slotl

The Star Princess in '95, the Regal Princess in '96, and the Norwegian Crown in '96 - are any of those still sailing?

From http://www.wikipedia.com

The "old" Star Princess is now the Ocean Village.

The Regal Princess is still sailing for Princess Cruise Lines.

The Norwegian Crown has an interesting history.

The vessel was built by Meyer Werft of Papenburg, Germany in 1988, for service with Royal Cruise Line as the Crown Odyssey. In 1989, Royal Cruise Line was sold to Norwegian Cruise Line, which continued operation of the company, along with the Crown Odyssey until 1996. A reorganization of all of the fleets owned by Norwegian Cruise Line saw Crown Odyssey enter service with NCL's main fleet, and it was renamed Norwegian Crown

Following the purchase of Orient Lines by NCL in April, 2000, Norwegian Crown was transferred, regaining her original name, Crown Odyssey, in the process.

In September, 2003, Crown Odyssey was refurbished and returned to the NCL fleet, again with the name Norwegian Crown.

Norwegian Crown at Hamilton, Bermuda On May 25, 2006 – NCL Corporation announced that its parent company, Star Cruises, had agreed to sell Norwegian Crown to Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines effective August 2006. Star Cruises concurrently chartered the vessel back from Fred. Olsen and NCL continued her deployment through to November 2007. “Although a beautiful and well-maintained vessel, Norwegian Crown’s smaller size is less suitable for Star Cruises’ ambitions in Asia,” said Colin Veitch, president and CEO of NCL Corporation. “Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines specializes in operating smaller and mid-sized upscale vessels and this ship should fit perfectly in their fleet.” Her last NCL cruise was on October 28, 2007.

This was the first cruise ship my wife and I sailed on. I have no Idea what happened to the ship

The Ocean Dream (formerly Tropicale / Costa Tropicale / Pacific Star) is a cruise ship, built in 1981. The ship began sailing for Carnival Cruise Lines as the Tropicale in 1982. The Tropicale was Carnival's first newly built ship. Operating mainly in the Caribbean. She was transferred to the Costa fleet in July 2001 and renamed the Costa Tropicale. The Costa Tropicale was retired in 2005 and entered service for P&O Cruises Australia as the Pacific Star in December of that year . She was formerly Queensland’s latest cruise liner, she was based in Brisbane, performing cruises along the Tropical Queensland coast, to various islands in the South Pacific, New Caledonia, and to New Zealand. In March 2008, P&O Cruises Australia sold the Pacific Star to Pullmantur Cruises. She has been refurbished and is currently sailing as the Ocean Dream.

Our first cruise was in 1969 on the Holland America Rotterdam V. It was 7 days r/t NYC to Nassau, Freeport, and the Bahamas.

We had a minimum rate (and I mean minimum) room (in steerage) for $99 each. Our room consisted of bunk beds where, if you stretched your arms, you could touch both walls. During the daytime, the upper bunk was up and the lower bunk was our couch. In order to take a shower in our room, you would sit on the toilet and use the "shower head on a hose" to shower (the water escaping thru a drain on the floor. Oh yes, I swear the rear propellers were above our room because we had "magic fingers" 24 hours a day.

But....we were on a cruise!! When we left our room, we were "equal" to everyone else.

If you are interested in "where are they now" about ships and prior cruises, you may just LOVE:

"Devils on the Deep Blue Sea" by Kristoffer A. Garin ISBN: 0-670-023418-5 (available new for $6.30 on Amazon).

The book tells the remarkable postwar history of the North American cruise industry. It begins with the history of shipping lines (and their owners), how "passenger ships" were created from cargo ships for emmigration to the beginning of the cruise industry by the owners of the shipping lines - NCL and RCCI, etc., the beginning of Carnival (Dodge Island in Miami, the Marti Gras maiden voyage) and the growth of Carnival Cruise Lines up to the purchase of Princess.

You will notice many of the ships you sailed on mentioned in the book. If you are cruising fanatic (like I am), you will love this book

Even though we tell ourselves we play for the fun of it, I'll admit it feels pretty cool to walk out of the room with a prize. And I'll definitely agree with others here who've pointed out the quality of those prizes has seriously deteriorated. Just two years ago we were winning some really good prizes - even HAL sweatshirts and luggage. Nowadays we're mostly adding to an overgrown keychain and luggage tag collection.

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You forgot my favorite -- the "Dam" baseball caps.:D

On our Grand Cruise (55 Days) many of the consecutive "at sea" days Kevin, the Assistant CD, we would play for "pride".

HAL has really cut back on the budget of the entertainment staff. I don't go to shows and travel mainly on the "smaller" ships, so I have no idea about the quality of the evening "show entertainment".:confused:

I heard that HAL was also doing away with "dam dollars" as well.

Hi Lois,

 

I'm not certain but I believe that a chicken must have red ear lobes to lay brown eggs.

 

Take care, Scott & Karen

Hi Scott & Karen,

Congrats!!! That is the correct answer. You were "addicted" to trivia on the 08 Grand Asia/Australia.....just like we were.

Lois

We enjoy doing the daily quiz....not for the gifts (although I really do have plenty of luggage tags, key chains, umbrellas, and mugs), but for the "joy" of seeing my winning entry posted.

On one cruise (I forgot exactly which one), we participated in the daily quiz on the first day. We lost to someone who answered 20 out of 20 and submitted the entry at 9:05 AM (the questions are available at 9AM).

Day 2, again we entered, again the "winner" (same person as the day before) had 20 out of 20 AGAIN and submitted the entry at 9:07AM.

On the third day, the theme of the quiz was chocolate.....one of the questions was "how many tons of chocolate chips are produced annually to make chocolate chip cookies?". Again 20 out of 20 at 9:10AM.....same person.

Obviously, she took a back-to-back cruise and the questions were repeated on both cruises or she brought "old" quizes with her on the cruise, but obviously she had all the answers at her disposal.

This does not make the game fun!!:( Does she need the HAL prizes so badly, she cheated? ...or did she like to see her name posted on the winning entry? Only she knows.

Bottom line, no matter what HAL does, it won't be good enough to appease all the trivia buffs onboard.

I would like to see HAL create a standard 366 trivia and daily quiz questionnaire and release it to all the ships at the same time each year, then create a new set for the following cruise year. If you notice, your daily food menus are pre-planned and dated on the bottom right.

It looks like the food department in corporate has it more "together" than the entertainment people in corporate.

Hi Slotl!

 

I, too, remember more than one particular incorrect answer that was "correct" for the game. I made the mistake of suggesting after play to Bruce Scudder, one time on the 08 Asia/Australia cruise, that he correct the answer for the future -- that I understood that for that day it was incorrect, but that he really should fix it for the future (it was a simple chemistry question and I am a former chemistry teacher -- he was dead wrong) -- and I was told that he had found the answer on the internet, therefore it had to be correct and that it was my knowledge of chemistry that was off ... he was quite not nice about it.

I was on 08 Asia/Australia with Bruce Scudder. He is the MOST arrogant, self-centered, egotist CD I have EVER MET!! He knows it all......just ask him.

One of my favorite trivia questions from that cruise (note: the questions on the Amsterdam were much more interesting and challenging than the questions on the Grand Med/Black Sea).

What physicial trait must a chicken have in order to lay brown eggs? Stay tuned, I will post the answer later. Hint: the answer is NOT that the chicken is female.

On our recent Zaandam sailing, Cruise Director Mike would go onto the Mensa website daily to obtain his 15 questions for the daily team trivia. That's what he said anyway. We had a great mix of questions and if anyone disputed an answer, he would pull up the facts on his computer.

 

Jill

Excellent!! I have been told by many of the entertainment staff that "they just don't have the time" or "I have to pay for computer access the entertainment staff does not get special internet priviledges".

I don't know about the "shorter" cruises of 7-10 days, but on the "longer" cruises, trivia is the #1 activity on the ship.

My problem is that each ship has it's own series of questions......some VERY WRONG (example: on the Volendam which mainly sails Australia/New Zealand, one of the questions was "What was the 50th state admitted to the United States?" Trivia answer: Alaska.) If you have ever played trivia what they have on their answer sheet is ALWAYS correct - so even if it is wrong, the answer given by the staff is right.)

The answers are "old" and sometimes "stale". One of the questions on our last cruise was "how old is Holland America?" Answer given by cruise staff 181 years. Unfortunately, 1853 was the year it began, so even if the cruise member couldn't subtract, the answer given is "correct".

On our 55 day cruise, the questions were repeated many times during the voyage because they did not have enough questions.

The problem also exists on the daily quizes. If people take back-to-back cruises the questions are repeated and the "new" passengers are at a disadvantage.

Suggestion: HAL should create "standardized" trivia and daily quiz questions and distribute to the ship's entertainment staff.....or the trivia and daily quizes already onboard, should be reviewed for accuracy and relevancy. I.e one of the questions was "who is the current PM of Spain". The answer was from 2000 and the person was no longer PM.

Any comments?

Canberra (P&O)

Rotterdam V (HAL)

Marconi (Costa)

"old" Noordam (HAL)

Skyward (NCL)

Starward (NCL)

Stella Stolaris (Sun Lines)

"old" Star Princess (Princess)

"old" Sky Princess (Princess)

France/Norway (NCL)

"old" Dawn Princess (Princess)

Song of Norway (RCCI)

Monarch of the Seas (RCCI)

Anymore, to me it seems that crusiing is starting to equate with taking the city bus, except it floats.

I would agree with your comments when I travel on "commodity" cruises. I consider a "commodity" cruise, a cruise which goes to the same locations week after week. Examples, Alaska, Caribbean, Mexican Riveria, now even some European cruises on the Med. Some cruise lines charge for ice cream, pizza, hot dogs and hamburgers on deck.

I suggest going on the more "exotic" cruises whose cruise ships travel "around the world" or a cruise line's "Grand Cruises". You will find the food and service to be first rate (especially on cruise lines such as Holland America, Princess, Oceania, Celebrity, Azamara, and of course, the more exclusive cruise lines such as Seabourn and Crystal).

As the cruise lines "cut costs", we notice "little" things which are now "missing". Coffee syrup rather than fresh brewed coffee (you can now go to the Java Bar and PURCHASE brewed coffee). Finger food at cocktail parties, french dining room service (no pre-prepared plates, the waiters wore white gloves and served you meat from the meat choices, vegetables from the vegetable choices, etc). I remember petti fores (sp) on formal nights served at the dinner table.

I also remember the postage stamp size cabins and bathrooms where you sat on the toilet and used the shower hose while sitting on the throne. Many years ago, we were on a cruise on the Canberra where the bathrooms (toilet and showers) were down the hall. Our cabin had a sink.....that's all.

There have been major changes by the cruise lines, but I still find cruising as the #1 way to travel.:)

If you haven't tried an "exotic" cruise, I highly recommend you try one.

Does anyone remember when HAL offered the tailors on board and you could order custom men's and women's suits, jackets, coats, pants, etc.? I also think HAL ran an experiment wher you could have the wall street journal delivered on board. And i think we were on the MAAsdam in 1995 when the lido coffee was starbucks!!--very rich, dark and frothy for free!. Guess the captain had a starbucks habit too!

We just got off the Amsterdam Grand Asia Australia cruise Nov 23rd. I am happy to say that "Hong Kong" tailors were aboard for custom orders. Unfortunately for the on-board tailors, the ship itinerary went overnight to both Shanghai and Hong Kong where you could get them cheaper off the ship. At a fee you can have the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, (and some other newspapers) delivered to your room. The ship always had a free copy in the library.

A Java Coffee bar was available at a fee for speciality brewed coffee.

What I missed was the "desert display tray" which the waiter would show you before you ordered desert. I also miss the "free cruise" bingo. HAL usually had a cover-all bingo with a prize of a 7 day Caribbean cruise.

My husband and I are thinking of getting a visa and trying Petropavlovsk on our own? Has anyone out there done that?

We just returned from the HAL Amsterdam Grand Asia and Australia cruise Nov 23rd.

Our stop in Petropavlovsk was cancelled by the cruise line and Amori, Japan was substituted instead.

We had booked the "river cruise" tour in Petropavlovsk. We were told by people who had already been there that we didn't miss anything. Amori, Japan was wonderful!!

Check with your cruise line to see if Petropavlovsk is still on the itinerary. HAL cancelled because a Princess ship had been "harassed" by Russian customs and immigration checking the passenger list, the passenger tours were detained by the delays, then had problems leaving the port.

Here is copy/paste of the incident:

Passport check holds up cruise passengers

About 1600 Australian cruise ship passengers were forced to wait in a Russian port for five hours today, as local authorities took hours to make a series of passport inspections.

The Sun Princess, which left Sydney on July 14 carrying 2000 passengers - mostly Australians - was held in the port of Petropavlovsk on Russia's east coast as the Russian navy checked and re-checked every passport.

Fairfax Media understands the cruise ship was blocked from leaving the port by two naval frigates.

"We were meant to leave at 4.30pm, but they didn't let us go until 9.30," one passenger, Ellie Fitz-Gerald from Sydney said.

"It was very frustrating. They came on to collect the passports at 5.30am - all they had to do was stamp them. But they took forever to process them. Some people couldn't even get off the boat because the authorities wouldn't give their passports back. They were just stuck on the boat. Then they insisted on checking them all again. The captain was furious."

Local authorities did not explain why they had kept the boat so long.

However, the port of Petropavlovsk has played a role in the stoush between Russia and NATO over the decision of the former to send troops in Georgia.

We were on the the Azamara Journey for it's last "shake down" cruise. We had taken names and cabin numbers from CC roll call. I handed the list to Lysl (who was the staff representative for future bookings and Celebrity "frequent traveler" program.

Lysl arranged for the MOST WONDERFUL meet and greet. We were served champagne and hor dorves (sp.). Then she brought in the ENTIRE Senior Staff officers on the ship. They were ALL there to introduce Azamara and the "new" amenities and service expected on the ship.

We were lucky to be invited to the Captain's Table for dinner, where we met Staff Captain, Carl Smith, who at the conclusion of our cruise would become Captain (master) of the vessel (at age 32). He was FANTASTIC. I have never seen a Captain as people oriented (except for the Captain of the Prinsendam who has been with the ship since it's introduction as the Viking something).

At dinner, he explained that most of the staff ORIGINALLY came from Celebrity ships, but the "new" culture of Azamara did not "fit" with the training the staff got on Celebrity. At that point in time, a new staff (much younger and with less experience) was hired and trained on the "new" culture of Azamara. I would imagine the negative comments came from folks who had no "patience" with the new staff in training. The more cruises the staff experienced, the better they got in doing their job. One thing that cannot be disputed is the staff's desire to please.

Remember, when I was on the ship, Captn Smith was ONLY Staff Captain, although he had assumed most responsibilies of the Captain. I remember one day when the ship's stacks spewed ashes all over the pool area. You know how difficult it is to clean up black ash. Within minutes Staff Captain Smith, along with dancers, entertainers, and other staff personnel were up on deck cleaning the ashes from the deck, the pool, etc. Any passenger clothing affected by the ashes was cleaned for free. Captain Smith was out there with brooms and bucket doing quite of the bit of work himself. I was VERY impressed.

We were so impressed with our cruise on the Journey, that we signed up (on the spot) for an April, 2009 cruise on the Quest from Singapore to Athens. I only wish Captn. Smith (and Lysl) are on the Quest. These folks and the rest of the staff are FIRST RATE.

I am allergic to the sulfites in wine. Consequently, I do not drink wine nor do I partake in salads (since salads use sulfites to stay "fresh"). On my first dinner meal on the Journey, I had the appetizer and soup. Then I had a "sulfite attack". I asked the waiter what I ate that had sulfites and he sent over the restaurant matre' de. He explained to me that ALL soups and sauces are wine based in the kitchen. The matre' de suggested that I special order tomorrow's dinner in the evening and my dinners will be "specially made" without sulfites. At the conclusion of dinner, he brought the following nights menu for my choices.

Remember that Azamara is TOTALLY open seating, yet EVERY EVENING, the matre' de recognized me as I entered the dinning room, spoke with our waiters about my "special" dinners and again, every night at the conclusion of dinner, showed me the next nights menu so that I can make my choices.

I have NEVER experienced service like it.

Passengers can complain all they want, but I will tell you that I was definitely impressed with EVERYTHING about Azamara. Remember, I was on one of the early "shakedown" cruises where training and forming their "image" was very important in building their new name and reputation.

We will be traveling on the Amsterdam Sept 19th on their 65 day Grand Asia/Australia voyage. There is NO "open" seating on that cruise.

We experienced open seating on the Golden Princess a few years ago and HATED it! We needed to make reservations EVERY evening and still needed to wait for a table. The service was "spotty" depending on what waiters were assigned to that table.

We experienced open seating on the Azamara Journey and LOVED it. Azamara is ALL open seating. We never waited for a table and the service was excellent!!

My husband and I were on the last of the "shake down" cruises to Bermuda.

We LOVED the ship, the personnel, and of course, the smaller ship. We signed up for a cruise on the Quest from Singapore to Athens in April, 2009 while we were on the Journey. We got a GREAT deal ($$$$). The going rate for our balcony room is now $2,000 more than we signed up for.

We were lucky enough to be invited to the Captain's table for dinner. Carl Smith was the "staff captain" at the time, but was being "promoted" to captain of the Journey at the conclusion of our cruise. Capt'n Carl was telling us that in the beginning, Celebrity moved quite a few of their staff to the Journey. He said it did not work out very well because the staff was not used to the new concept of totally open seating, etc. Therefore, most of the dining room stewards were NEW. Service was spotty at times, but overall our service was excellent.

I am allergic to sulfites. Sulfites are a preservative that is found in wine and salad bars. I know to stay away from those foods. The first night at dinner, after eating the soup and appetizer, I had a "sulfite attack". I asked the waiter if there were sulfites in anything that I had eaten. He brought over the restaurant matre de. I was told that ALL soups and sauces are wine-based, and that if I would order my food the night before, it would be made special for me without sulfites. Ok with me.

Every night thereafter, when I entered the dining room (remember open seating, varying times each night), the matre de would follow me to my table and tell our waiter that there was a special order for me. Amazing!! Every night.

Staff Captain Smith had a lecture by the stars, where he brought out his sextent and showed us how to navigate by the stars alone. He had a great catch-phrase if you made a mistake. "They name a reef after you".

I hope our cruise on the Quest is as wonderful as our cruise on the Journey.

We have never cruised on Celebrity, but with over 40 cruises under our belt, we will add Azamara to our favorite cruise lines).

daveco58,

If you were on the Original Mardi Gras, you will love the following book:

Devils on the Deep Blue Sea : The Dreams, Schemes and Showdowns That Built America's Cruise-Ship Empires by Kristoffer Garin (Hardcover - Jun 23, 2005) -

It is the history of the cruise industry focusing on the beginning of Carnival, the story of NCL, and the rivalry which created Royal Caribbean. It is quick reading.

If you are like me and have cruised for many years, you can remember and associate with the ships and activities mentioned in the book.

Meals served in dining room on HAL were served in empty plates by waiters with white gloves. The food was served from silver trays were the waiter asked you what you wanted from his tray (a tray of meats, another of vegetables, etc.). Today, all the plates have been pre-prepared and delivered from the kitchen. No more white glove service.

On RCCL, in the casino, if you got blackjack with three seven's, you would be awarded a bottle of champagne.

FF rooms are right by the housekeeping station, doctor's office, and, worst of all above the tender doors.

There were always dry cleaning racks in front of our door, room stewards assembled by the housekeeping office, lots of traffic to the doctor.

The tender door was right below. Every morning we tendered we were knocked out of bed by the clanking noises of the "automatic" chains (and motor) which open the metal tender door.