The Big Red Boat

[zcorvette1989]

Big Red Boat in March 1995... I went on a cruise during this time with my family to the Bahamas. I met a girl my same age at the time (15), who I have been trying to reconnect with since this cruise ended. Does anyone out there know how to get the names of a passenger on board? Her first name was "Buffy Kline or Buffy O'Leery" and I believe she was from Michigan and traveling with her father or step-father. I know it's a random question, but it's very important to me and I can explain why if someone is able to help.

 

Thanks,

Will

 

Will, e-mail me at zcorvette1989@optonline.net. I think I may know who you're talking about.

[mrsbud]

Reading through the posts it made me go dig out my photos to share with my kids! We took the Big Red Boat when the timeshare company bought it in Sept of 93. We were one of the first cruises to go after the paint job! I thought it was heaven! It was so huge and we had a wonderful time! Now planning a family cruise on Carnival Ecstacy for Dec! I'm so excited!

 

 

[fitzzroy1976]

I know this has nothing to do with Royal Caribbean but what ever happened to the big red boat? That was the first ever cruise I have ever been on.

 

The Big Red Boat has been sold for scrap and is in Zhushan, China waiting demolition.

[Scottohiocpa]

My first cruise was a high school marching band trip....we performed one show on board and one in full polyester uniform under the scorching sun in Nassau. That pool on the ship never felt better!

 

It was my first time eating escargot, and I remember being stunned by the elaborate midnight chocolate lovers buffet. :D

 

As of January 2012 it was reported that the Majestic (the former Sun Princess) was renamed Ocean Dream with a dragon painted on her bow. Her operators are listed as Runfeng Ocean Deluxe Cruises and she will be operating cruises from Haikou, China to Halong Bay, Vietnam.

 

The Oceanic is very much alive and well as the Peace Boat operated out of Japan.

I just read that the Oceanic was drydocked and dimantled in 2012 in Japan.

[Scottohiocpa]

As in, "this boat is in pieces:)"

[oneboysmom]

Thought i would keep this post alive...I worked on the big red boat back in 1999, before the cruise line went bankrupt. It was such an experience to work on a ship and see the world! I will never forget the big red boat and everything she gave to me in those short months on board.

[zcorvette1989]

Thought i would keep this post alive...I worked on the big red boat back in 1999, before the cruise line went bankrupt. It was such an experience to work on a ship and see the world! I will never forget the big red boat and everything she gave to me in those short months on board.

 

oneboysmom, I totally agree with you. We should keep the memories of The Big Red Boat alive. I thought the Big Red Boat was huge! Now that I've been on other cruise ships that are bigger, I still would have loved to cruise her one more time. The Star Ship Majestic was a charming cruise ship. The cabin was small, and the bathroom was even smaller, but I just loved the whole cruising experience.

[zeke11]

The Big Red Boat Oceanic was our first family cruise and I have wonderful memories. I think the service on that ship was the best I have experienced anywhere.

 

We came back from a beach day with barely time to get ready for dinner. With three little girls (ages 8, 7 and 3) we scrambled out of our wet suits and left the cabin in major disarray in our rush.

 

When we returned, the cabin stewards had rinsed out our wet suits, hung them all up to dry and our cabin was perfect. I was so impressed with how they bothered to gather our wet belongings and even rinse and hang them! This would never happen today!

 

At dinner, our waiter stood behind my three yo dd and cut up her spaghetti noodles for her every night.

 

I loved this cruise ship and Premier.

 

Yes, keep this thread alive! Would love to see some photos if anyone has them.

 

Kris

[AquamarineBreeze]

I'm so sad to hear that this ship was dismantled :( Are you sure? Nothing left at all?

Before when the ship was just the Oceanic my father was 1st officer. My parents actually met on that ship!!!

Any more updates would be appreciated!!!

[zcorvette1989]

The Big Red Boat Oceanic was our first family cruise and I have wonderful memories. I think the service on that ship was the best I have experienced anywhere.

 

We came back from a beach day with barely time to get ready for dinner. With three little girls (ages 8, 7 and 3) we scrambled out of our wet suits and left the cabin in major disarray in our rush.

 

When we returned, the cabin stewards had rinsed out our wet suits, hung them all up to dry and our cabin was perfect. I was so impressed with how they bothered to gather our wet belongings and even rinse and hang them! This would never happen today!

 

At dinner, our waiter stood behind my three yo dd and cut up her spaghetti noodles for her every night.

 

I loved this cruise ship and Premier.

 

Yes, keep this thread alive! Would love to see some photos if anyone has them.

 

Kris

 

We had this awesome waiter, Oliver. Whenever we sat down at our table, he made sure that we were taken care of. I was 11 at the time, but I will always remember the fun times we had on board the Majestic. Since that cruise, I've been on several more. I even met Oliver one time at the Red Lobster restaurant in Danbury, CT, when a friend and I went there for lunch one day. He didn't remember me, but of course, I remembered the wonderful waiter who served us, and made us life long cruisers.

[ourbirdnest]

Premier StarShip Majestic I think is now a coral reef somewhere under the sea!

:(

[N7786W Flyer]

Actually, the Starship Majestic is alive and well and now sailing as the "Ocean Dream" from China. While somewhat dated, here's her entry in Wikipedia

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Dream_%281972_ship%29

 

...and you can find more recent videos on Youtube as well.

 

Garnett

[chatdad]

Was fun reading through all the post. Our kid's first two cruises were on the Atlantic first and then the larger Oceanic (BRB). We still have the t-shirts from those. To this day the ocean view stateroom on Oceanic remains one of my all time favorite. Queen size bed with a curtain that separated it from the two twins (if I recall correctly) that the kids slept on. Large windows and we thought this is what all staterooms should be like (way bigger than the norm today). I remember how special the dining room staff made the kids feel. Cruising has changed a lot since then (and not all for the better).

[JustinPlusLauren]

I may have posted previously in this thread a while ago but can't be bothered to check LOL. My very first cruise was in high school aboard the Big Red Boat. It was on a high school band trip and we sailed for 4 days to Nassau and a private island in Bahamas. We had so much fun and it definitely got me hooked on cruising! It definitely seemed like a smaller ship when we were in port next to a much larger Disney cruise ship. I had such an amazing time on board!

[bobbisailsolo]

My first cruise ever, with my sons, was the Oceanic. It was in August, 1988 I believe. I had nearly forgotten all about it! I don't think anything else will ever compare to it, maybe since I got so much pleasure out of experiencing it with my boys. I remember when we drove up and saw the Big Red Boat at the dock. It was amazing. So huge it seemed. And it was a real ship, not like the floating hotels today. The waiters would entertain by sons with tricks at the table. The bus boy would serve the sides from a tray. I think they ate chicken nuggets most of the nights. And my food was quite good. Then, there would be a grand show in the dining room, with flaming baked Alaska, and waiters balancing trays on their heads...what a grand time we had. And the private island was awesome. Combined with a few days at disney world, what a vacation!

[zcorvette1989]

Was fun reading through all the post. Our kid's first two cruises were on the Atlantic first and then the larger Oceanic (BRB). We still have the t-shirts from those. To this day the ocean view stateroom on Oceanic remains one of my all time favorite. Queen size bed with a curtain that separated it from the two twins (if I recall correctly) that the kids slept on. Large windows and we thought this is what all staterooms should be like (way bigger than the norm today). I remember how special the dining room staff made the kids feel. Cruising has changed a lot since then (and not all for the better).

 

I totally agree...Cruising has changed a lot since then. It is great to see how far we've come in the cruising industry.

 

It used to take forever to board the ship while we were in port. Now it's so much easier. Sailing out of NYC is great! The itineraries out of Manhattan are plentiful. I am hoping to do a transatlantic sometime in the future. That would be fun to sail on the Cunard cruise line.

 

I have found that the industry has become more commercialized as everything else has. I miss the "smaller" ships, that had the "small town feel". The big ships are nice, but I'll always remember how great it felt to sail on the smaller cruise ships, where we were treated like royalty.

 

My parents have sailed on Blount cruise lines. They have smaller boats. Their cruise had 75 passengers. It was a nice change for them and they felt like they were treated like royalty.

[buddylover]

My first cruise ever, with my sons, was the Oceanic. It was in August, 1988 I believe. I had nearly forgotten all about it! I don't think anything else will ever compare to it, maybe since I got so much pleasure out of experiencing it with my boys. I remember when we drove up and saw the Big Red Boat at the dock. It was amazing. So huge it seemed. And it was a real ship, not like the floating hotels today. The waiters would entertain by sons with tricks at the table. The bus boy would serve the sides from a tray. I think they ate chicken nuggets most of the nights. And my food was quite good. Then, there would be a grand show in the dining room, with flaming baked Alaska, and waiters balancing trays on their heads...what a grand time we had. And the private island was awesome. Combined with a few days at disney world, what a vacation!

 

Just like your family, bobbi, our first cruise ever was on the Oceanic (Big Red Boat) and it was in May 1987. My boys were 5 and almost 2 at the time. Our 2 year old was scared silly by the Disney characters and would scream every time he saw them.....so while the memory is still vivid my husband and I spent alot of time rotating shifts in the cabin....LOL.....but we loved the days in Disney World. It did get us "hooked" on cruising.....ALONE....later in life though.

[Kris10Rae]

My first cruise was on the Oceanic in 1996, I was 10. Does anyone know if that ship had stabilizers? I remember it being pretty rocky ;)

[allsanitylost]

Oceanic was also my first cruise in about 1997. I was 17. My mom took me as a present to celebrate my graduation from both high school and college for my AA. It was the most amazing time we have ever had. We made friends with the staff captain, Socrates & he showed us all around the ship- including some crew only areas. Oh, and as a 17 year old girl, let me tell you, Bugs Bunny when out of costume was one hot guy! lol. Anyways, with Staff Cptn Socrates, His greek last name was about 4 miles long, so we just stuck with Socrates because we couldnt say it let alone spell it. We had his email way back then but lost it over the years & wish we had kept in contact. It would be great to reminisce.:D

[skeeter195]

Our first cruise was on the Atlantic in 1989 for our honeymoon. We did the 4 day cruise with 4 day Disney add-on. It was awsome. We had the Grand Bahama suite, one of the 4 best rooms on the boat. It was big by todays standards, we felt like royalty. The room though did not even have a balcony. It had a seperated bedroom, big bathroom, giant walk-in closet and a living area with chairs and a sectional sofa. We then stayed at the contemporary hotel in Disney and had Lincoln town car for getting around. I am not bragging, but this whole trip including meals and air was $1657 for the 2 of us. Today cruising in a inside for a week can cost that or more. How times have changed

[loubetti]

I've been on two, make it three BRBs, though none was painted red.

 

The first was Atlantic, but that was not with Premier but it's original owner, Home Lines. The next was Sea Breeze, the former Costa ship, but owned by Premier. It was a two-nighter out of New with a group rate for a bunch of us from the World Ship Society. Nice ship, good food and service, but I was sort of bored on her.

 

The best was Rembrandt, the former Rotterdam. A seven night from Montreal to New York. What a ship! Incredible. Basically her interiors looked as they did when she went into service in 1958- a real time capsule. We had a great time. For a relatively low cost we booked the best suite on the ship. Food and service were great.

 

Sadly, I could see the end might be near for Premier, as we were running out of certain items on the ship (you no pay bills, you no get stuff).

 

Sure enough Premier folded about a month after our cruise!

 

Ahhh... the good ol' days.:)

[rocky1]

..............I stumbled across this thread and it brought back wonderful memories of our first cruise. It was on the Majestic (I think), the smaller of the 2 Premier Cruise Lines BRB's at the time. This was August, 1989. We took our children, ages 10 & 6, on the cruise and Disney combo week. They actually liked the cruise better than Disney World!!

 

The service was so much better than now, even though the ships were not quite so grand. We drove up to the dock at Port Canaveral, and were met by a young lady who helped unload our luggage and checked it right there. We had a few left-over beers in a cooler which we were just going to trash, but she said "oh no, I'll put some ice on them for you". Quite a difference from being sent to the "bad boy room" to claim luggage in which the x-ray discovered alcohol. Our dining room waiter, Radovan, always cut-up the childrens' meat, and (with the head-waiter) thoroughly entertained them. I was on a diet due to high cholesterol, but they weren't happy with me eating fish every meal, and brought me a sample of the beef entree of the evening.

 

I remember the first day at sea was rough due to a tropical storm nearby, and even many crew were sick. The kids, however, were so well entertained that they had no problems. The only Disney characters I remember on board were Chip & Dale, but There may have been more. I'll have to ask my children.

[wencam]

After stumbling upon this forum, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about The Big Red Boat and what happened to it, as well as all the cruisers out there who enjoyed sailing on it!

We sailed on the BRB Oceanic - first cruise as well! Myself, my now ex-H, our two children 10yr old son (had his 10th b'day on the ship) and 4yr old daughter, and my Mom. All FIVE of us in one cabin!

 

We sailed on the BRB at the end of August 1997, and the Looney Tunes characters had replaced the Disney characters by then - we had Bugs Bunny "tuck in" our 4-yr old daughter one evening (actually, she doesn't really remember much of the cruise or the Disney vacation that followed ) and when she was older and saw the pic of her and Bugs next to her while she was in bed, she exclaimed 'how creepy to have a a stranger in costume next to me in our room' - hahahah! I guess, looking back, it may have been a little creepy?:confused:

 

The cruise was fantastic, I do remember it being a little bit of a choppy cruise on our return to Port Canaveral, but nothing too serious and no real seasickness.

 

I remember how beautiful the ship's interior was. If I recall correctly there were beautiful wooden floors and doors in the common areas (am I correct or was that a dream? LOL) and there was just something so elegant about the interior in the public areas, the wooden railings, etc.

 

The evening of my son's birthday, we went to the theatre and although I cannot remember what the show was, there was a female singer and she called upon my son to go to the stage while she sang to him (I cannot remember the song she was singing?) but I did get a picture and it was so cute, he was up there with the biggest grin, and I believe he was sitting on her lap?! :D

 

We also did a "swim with the dolphins" excursion on that cruise but it was more of a "stand in a pool and let a dolphin splash you" tour!! hahahah The kids thought it was great, the rest of us could have taken or left it....it made for a nice photo-op with a dolphin, though:cool:

 

Our cruise was followed by Walt Disney World vacation for a few days.....it was during that trip, while in our hotel in Orlando in the evening, when heard the sad news that Princess Diana had died (August 31st). It was all over the news on every channel.

So strange how you can link such wonderful memories to something so tragic that you'll never forget the date:(

 

Anyway, such nice memories of that cruise and vacation, it's nice to see how many others have similar stories!

[Jenn24101]

I found an old ticket from my very first cruise and I think it might have been "the big red boat" but I'm not sure.

 

The ship says Oceanic on the ticket, and it was Premier Cruises. We sailed in February of 2000. We were 5 in a room, even have a room number, is there a deck plan anywhere?

 

All I mostly remember was how fancy everything seemed and we had the best time ever. I was just a teen and it was a band trip, made me want to cruise again, which I did 6 years later with princess.

[bobbisailsolo]

Yes, that's the big red boat!

 

 

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