nauditor

Could it have been the ss New Bahama Star of Eastern Steamship Line?

Andrew, last time I saw Steve was when he visited with me in New Port Richey around 2006/7. He was living in PA. Prior to that, ISTR visiting with him on the Bermuda Star (I think it was) in Key West around 198x/199x. (Losing my memory <g>). We were in touch by email until his addy suddenly disappeared a couple years ago. I went to Key West with Steve's brother David. Can't find him anymore either. (Steve and I shared a flat in Miami Lakes in 1984.)

When I was on the VeryCrude, ISTR the Prez of BCL was Julio Del Valle. Any connexion?

Jens Thorn was captain. Last I saw, he was with Peter Deilmann.

~~~Peter.

Is that you, Charlie Dawson? Your act was the most enjoyable memory I have of Stardancer. You and I and the ship's doctor used to converse during your breaks. It was September 1987. I was misemployed as 'computer purser'. (I was a dBase programmer, and it turned out what they really wanted was a hardware technician. [story of my seagoing life for the ensuing nine years. Only time I gelled was when I was paired with a programmer.])

Remember that hotel in Haines whose bartender created a cocktail he named a 'Duck Fart'?

I had the pleasure of working onboard the Stardancer (I was the guitarist in Stanley's Pub) from 85-87. The vessels master was Capt. Kjell Smitterberg ( one of the finest gentlemen you'd ever meet). Great crew and we always seemed to have a great bunch of passengers. I distinctly remember hanging out on the bridge once (in the days when that was permitted)..cruising up a channel outside of Juneau, AK...we were picking up the local fishing boat's radio conversation when we heard one boat say to another "oh my gosh! the biggest milk carton I've ever seen is coming right at me!" We could see a small craft (about 1/2 mile away) hurrying out of the way. She may not have been the prettiest ship..but she was sure fun! I'm very happy she's still sailing.

This raises an interesting point. I may be wrong about this, but I was under the impression that, at the time of the conversion of NP to Carousel, SunTours were obliged to remove the Crown Lounge because it was an exclusive trademark of RCCL. I don't know about SunTours, but I know Sitmar were delighted to have the lounge removed, since they were the ones who'd have to deal with it, and they called it 'a royal pain'.

The point now is, it being impossible to remove the lounge, how did the purchasers of the SoA deal with the trademark issue?

I believe with Nordic Prince her Viking Crown Lounge was an "add-on" for lack of a better term and therefore was a lounge tacked onto the smoke stack...remember my earlier posting that you had to use an outside stairway to access the lounge. Song of America as far as I know had the lounge integrated into her design and as actual part of the ship had interior stairs and elevator access....it would have been too expensive and time-consuming to remove.:cool:

New Port Richey, FL. pvm3911@hotmail.com.

Hi Pete, Where are you now.

Last time I saw you was in Miami Lakes

Steve P.

Don't know how I missed your post when it was new... Anyhow, Danish Cruise Line was a subsidiary of International Shipping Partners/SeaEscape, not Cosulich.

I was never quite sure exactly what the relationship was between ISP and DCL, but I was present when ISP 'repossessed' the Scan Song from DCL, so it rapidly turned sour. (I was too engrossed in writing dBase code to pay much attention to the bullets whizzing over my head :cool: )

Did you deliberately omit the period with Danish Cruise Line out of San Juan, just before the SANTIAGO DE CUBA phase, or was DCL also a subsidiary of Cosulich?

This is somewhat of a complex question, only because there have been three SUNWARDs - or, more precisely, two SUNWARDs and one SUNWARD II.

 

We start with the first SUNWARD. [...] This lasted until 1990 when she was sold to International Shipping Partners who renamed her SCANDINAVIAN SONG and gave her to their subsidiary SeaEscape. In 1994, ISP chartered her to a Cuban company owned by the Cosulich family of Italy. She was renamed SANTIAGO DE CUBA [...]

The last time I saw Captain Skjerve was on the "Crown Del Mar" out of Palm Beach. I think it was 1990. He was no longer singing then. I don't know where he is now, but here's a link to an episode from his past:

http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/karmt.html

Sure...I remember the jovial voice singing away. On the Bermuda cruise, he always played up the battle with the fort...that a Viking would not be denied entry, then having his crew roll out the actual little cannon on deck to fire at the fort, which would fire a volley back. Eventually they'd raise the flag and admit the ship to the port.

 

Ah, Nordic Prince and Captain Scurvy were so fun! We checked up on him for at least the next 5 cruises on RCCL, which is how we found out that he lost his son in an accident, and had returned home. I'm not sure if that signalled his official retirement, but we haven't heard anything about him since. Maybe I should put up a post here on 'what ever happened to...captain Scurvy!'

Your message is looking so lonely, I had to try some sort of answer. It's not much, but I was on the Fairstar in '73, and the only people I remember who had enough seniority to have been on Fairsea in '64 were the chief purser and his deputy, name of Pelle and Pastorini. Another possible candidate was named Palomba. Sorry, but that's all I can remember.

I was Chief Purser on the Veracruz I for a while, and sad to see her go. For more info, visit the following URL:

(http://www.oceancruisenews.com/bm11.htm).