SallyUK

Several news agencies now quoting stories that pumping has begun. Here's one from Reuters, but plenty of others listed on Google News:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/02/12/uk-italy-ship-fuel-idUKTRE81B0PG20120212

I was a child "ten pound pom" (technically my fare was free). I sailed to Australia on the Castel Felice, which was a rustbucket even in the 1960s, but I came back on the majestic, wonderful, never to be repeated Achille Lauro. 8 weeks, wonderful.

Thanks for sharing your memories Burm, that was a lovely diversion off down memory lane.

Thanks burm, we too will have been in the absolute cheapest cabin available. My parents paid extra to take the Achille Lauro so that we could say that we had been round the world by ship - our route out to Australia was on the Castel Felice (Sitmar) via Cape Town and we definitely didn't have a bathroom on that - and there were six people in our cabin! I know that the Canberra was going the other way round but also heading back to England, but don't know about the Angelina Lauro. The Achille Lauro was positively palatial compared to the Castel Felice.

Wouldn't that be funny if we were in Sydney on the same day? I don't know the answer, only that it was quite a pleasant sunny day and that I spent a lot of time on deck playing spot the difference between the two ships, before being allowed to walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

I hope you don't mind me resurrecting this thread for a trip down memory lane. I sailed on the Achille Lauro in 1971 from Melbourne, Australia to Southampton, England. I believe that the journey took 8 weeks.

The thing I loved about the Achille Lauro, sailing on it as a child, was that it was a proper ocean liner. It wasn't a cruise ship, it was dedicated to getting from one place to another and definitely felt like a ship with a purpose.

Our first port was Sydney and that was very exciting. We moored up near Sydney Harbour Bridge. Because it was still the days of assisted passage to Australia, there were plenty of other ships in port that day. We were in dock alongside the Angelena Lauro and the Canberra.

We had another day or so at sea before arriving in Wellington, New Zealand, then there was a long crossing to Punta Arenas and the Magellan Straits. Now that's what I called a storm! It was sufficiently bad to close the dining room and send everyone to their cabins. One time the big metal doors between the sections of the ship closed on my hand as I was walking between the two sections and I had to have a very black fingernail removed - ouch!

We had an inside cabin, second class, but my childhood memories were of doing everything that I could to find ways to explore the ship. I really wanted to get into the hold, but they told me that was sealed once the ship was sailing. Now I have no way of knowing whether that was true or a grown up lie, but I did manage to sneak into the cabin bag storage and have a good look around. I also swear that I saw a car loaded into the hold for our crossing.

It seemed to take forever to get to Chile. I've crossed the Atlantic since and its nothing compared to the total remoteness of the Pacific. We couldn't wait to get off when we reached Punta Arenas. Its funny, I've been looking at some pics from people who have recently sailed on NCL and the place still looks the same now as I remember it.

My parents did try and get me to go to school on ship, but failed as I'd much rather explore the ship, swim and have fun.

On one day of the cruise I remember overhearing that a passenger had fallen overboard and the ship was going back to see if they could find them. They didn't. I have no idea if that was what was going on or just a rumour though. My parents said that a woman had been sitting on the railings and fallen over backwards into the ocean.

After Chile and the Magellan Straits (which were truly amazing) we docked in Buenos Aires which was beautiful. A few days later we were in Rio, again magnificent.

We then crossed the Equator and the Achille Lauro had a ceremony on deck. This was part of the induction ceremony for those that had never crossed the equator before. We were also given certificates to celebrate the fact, and sea names too.

Another long stint on ship to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. I remember eating well in the dining room. Every night there was soup on the menu and every night one of the soups was consomme. I'd never tried it before and I swear I ate it every day for 8 weeks. I've never eaten it since!

Our cabin had four berths - us two kids slept in the top bunks with the rails around so my parents could play cards in the dark with a little nightlight while we slept. I can't remember if we even had a bathroom in the cabin. It wasn't the balcony stateroom I'm used to now by any stretch of the imagination. However I was hugely fond of the Achille Lauro and very saddened by what befell her later. No matter how much I have cruised since or whatever degree of luxury I've been lucky to experience, I will always have special memories of this ship.