Song of America R.C.C.L.

I have often read that word "stuffy" when it comes to describing Holland, Crystal, etc. What is that supposed to mean. I'm not sure I understand that meaning very well.

I have often read that word "stuffy" when it comes to describing Holland, Crystal, etc. What is that supposed to mean. I'm not sure I understand that meaning very well.

It's about people who think their poop don't stink.

It's about people who think their poop don't stink.

I may be dense, I'm trying not to make a literal analogy but I'm just more confused by this:confused:

Head Shot,

Let me see if I can help with your confusion...first I think you forget to mention the stuffiest of the lines...that being Cunard.

Anyway..the lines that are not stuffy are Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Princess.

Here is an example of stuffy...I was on a Norwegian ship sailing out of NYC (Manhattan) and docked right next to us was the Cunard QE2. When the QE2 backed out before us they had a guy playing the bagpipes...passengers were dress in business casual...guys had sports jackets on and waiters were handing out glasses of champagne....on the NCL ship the barbqs were smoking away...the steel drum band playing and passengers in shorts and tee shirts were drinking beers out of the bottle and the drink of the day...it was a party atmosphere as compared to QE2...hope this helps you...

Mark:cool:

Head Shot,

 

Let me see if I can help with your confusion...first I think you forget to mention the stuffiest of the lines...that being Cunard.

 

Anyway..the lines that are not stuffy are Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Princess.

 

Here is an example of stuffy...I was on a Norwegian ship sailing out of NYC (Manhattan) and docked right next to us was the Cunard QE2. When the QE2 backed out before us they had a guy playing the bagpipes...passengers were dress in business casual...guys had sports jackets on and waiters were handing out glasses of champagne....on the NCL ship the barbqs were smoking away...the steel drum band playing and passengers in shorts and tee shirts were drinking beers out of the bottle and the drink of the day...it was a party atmosphere as compared to QE2...hope this helps you...

 

Mark:cool:

Thanks Mark,

You greatly clarified this confusion of mine. I usually associate this difference in behaviour that you describe more of a class/etiquette difference. Now I know that when I hear that term it means upper crust class.

Thanks again.

On the SOA, they blew the horn 1/2hr or 1hr before leaving port and I think they did it again when they were leaving port. We noticed that they did not do this on the Carnival Triumph this summer. Do any cruise ships still do this? Any idea why they stopped doing this?

On my last cruise I noticed that if there is another RCI ship in port and one leaves, it beeps at the other.

We were in ST Kitts on Legend of the Seas and Empress of the Seas was also in port. We left first and honked at them and they honked back.

Thanks to all for the memories, I was a waiter on the SOA for most of 88 I also worked on the SV and NP. More than one has mentioned RCL as the Cadillac of cursing, I can tell you that the staff were every proud of our ships, we regarded ourselves and the best at what we did. The passengers we served were polite and many became friends, working the 14 day cruises on the SV you felt a sense of loss each time the passenger left the ship in Miami. With over 600 cruises under my belt I have often been asked why I have never sailed since and to be honest it is for the same reason, I want to remember as it was.

Remember theme nights? Western, tropical, 50's/60's. We'd find out ahead what type of theme nights there would be and pack accordingly.

Remember theme nights? Western, tropical, 50's/60's. We'd find out ahead what type of theme nights there would be and pack accordingly.

Yes, I remember. And I remember the dining room was decorated for the theme nights, too. the waitstaff would have on different outfits for each theme night. It was so much fun!

Thanks to all for the memories, I was a waiter on the SOA for most of 88 I also worked on the SV and NP. More than one has mentioned RCL as the Cadillac of cursing, I can tell you that the staff were every proud of our ships, we regarded ourselves and the best at what we did. The passengers we served were polite and many became friends, working the 14 day cruises on the SV you felt a sense of loss each time the passenger left the ship in Miami. With over 600 cruises under my belt I have often been asked why I have never sailed since and to be honest it is for the same reason, I want to remember as it was.

I know the passengers were quite different back then. You never saw the passengers back then do the things I've seen on a ship for the past 3-4 years. :mad: Some passengers are so rude these days! I don't know how the crew puts up with their rudeness.

Too bad things have changed like they have and now RCCL is only one of the many mass-market lines. What a shame.

See photo below of the RCCL Song of America, the "Ship Shape" dollar and what we purchased at the end of the cruise with 40 of our hard earned "Ship Shape" dollars! Brings back lots of good memories! :D

The Song of America sure seems tiny in comparison to most of the cruise ships today!

Any chance you can scan that card and let us see it?

Look below to see a scanned photo of our Sail and Sign Card.

I loved the aft lounge. Was it called the South Pacific lounge?

 

Good times!

The aft lounge on the Cabaret Deck was called the "Oklahoma Lounge".

P.S. We are in the process of making a slide show/video of our memories from the Song of America. Look for it soon!

Great pics,thank you.

Remember theme nights? Western, tropical, 50's/60's. We'd find out ahead what type of theme nights there would be and pack accordingly.

Remember when??????????????????????

:D

I loved the aft lounge. Was it called the South Pacific lounge?

 

I have also been a pax who attended every event to earn Ship Shape dollars.

 

To this day I faithfully use my long, narrow, bright yellow, plush workout towel. It wraps around my neck without being bulky.

 

I wouldn' relish being in one of those tiny cabins again. Remember the half decks, and going up and down steps on the Promenade deck?

 

Good times!

I found an old brochure.The aft lounge on the Song of Norway was the South Pacific.

After scanning numerous negatives and photos, we finally put together our memories of our Song of America Cruise.

Enjoy!

P.S. Anyone else have any pictures to share?

Our first cruise was on the SOA in Oct. of 1988. I have cruised since, but that will always be my favorite ship. It was so beautiful and the staff was wonderful. The food was great and always special. The cabins though were REALLY small. I often joked that they should have said "actual size" in the brochure picture.

Cruises now days are much more laid back and just dont seem the same.

Maybe nothing ever lives up to your first cruise??

After scanning numerous negatives and photos, we finally put together our memories of our Song of America Cruise.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

P.S. Anyone else have any pictures to share?

Great slideshow.Thank you.

I think his name is Skjerve and not Scurvey. I met him back in 1973 on the Sun Viking on a 2-week cruise of the Caribbean. I found him very charming and was liked by everyone. He was different from the usual captain and certainly had his own agenda. I read in some of these posts that his wife and son died and he had retired. Does anyone know from there?

That was a great slideshow, I forgot alot of what the ship looked like, im going to look at what pictures I have and see if I have anything interesting to post, I know I have a picture of my assistant waiter and myself , but cannot remember what else.

thanks for posting, its been nice revisiting this thread :)

Thanks for the great slideshow that brought back memories of our Bermuda cruise in 1996.

Brings a ral tear to my eye. I sailed the Song of America so many times. First time SOA

went through the Panama Canal I was on her, it was such an exciting time. I think the capt. at that time was Capt. Erickson ( not sure of the spelling).

The bar staff was the BEST ever.

Hi,

I just put in a search for Sunbird not expecting to find anything...

We had our first ever cruise on the Sunbird and we still remember it quite fondly.

The dance floor in the ____ lounge was a wood inlaid Mariner's compass, just gorgeous. We danced the night away for 7 nights straight. We haven't had such good dancing music on a cruise since (well except on our last cruise 2012 NCL Gem).

We were such novices on that cruise - we didn't know we could ask the room steward to push the beds together - we slept apart the whole time, well not quite but there wasn't much room on those cots! Everbody else seemed to be on their 12th or 20th cruise! We kept saying next time we'll be old hands at this cruising business and then we coould lie and say it was our ...8th cruise!

There were a lot of British travellers on that cruise. We were always going up or down the stairs on the wrong side (well, according to them anyway), they would laugh and say 'Canadians hey'.

We thought the ship was so big! It was a good initiation to cruising.

I found this YouTube video about the hx of the Sunbird

Thanks for the memories

After scanning numerous negatives and photos, we finally put together our memories of our Song of America Cruise.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

P.S. Anyone else have any pictures to share?

Oh my gosh! We were on that same cruise! Same week! We also did the Tulum Ruins tour. Loved Song of America. We have very fond memories of it. At the time I was expecting our first child who is now 22. Thank you for the pictures - we really enjoyed it. It was our first cruise but not our last and we still really love RCCL.

Sailed on SOA in October 1989. Beautiful ship!!! My first RCCL sailing. Have cruised on Explorer of the seas and now will cruise on Anthem of the seas in June 2017..:cool:

Sailed on SOA in October 1989. Beautiful ship!!! My first RCCL sailing. Have cruised on Explorer of the seas and now will cruise on Anthem of the seas in June 2017..:cool:

Our first cruise was also on the Song of America in October 1989. Love that ship and have such fond memories.