Your favorite maritime-cruise related book?

[WillK]

I just finished reading "Liners To The Sun" by John Maxtone-Graham. Wonderful perspective on cruising, past and present. Always looking for a good read. What are your favorites?

Cheers-Will

[DFD1]

"The Only Way To Cross" a classic about the great transatlantic liners

[bepsf]

There is a very good book about Normandie by the same name which I enjoyed -

 

- am currently reading "Transatlantic" which is about the Cunard Line from it's beginnings to WW1.

[ekerr19]

HAL's 2006 Cruise Planner... :D LOL!

[jhannah]

We thoroughly enjoyed "Path Between the Seas" that we read prior to our Panama Canal cruise. It's not directly cruise related, but it really gave us a better understanding and appreciation of this engineering marvel as we sailed through it.

[DFD1]

Brian, Set me straight (no pun intended). Is "The Only Way To Cross" focused on the Normandie? I read it many years, and many books, ago and remembered it as a general view of the transatlantics. Have I remembered it wrong? DFD

[TinaLee]

Mark Twain's "Following the Equator"

 

 

TinaLee

[bepsf]

Brian, Set me straight (no pun intended). Is "The Only Way To Cross" focused on the Normandie? I read it many years, and many books, ago and remembered it as a general view of the transatlantics. Have I remembered it wrong? DFD

 

LOL!!!

Oh, no - you remember correctly...

 

I meant that the book about Normandie was called "Normandie" - but looking back, I think its really called "Normandie: Her Life and Times"

 

BTW - Does anyone know of a book about the history of HAL?

 

 

 

 

Nobody ever accused me of setting anyone straight...

;)

[obriendan]

Not cruise related, but certainly maritime. Robert K. Massie's two books "Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War", and the naval history of the Great War, "Castles of Steel". If you like history, and naval history in particular, these two well written volumes are very, very good.

[sail7seas]

125 Years of Holland America Line by H.A. Dalkmann and A.J. Schoonderbeek ---who is currently Master of Veendam.

 

Wonderful book with great HAL historical info. Captain Schoonderbeek is the undisputed expert of the line.

[dougnewmanatsea]

Some recent (i.e., in print and available) favorites of mine:

 

"Ocean Liner Odyssey 1958-1969" by Ted Scull - a travelogue (with photos) of some of Ted's travels in various passenger ships in those years. A great read which even non-ship-enthusiasts may enjoy. This one includes at least one HAL ship (ROTTERDAM V) too!

 

"Cunarder" by Stephen Card - any past HAL passenger will know Stephen's magnificent paintings of the fleet. This brand-new book contains a vast collection of his paintings of various Cunarders, most from the on-board collection of QUEEN MARY 2, together with copious amounts of text on the same ships (way, way too long to be called captions). There is also a long section by Maurizio Eliseo on the design and construction of QUEEN MARY 2. This one is probably the most visually stunning book on ships I've ever seen... A truly gorgeous volume.

 

"Liners & Cruise Ships" by Tony Cooke (and also "Liners & Cruise Ships 2" and "Liners & Cruise Ships 3") - these books give histories of many interesting but less-known liners and cruise ships. You will not find NORMANDIE or QUEEN MARY in here - but while you may never have heard of many of these ships, they're still fascinating.

 

"The Last White Empresses" by Clive Harvey - this one has a relatively narrow audience as it focuses on three not particularly famous ships; EMPRESS OF BRITAIN (later QUEEN ANNA MARIA, CARNIVALE, FIESTAMARINA, OLYMPIC, and now THE TOPAZ - for her history see here), her sister EMPRESS OF ENGLAND (later OCEAN MONARCH) and the follow-on to these ships, EMPRESS OF CANADA (later MARDI GRAS, APOLLON). Lots of people who were on CARNIVALE or MARDI GRAS and who wonder about the history of these ships should buy this book... That aside, it is possibly the best title I've read that's focused on specific ships. These are largely forgotten but fascinating vessels - the last Canadian Pacific ocean liners and two of them went on to found the Carnival empire which today is hugely powerful and of course owns HAL.

 

"Passenger Liners Scandinavian Style" by Bruce Peter - a commanding survey of virtually all Scandinavian passenger ships of all shapes and sizes. Great writing and really wonderful photos of these ships too.

 

All of the above are published by Carmania Press, owned by Tony Cooke who is also the author of the "Liners and Cruise Ships" books. They are not all that easy to get in the US but are definitely worth it!

[Bookish Angel]

Great true story of Shackleton's adventure and equally great photos.

[CrabbyHarper]

Seaspray and Whisky by Norman Freeman. The true story of a tramp steamer and its cargo of Vat 69 Scotch whisky. A real hoot! Read this on our Nov 09 Maasdam cruise.

 

Anything by Linda Greenlaw - if you saw or read "The Perfect Storm" Linda was the lady swordboat captain. She's a great writer - try The Hungry Ocean, or the Lobster Chronicles or All Fishermen are Liars.

 

Any of the old Crunch and Des story collections - author is Philip Wylie. Fishing technology is dated but the stories are more about human nature, which doesn't change.

 

Now have to find something good for April Maasdam cruise - looking forward to meeting Bookish Angel - and comparing notes on favorite books.

[mariner]

``Cruising and Crossing'' by Maxtone-Graham is a great book for those who want to know more about Carnival.

 

I just finished ``The Colombo Bay.'' While it's about container ships, there is a HAL angle and shipboard is shipboard whether the cargo speaks or not. And I met the men who hammer out the contracts for Norfolk after our Maasdam cruise. It's a good book.

[arzz]

There is a book I read several yars ago (title escapes me) that was written by the captain of the Mariposa about her last round the world cruise -- I really enjoyed that one and learned a lot about what cruising once was

[CDRMark]

The Endurance:Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition

The cruise from hell and a really crummy shore excursion.

Cheers

MarkB

[spongerob]

I've read a couple of his books

 

Unsinkable: The Full Story of the RMS Titanic and Warrior Queens: The Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth in World War II. Both are well-researched and interesting. Read "Unsinkable" and find out how much Hollywood got intentionally wrong...

[trubey]

Why, the nice glossy book from HAL describing the upcoming cruises, of course!

 

I was a book designer and compositor for a large New York publisher for a number of years, and so usually read new projects about a year in advance of their printing. I read the Cunard history -- about the driest, most stuck-up book I've ever encountered!

 

Lane

[carnival2523]

I wondered where you were able to purchase the book 125 Years Of Holland America, I couldn't find it available for sale online?

[sail7seas]

The publisher is The Pentland Press.

 

It was first published in 1998 by :

 

 

The Pentland Press Ltd.

1 Hutton Close

South Church,

Bishop Auckland

Durham

 

You may try contacting them....perhaps finding a website.

 

We received it as a gift when we were aboard Maasdam and we treasure it (along with the wonderful personalization from the Captain.)

[jan7487]

There is a book I read several yars ago (title escapes me) that was written by the captain of the Mariposa about her last round the world cruise -- I really enjoyed that one and learned a lot about what cruising once was

 

Believe you are thinking of "Nothing Can Go Wrong" by Captain Kilpack of the Mariposa, and co-authored by John D. MacDonald, who, along with his wife, was along on this final world journey of the Mariposa. They alternate chapters and for anyone who loves to cruise this book is priceless. So very funny and so very true---we will all recognize ourselves and fellow passengers in the people on board this trip.

 

It is out of print now, but if you can find it anywhere, buy it. It's a wonderful read.

 

Janet

[DFD1]

Turbey/Lane: When you mention the book on the history of Cunard, are you referring to the book "Cunarder" by Stephen Card, mentioned in Doug's post above in this thread, or to another book on Cunard history?

 

The reason I ask is that I just found "Cunarder" by Stephen Card available thru the American distributor for Carmania Press and was about to buy it until I read your post.

 

Thanks for the clarification. DFD

[Rosarymb]

I started reading when I was 3, and I have a BA in English; so believe me when I say I've read thousands and thousands of books over the years. One of the best fiction books I have ever read was HMS Ulysses by Alistair MacLean. Not a cruise ship, per se, but I wonderful story of men and the sea (Merchant Marine, WWII). It's one of those books you never forget; you carry the characters around with you for days afterwards...I can also recommend his book "The Golden Rendezvous," which is about a cruise ship hijacking set in the 50's.

 

The 2 best non-fiction books I've ever read about a cruise ship were "A Night to Remember" by Walter Lord and "Her Name, Titanic" by Charles Pellegrino. There was a recent book out about the Lusitania, but it was horribly boring....

[WillK]

Carnival2523- "125 Years Of Holland America Line" is available at alibris.com. Fairly pricey, you might try having a local book store do a "search". They can often meet or beat the alibris price.

[DFD1]

Sail & Others: "125 Years of Holland America Line", according to worldshipsociety.org/publications is still in print and available thru most reputable maritime booksellers. It is not available from the society bookstore.

 

There is a Pentland Press Ltd. website which morphs over into a sight for book research and ordering.

 

I am going to try and find it from some on-line booksellers or one or two maritime book sellers in New England.