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Does anyone know what happened to the day cruise ship Sea Escape that did day cruises out of Port Canaveral, and week end cruises to the Bahamas! It wasn't great, but it was my 1st. Would like to know what happened to it!

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I believe it went "belly up" . One of the owners got into huge legal trouble with something else not related to the ship, was all over the papers but unfortunately I can't tell you specifics....you might do a websearch for the fort lauderdale sun-sentinel or miami herald. Menina

 

Does anyone know what happened to the day cruise ship Sea Escape that did day cruises out of Port Canaveral, and week end cruises to the Bahamas! It wasn't great, but it was my 1st. Would like to know what happened to it!
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I believe that it was 1986 or 87 and sailed out of Port Canaveral. It did day trips throught out the week and week end trips to bahamas, I wish that I had could remember the ship name, maybe I can dig out the old photos and find it!

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I believe that it was 1986 or 87 and sailed out of Port Canaveral.

Thanks. I'll do a little looking - should be able to find out what ship you were on from that info.

 

SeaEscape was an interesting company with a very interesting history... I don't have the energy to get into this now. Maybe tomorrow :) .

 

The one I am thinking of was based out of Fort Lauderdale or Miami, this was about a year or so ago

Yes. That was the Port Everglades-based New SeaEscape Cruises, at least in theory a totally unrelated company.

 

The original SeaEscape folded, at least in name, in 1993.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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I can't believe I stumbled upon this SeaEscape thing! It was my first cruise too when I was younger. I went on it two or three times because we used to live in Florida for the winter. I still have a hurricane glass that I won playing some game....hehe. They were sometimes parked near another defunct company called Dolphin cruises and I remember thinking how big they were when in reality they were like like little cabin cruisers compared to the mega ships of today. Okay I'm done being nostalgic I'm too young to be acting like this.

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Splatitudes,

 

The current Sea Escae casino ship running out of Port Everglades is a former Russian ship, probably 30-35 years old. I went on that casino ship a few years ago as an office party, and wandered around checking out the ship...all the doors, bulkheads, etc were written in Russian cyrillic. Not sure where it was built, as I couldn't get to any manufacturer plates...maybe Russian or Finnish shipyard? I'm not sure if this is the one of the same boats that used to cruise under the Sea Escape name...but if it helps Host Doug with his research, I can verify the Russian former use of this ship!

 

Funny...I'm such a ship lover that while everyone else is gambling, and some commented on the ugly, rundown, rusting, badly maintained hulk...I'm walking around hallways and outer promenades analyzing the construction and predicting the age and origins of the boat!

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The current Sea Escae casino ship running out of Port Everglades is a former Russian ship, probably 30-35 years old. I went on that casino ship a few years ago as an office party, and wandered around checking out the ship...all the doors, bulkheads, etc were written in Russian cyrillic. Not sure where it was built, as I couldn't get to any manufacturer plates...maybe Russian or Finnish shipyard?

The present SeaEscape ship is ISLAND ADVENTURE, built in 1975 as KAZAKHSTAN for Black Sea Shipping Company, the Odessa-based subsidiary of the Soviet state shipping company Morflot (the seagoing equivalent of Aeroflot - Morflot = Sea Fleet; Aeroflot = Air Fleet). She was built at Wartsila in Finland (now Aker Finnyards, before that Kvaerner Masa-Yards) and was one of the five BELORUSSIYA-class ships, designed for use as both cruise ships for the Soviet and Western markets and as ferries for use on Soviet and international routes. She kept her original name until 1994 when she was renamed UKRANIA, becoming ROYAL SEAS in 1996 and UKRAINE in 1997 before going to New SeaEscape as ISLAND ADVENTURE in 1998. She was never affiliated with the original SeaEscape to my knowledge.

 

Because they were designed for potential use as cruise ships for Western passengers, these ships were built to a rather high standard. If you want to compare her interior appearance then and now, there are some excellent interior photos of a BELORUSSIYA-class ship (probably BELORUSSIYA) here. The site is in Swedish and there are three pages of photos; click "Nasta" at the bottom of each page to go to the next page.

 

Hope this helps.

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have you ever felt "up to" posting about the long and winding history of Sea Escape?

Not now. Really, most any other time, I'd have obliged (I have to admit that I forgot about it entirely and even made another post on this thread without remembering!), but not tonight. I just got home a few hours ago from a flight from Ft. Lauderdale that took three hours and twelve minutes - I mean three hours and twelve minutes in the air for a flight that in reality is maybe, a 2 1/2 hour flight. And that's ignoing the fact that we left over two hours late. From the time I boarded that blasted airplane until the time I got off was over five hours, to get home from Florida! And to top it off we had a screaming baby in the row behind us, and I didn't sleep well last night, and... Well you get the picture. I'm half asleep already and going to have an early night, during which I will probably have nightmares about being stuck in an airplane for the rest of my life ;) .

 

On the other hand, my car service driver was going to pick up some people flying on a different flight from Ft. Lauderdale to NYC which was four hours late and counting... So I guess at only a little over three hours late, I was lucky.

 

Anyway, I will tell the story another day, I really will. Apologies for forgetting earlier - I even made another post on this thread and still didn't remember. I must be losing my mind...

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  • 1 month later...

I SOOOOO remember Sea Escape, I never went on one, but when I was a little girl, they actually flew over Orlando and dropped 10000's of beach balls with the name and logo in the air and one landed in our property.... I was sooo excited..... I remember I used to sing the Sea Escape jingle! LOL HAA HAA

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  • 3 weeks later...

We went on the sea escape last weekend for a "day out for kidney patients", (my grandmother is on dialysis) ...It was awful...They have one elevator that has enough room to fit, and I am not exagerating, 3 people in it..in order to get my grandfather, who is wheelchair bound, up a level we actually had to remove the feet from the chair and push him up against the back wall then send him up by himself while we ran up the stairs to get him on the next floor, he could not go out to the pool, or sit on any decks outside because of the raised door ways, abd forget taking him to the bathroom...my father and a crew member had to carry him in. I called a few days later just to see what they would say if I asked about handicapped accessibility and was told they were definately accessible..what a joke!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I remember sailing on SeaEscape's Scandinavian Saga in 1989. She ran 4 night Cruise from Tampa to Cozumel every 28 days. If your expectations were at the appropriate level you could have a good time. I think she was a converted ferry from Europe.

 

We ran into a cold front dipping South into the Gulf on the return trip in December 1989. It was quite a rough ride. I had not seen so many green people since they colorized the Munsters:D . The ship was decorated for Christmas and by the time we made it back to Tampa, most of the Christmas trees and other decorations had hit the deck. I would say overall it was fun trip. A nice and "cheap" getaway. I think the fare was $350 for two people if I remember correctly.

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I think the fare was $350 for two people if I remember correctly.

Of course, accounting for inflation, today you could pay about the same today and take a similar cruise in a shiny new Carnival or RCI megaship!

 

Amazing how cheap cruises really are today considering what you get... What modern ships might lack in personality, they sure do make up for in value!

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I'm working on a scrapbook for my mom who has alzheimers and came across a picture of mom and some friends on the seaescape Scandanavian Sky. The date on the photo is 1986. Anyone have an idea of where they might have gone?

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  • 1 year later...

twice today I have seen mention of SeaEscape....this is exciting.....my daughter (then about five) and I took a 24 hour cruise out of Tampa.....a wonderful way to spend the day.....the kids flew kites off the back of the ship with help from the kids club staff...there was clay pigeon shooting off the back of the ship as well......MEMORIES....

 

Beverly

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