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Sad news about Albatros(Cunard's Sylvania, Sitmar's Fairwind, Princess' Dawn Princess


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I would like to know who was the Captain of the Fairwind in July of 1985? I'm hoping the answer is Giuseppe Romano.

 

I don't know who was the Captain in 7/85 but I can tell you that our Sitmar Cruises Fairwind Passenger List for the 8/24/85 11-day Caribbean sailing indicates the Master of the Ship was Captain Nicola Di Stefano. Mark Edwards was the Cruise Director, Dan Neipris the Asst. Cruise Director and the Hostess was Janet Edwards.

 

My experience is that many believe that the trend towards family cruising is a recent phenomenon led by Carnival and others, but it is interesting to note that the TSS Fairwind had an extensive staff for children. (Especially for a ship that is small by today's standards.) They had a Youth Activities Coordinator (Sandy Davis); Teen Director (Brett Kelly); Teen Sports Director (Anne Hayes); Teen Theatre Director (John Caisse); Teen Activities Director (Nancy Leonard); and 8 Youth Counselors (Rosalyn Myers, Judy Fritz, Barbara Shock, Samantha Brees, Thea Stein, Elaine Husni, Ruth Thompsen, and Cheryl Feldman).

 

 

Personally, I would like to know any information about the following ships:

 

Xanadu - which sailed 7-day itineraries along the Inside passage to Alaska roundtrip from Vancouver in the summer of '71

 

Santa Magdalena and other Prudential Line ships (The Santa Maria was another one) - my recollection is that these ships made stops in several North American ports (Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles) before going down the coast of Mexico and Central America through the Panama Canal and counter-clockwise around South America in the summer of '75. They were cargo ships carrying produce to/from the Western US to Central and South America and had approximately 100 passengers. (I sailed 45-days with my parents from Panama City around the South American continent back up to Ecuador but want to verify the ship name. The onboard celebrities included noted Hall of Fame sportscaster Red Barber and an American bridge instructor named Zita who lived in Lima, Peru!)

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Personally, I would like to know any information about the following ships:

 

Xanadu - which sailed 7-day itineraries along the Inside passage to Alaska roundtrip from Vancouver in the summer of '71

She is now laid-up in California. A few months ago it was reported that a Saudi doctor living in the UK had bought her as a private yacht.

 

An extensive article on this fascinating little vessel, with a complete tour of her in her present condition, can be seen here.

 

Santa Magdalena and other Prudential Line ships (The Santa Maria was another one)

I beleive you are thinking of the "Four M's", SANTA MAGDALENA, SANTA MARIA, SANTA MARIANA and SANTA MERCEDES. These vessels were built in 1963-1964 for Grace Line, which merged in 1970 with Prudential Line to become Prudential-Grace Line, then just Prudential Line in 1974. In 1978 the company was sold to Delta Line who maintained the ships on their original services.

 

In 1984, Delta Line closed their passenger services. SANTA MERCEDES was sold to the US Maritime Administration and became the Massachusetts Maritime Academy's training ship, PATRIOT STATE. She has since been retired and is now laid up in the James River in Virginia awaiting her fate (probably scrapping).

 

The remaining three ships did not find new owners and were laid-up. In 1988 they were broken up in Taiwan.

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I just want to say that I have so enjoyed reading this thread. It's chock full of history, nostaglia and information and I thank everyone who has contributed facts and memories. I have just taken a cruise on Celebrity Zenith with my husband and five year old son. It is only my second cruise and I enjoyed it immensely. That said...my first cruise was on the Home Lines Doric in 1981 where I got such wonderful service I married my Italian waiter! ;) :D

 

I was in my early twenties on that cruise but I was still able to appreciate the warm, friendly, and elegant service we received. I was pretty seasick on the way to Bermuda but was well taken care of by the infirmary and "my" waiter who brought me ginger ale and crackers. It turned out to be a fun and memorable cruise. I am only sorry that I never took another Home Lines Cruise and that I didn't sail on the Oceanic. My only excuse was that we spent all of our subsequent vacations in Italy visiting family.

 

My parents sailed on the Raffaello and still rave about the service and the ambiance of the ship. They took other cruises after that but nothing ever compared to the Raffaello in their eyes.

 

The reason I chose Celebrity was, I think, that I was trying to find an experience that would come close to what I enjoyed on Home Lines. I don't want "freestyle", I don't want casual (i.e. flip flops in the dining room), I don't want Las Vegas decor. I DO want individual, personal service, great food, formal nights, nice but low-key decor and a comforatable cabin (I don't even need a balcony). I want to feel like I'm on a cruise ship not in a mega, impersonal, mass market resort hotel. If that what I wanted I could go to any number of places on land. I want to feel that this is a special experience on a ship :) .

 

I feel that the Zenith provided me with everything I wanted. I liked the fact that she was not too big. The service was outstanding. The food was very good. The crew was friendly and the passengers were the right mix. While their kids room was not very large or elaborate, it was fine for my five year old who can't wait to go back again. I sometimes think that too much for kids is not always the answer. They need to unwind too and learn to adapt to simpler things (like living without video games and computers for a week).

 

Anyway...just some of my thoughts. You have all made me very nostalgic and sorry I missed so much of the "old" days of cruising. I only hope that there will be some cruise lines left that do not go totally casual mass market.

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  • 7 months later...

 

As Sitmar's Fairwind, she introduced many people to the joys of cruising and to the delightful, excellent service of her Italian crew. Her Italian kitchen produced memorable meals.

 

A sad end to a great ship!

 

She will always be my favorite ship, my first on SITMAR. I have many fond memories sailing on her. SITMAR will always be my favorite cruise line as well. Nothing beats an all Italian crew. Every cruise I take will be compared to those wonderful sailings. ....is that a tear in my eye...no, several. :(

Cindra

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She will always be my favorite ship, my first on SITMAR. I have many fond memories sailing on her. SITMAR will always be my favorite cruise line as well. Nothing beats an all Italian crew. Every cruise I take will be compared to those wonderful sailings. ....is that a tear in my eye...no, several. :(

 

Cindra

 

Were you an adult or a kid when you cruised in the 80's on Sitmar? I worked with the teen and youth programs on Sitmar 1985 - 1986 on all 3 ships. I'm thrilled to know that you loved the Sitmar hospital as much as we did!

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Were you an adult or a kid when you cruised in the 80's on Sitmar? I worked with the teen and youth programs on Sitmar 1985 - 1986 on all 3 ships. I'm thrilled to know that you loved the Sitmar hospital as much as we did!

 

Linda,

I was an adult when I sailed in the 80's. Although I didn't use the youth programs, I was very happy you were there to take care of them...LOL..and keep them out of our hair. :) Those were the days.

Cindra

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Linda,

 

I was an adult when I sailed in the 80's. Although I didn't use the youth programs, I was very happy you were there to take care of them...LOL..and keep them out of our hair. :) Those were the days.

 

Cindra

 

You're welcome...I loved keeping them out of your hair! :) Remember the food?...the service? the chocolate souffles? real caeser salads made at the table? YUMMMMMMM

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You're welcome...I loved keeping them out of your hair! :) Remember the food?...the service? the chocolate souffles? real caeser salads made at the table? YUMMMMMMM

 

Ohhhh yes! ...not to mention, the bananas foster that was sooo yummy.... Last week I went into my basement and came up with a tote bag full of old daily programs and menus from a few SITMAR sailings I'd forgotton about. I spent the whole afternoon reminiscing. It was bliss. :)

Cindra

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  • 2 months later...

I too am saddened to hear of the demise of the Dawn Princess. :( She was the first ship that my family sailed on. My wife and I took our 3 kids (then 11, 10 and 7) on the Mexican Riviera out of Los Angeles in December of 1992. Definitely one of the greatest times for our family while the kids were growing up.

 

Admittedly, she wasn't the size of todays ships, and certainly wasn't as "pretty", but she did have her own touch of elegance.

 

For those of you who may not have a picture of her, or just want to see her one more time, I can provide the following from a postcard.

 

 

964ere2.jpg?phw8ZVEBf3dAm4Sg

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  • 1 year later...

<< I also liked how they served the vegetables. Your dinner came with the entree on it but they served French style the vegetables. Not like today where everything is already on the plate. A rather small thing, but it gave a touch of elegance and class to the meal.>>

 

In the mid-70's all of the food was served that way. Waiters would come around with trays and serve you with white gloves. It was very easy to get a taste of all of the entrees and side dishes; you could ask for some of whatever they were serving.

 

Can you imagine our shock after 4 Sitmar cruises, when we took a Royal Caribbean cruise and our food was came out of the kitchen already plated? We thought all lines served like Sitmar!

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  • 9 years later...
  • 2 months later...

Found this when looking for The Saxonia Sisters book...

http://www.ssmaritime.com/saxonia1.htm

 

Set aside a few hours. The history is both very long and very interesting.

 

BTW, we sailed on the Dawn Princess on its very first cruise as part of Princess. It was a 10 day cruise from San Juan to Acapulco through the Canal. Princess actually hung a piece of canvas with the Dawn Princess name hung over the side.

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Here's another article (also rather lengthy) from Cruise Travel magazine. Loaded with several photos of the Fair Princess's last Canal transit.

 

A side highlight is that it has a nice photo of Janet Edwards, the first female CD. (She was the CD on a 10 day Mex Riviera cruise we sailed and had an interesting challenge. We sailed out of LA on January 14, 1991. On January 16 1991 President George H W Bush launched Operation Desert Storm in Iraq. The passengers were very anxious to stay curent, a difficult job because the Fair Princess had no stateroom TV's. She set up several TV's in the public lounge along with as many chairs as she could corral. She also arranged with the ship's chaplain to call for a minute of silence and reflection at 11:00 pm, the announced beginning of the operation. Imagine doing this as the second show was underway for the second seating. She was a real trooper and gained a lot of fans that night.)

 

To add to the "fun" we were buzzed twice by air force fighters fly-overs the next day while we were enjoying a day at sea as we headed for Cabo San Lucas.

 

Here's a link to the article:

Introducing the Fair Princess

Edited by Host Walt
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  • 9 months later...
Found this when looking for The Saxonia Sisters book...

http://www.ssmaritime.com/saxonia1.htm

 

Set aside a few hours. The history is both very long and very interesting.

 

BTW, we sailed on the Dawn Princess on its very first cruise as part of Princess. It was a 10 day cruise from San Juan to Acapulco through the Canal. Princess actually hung a piece of canvas with the Dawn Princess name hung over the side.

 

 

 

Dawn Princess is now Pacific Explorer, part of P&O’s Australian fleet.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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Dawn Princess is now Pacific Explorer, part of P&O’s Australian fleet.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

The Dawn Princess in this thread was one iteration earlier than the Dawn Princess that is now with P&O.
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 5 years later...
On 12/3/2004 at 3:16 PM, Kalos Orisate said:

I first sailed on the Albatros in 1964, when she was a Cunard ship - the Sylvania. At that time, the Sylvania was a passenger liner - a true steamship - between England and Canada, sailing out of Liverpool, via Greenock, to either Halifax or Montreal, depending on the season. This was a time when British trains would deliver emigrants from Industrial England to the docks in Liverpool, and a train would be waiting near the ship in Halifax to take immigrants to industrial Ontario. In the Port Immigration Hall in Halifax, we each got a little package containing helpful hints about our new life in Canada ("take showers daily"), bars of soap, etc.

 

Through some investigation, I found out that the Sylvania went through some transitions and was sailing in the mid-90s for Princess Cruise Lines as the Dawn Princess. Some things had changed. The lavatories were no longer "down the passageway" from the bunk cabins. I believe a superstructure was added - but I still remembered aspects of the ship thirty years later. At the bow, underneath the paint, one could stiil see the faint outline of the word "Sylvania". At this time the ship was still transitioning from Italian Sitmar operation, so still had Italian hotel staff and the pizza bar. I went on several more trips on the Dawn Princess out of Florida and Los Angeles.

The Sylvania often sailed out of NYC also.  I was on her in August 1966 and we left from NYC (where Manhattan Cruise Terminal is now, I think. At least that area ) to Southampton. 

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