Does your husband, Franco remember the Donzelli Band?

Does he know what happened to Paride, Tony, Gabriel??

The QE2 I knew a DJ, Barry Hamilton. He was the best at the Theater Bar.

The QE2 had a lot of class, "the Queens' Ship.":) The Oceanic was pure FUN.

Piero...

 

My husband also worked on the Oceanic and the Doric in 1979-1981. His name was Franco and he's from Asti. He was a waiter in the dining room. We met on the Doric in 1981 and got married a few years later.

 

Franco LOVED the Oceanic and although he worked on other cruise lines, including Cunard's QE2 the Oceanic was always his favorite.

What Memories! I remember the fabulous "Donzelli Band" , Sergio Band were great also. What happened to Paride, Tony, & Gabriel (leader) of the Donzelli Band. Sergio Band, Peppe Marino (2nd lead singer).

WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM!! DOES ANYONE KNOW!!

Yes, I remember the Oceanic without a casino. It was first put in the small room to the aft of the Italian Hall where the photographer's shop was.

 

The Zeili Band played in the Italian Hall too. It had a good following but, in my opinion, were not as good as Donzelli. The Zeili Bank left Home Lines in 1973 and went to Holland America. One member of Zeili, Sergio, came back to Home Lines with his own bank for a few years.

Piero were you the friend of Paride from the Donzelli Band. I was a friend from Rhode Island, 1976.

I still have the dunhill lighter! Mic. :rolleyes:

Please respond??

Do You Remember? Paride from the "Donzelli Band".

I would like very much to know how he is after all this time?

lrusso23@cox.net

Piero,

I was a close friend of Paride, from the "Donzelli Band".

He used to talk to me about Piero, the waiter, being his friend.

Are you the friend Paride used to talk to me about?

Michele

lrusso23@cox.net

I have worked for Costa Cruise before and for Sitmar after but nothing was better than the Oceanic.

 

Piero:p :D :)

Ciao Piero - When were you on Sitmar? Which ships and when?

Oh my gosh ...

I don't know if anyone will even see this thread/reply, but I do have quite a treasure up for grabs ...

I have (6) of the original record albums (LPs) from ONLY the S.S. Oceanic (only ship my Italian grandfather and my grandmother would sail...)

I have been faithfully restoring the vinyl recordings and transfering them to CD - they sound alive, vibrant and fantastic! I enjoy that style of music anyhow.

But my goal has been, all along, to offer the FULL-COLOR reproduced album artwork (front & back) scanned and color-printed, and assembled into a handsome binder. The printing charge (well, actually, the color digital scanning charge) for all 6 albums (both sides) and a CD with the images cost $251 USD!!! But, I don't believe in doing anything half-way: It has to be perfect - it's how my grandfather would have wanted it, and as many of you can attest - it is how the OCEANIC would have presented it.

These are the LPs I have available; they go as a set:

Donzelli's Group I

Donzelli's Group II

Donzelli's Group III (with full-color band portrait - very rare!!)

Sergio and His Band

The Gino Stante Quartet (with all 4 member autographs on album back panel in colored felt pen)

The Callaghari Orchestra featuring "Renato"

Binder with full-color album artwork and other actual Oceanic scans (menus, daily itinerary, trivia, etc. - from a passenger info packet)

Each CD almost 40 minutes long and with full-color on-screen thermal printing (of the respective album artwork)

$100 USD via PayPal ... I can email you pictures if need be.

This price includes insured shipping to you - no matter where you live: US or Europe.

My name is Chris; I live in Maine, am a reputable hospital employee in a large medical center, and my grandfather, Louis Sansone, owned a successful Machining business called UNITED MACHINE in Lincoln, Rhode Island, and grew up in Providence. He loved the Oceanic, being Italian, Federal Hill, his family and his friends.

Please contact me if you are interested in owning a copy of this set of recordings. Also, I can be reached (email) at draughtbones@gmail.com or cell phone (maine) 207-740-6083. I would be happy to talk to you prior to shipping your set.

Also, if anyone does not yet know about this: on FACEBOOK there are TWO very lively S.S. Oceanic groups/pages celebrating the life of Oceanic. Check it out!!

Ciao,

Christopher

Hello,

In September of 1976, I married Paride. The following summer, my girlfriend married Antonio. Gabrielle is married and lives in PA. Georgio married my girlfriend Laurie!

So very funny that while reminiscing I came across your post. I do recall 6 months before our wedding Paride had a one night stand ( I happened to have flown down to Nassau while you were sailing) with a blonde girl named Michele from RI! Small world!

Welcome to CC Drummers wife!

As the original poster, I am amazed that someone found this post from so many years ago!

Still fondly remember Mr. Formica and the Favolosi and Home Lines' S. S. Oceanic. The experience was on a special ship before the time of the mega liners of today.

I still have my recording of the Favolosi that I purchased that night before arriving in New York. But, my LP record player decided to retire before I wanted it to do so. Maybe I ought to try to get that LP converted to a CD. Never thought about that until this evening, thanks to your resurrection of my original post.

We sailed several times on Oceanic in the mid 1970's & early 1980's..we were very young and the food, service, entertainment onboard were top knotch from the time we boarded til we disembarked...the difference being is that when we first boarded and had the Bon Voyage Party(of course by the pools under the Magrodome - we would have 30+ people invited) we were all so excited and when we disembarked we were exhausted from all the fun we had & staying up all nite dancing in the Italian Hall after eating in the mid night buffet after eating all day & having lots & lots of fun.

Little did we know Oceanic would set the bar so high & extend our experiences to end up loving all things Italian and appreciating living la vita dolce and Europe and beyond. we were 18 years old first time on Oceanic(we had been on another Italian Line, Cunard and would sail on over 30+ crossings & cruises afterwards.

As an adult I grew to appreciate Oceanic's beautiful & unique design features...the art alone was world class. Certainly that era produced some of the most beautiful ships ever - Oceanic, The FRANCE, the Italian line - Raffaelo, Michaelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci.

Certainly the quality of the cruises were the best of the best (and certainly better than what the "premier lines of today such as Regent, Crystal etc offer today). The food, service again dancing in the lounges all nite....and certainly just being at sea on that beautiful ship - in all types of weather(we usually sailed in the winter from NYC - which in itself was spetacular).

We also sailed on Homeric & I celebrated my 30th b-day on the new Homeric! Sitmar was another great Italian Line and we had a great cruise on Lauro Lines! But Oceanic & Home Lines was the best..style, fun and pure Italia.....

I sailed on the Oceanic in the late 70's. My wife and I were only married a few years. Everett E Everett was the CD on the ship. Being from Massachusetts I asked him if he actually lived in Everett, a town in Massachusetts. He said no he lived in Revere. I replied that we also lived in Revere. I then asked what street he lived on. He said Sumner Street. I told him we also lived on Sumner Street. I asked which number and he said 54. I told him I lived at 52 the house next to his. I said you live with Lillian and he said that was his wife. We had only lived there a few months and he was on the ship so we hadn't met him.

ms-ma,

As the OP of this thread, I am amazed that you discovered it!

Thanks for sharing your story. One more example of "it's a small world"!

I have no recollection as to who the CD was on the Oceanic in June, 1973 when I sailed on her. And, my paperwork from that cruise is long gone so I can't look anything up.

On 8/9/2005 at 2:25 PM, mic said:

Do You Remember? Paride from the "Donzelli Band".

I would like very much to know how he is after all this time?

lrusso23@cox.net

was this the same Donzelli Quintet that were on the Home Line's SS Homeric back in the 50's, because i have a SS Homeric LP with the Donzelli quintet from 1959 (not for sale), this is it.