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Chandris S.S. Brittanis???


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My sister and I cruised the Britanis from Jamaica to Cartagena, Panama, San Blas and Aruba. We chose the cruise because it was cheap and had an interesting itinerary.
Doing a little bit of reminiscing here today after hearing about "The Love Boat". :(

 

I was single and also looking for something cheap on a guaranteed share and sailed the same itinerary as you MHG. After countless cruises since the Britanis, even at 26,000 GT, she is still my favorite ship. Panama is still one of my favorite ports as well. ;)

 

Part of my heart sank with the Britanis, but it was so much better for the grand dame to have gone to the bottom of the sea she sailed so very many years than end up at the devil's doorstep in Alang. :mad: She had a good life and judging by this thread, there were many who loved here. R.I.P.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We did a 5 day cruise on the Brittanis in February 94 and we have fond memories of this cruise and this classic ship. We chose to sail on the Brittanis because of her history. My wife"s grandparents sailed on her to Hawaii when she belonged to Matson Lines.

 

We brought along some original menus from the dining room which was a hit with the staff. Of course the cabins and public rooms were nothing like the new mega ships today, but the Brittanis had a lot of character and you won't find that on "The Oasis of the Seas".

 

We followed the Brittanis till the end and we are glad to see she escaped the breakers. She now rests on the ocean floor gone but not forgotten.

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I found myself reminiscing about The Britanis today and I stumbled upon this thread. So glad to have found it. I cruised on her in January 1993 to Key West, Playa Del Carmen, and Cozemel with my best friend just after we turned 21. It was my very first cruise. Being young and on a budget, we were searching for an inexpensive vacation and as luck would have it we came upon the Britanis. We had a super tiny cabin with no porthole but I believe we had a bathroom. I believe we were on the outside of the ship but lower than the porthole cabins in a room with two single beds that pulled down from the wall. I have a photo of my best friend with her outstretched arms nearly touching both walls!! There were probably only about 10 other people on board in our age group and they were all in couples. We spent our days tanning or taking aerobics class, and the evenings were spent in the bar with Ray the bartender.

 

On one evening our aerobics instructor convinced my best friend that we should be judges in a men's sexy legs contest on Cozemel. She thought this was a splendid idea and agreed. I didn't know anything about it until the following day. Of course we weren't thinking about how all of the men would be older than our dads, but probably closer to our grandfather's age! (of course that doesn't seem nearly as old to me now!) I laugh when I think back to it. They would strut by and we'd have to feel each of their calves. Some of the wives even asked us to pose in pictures with their husbands afterwards. It was cute.

 

I remember the black smoke from the smokestack and how in the mornings the chairs on the deck were speckled with the soot that stuck to it with the morning dew. I also remember a guy with an eye patch on telling us how he got a large flake of soot in his eye! However what I remember most was the charm of the ship and how I find myself fascinated with her to this day. I only wish I took more photos back then. I still have a few hurricane glasses with the big X on them from our nights in the bar. They bring back many good memories every time I see them.

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  • 2 months later...

I was so thrilled to see mention of the SS Britanis.

 

Mŷ husband and I sailed on her a year after we got married, in 1973. My parents gave us the two week cruise as a surprise. We didn't have a posh cabin , it was an inside with no bathroom - we had to walk down the corridor to the showers and toilets. My parents had a Lanai Suite which was beautiful. But we didn't care, we loved her, she was a stunning ship, really classy.

 

We visited Lisbon, Madeira, Tenerife, Las Palmas, Casablanca and Gibraltar and it was a wonderful cruise. We had tea at the Reids Palace Hotel as it was called then, overlooking the bay, it was such an experience. Both my husband and I went down with a dreadful tummy bug which meant we missed Teneriffe, so I guess even then the Noro virus was present on cruise ships.

 

During the cruise we had a crossing the line ceremony when King Neptune came on board, and all sorts of hilarious things happened. I remember the greasy pole which was placed across the pool and onto which brave passengers tried to cling.

 

Each morning bouillon was served in little cups on the promenade deck, and regular buffets were held here too, with pride of place being given to a wonderful model of the ship made out of icing sugar.

 

I had already sailed on Australis, my first cruise in 1966, and fell in love with cruising as well as with a handsome Greek waiter who was my first love, and who called me each time he was in Southampton, wrote to me from exotic ports, and once turned up on my doorstep so desperate was he to see me. He only had a couple of hours before he had to rush back to the ship. Those were the days!

 

My next cruise was on the Reina del Mar, a Union Castle ship, followed by a cruise on Ellinis, where I had two wonderful weeks with my Greek boyfriend. She was another lovely elegant ship. Sadly, after 3 years I went to train as a teacher and he was forced to go to New York to work in his brothers restaurant, so our relationship came to an end.

 

But my love affair with cruising has never diminished, and I still feel sad that Australis perished on a beach, and Britanis sank. What an ignominious end for thse two beautiful ships. But at least they were not ripped to pieces in India.

 

Britanis was chartered by the US Government in 1994 as a floating barracks for military personnel at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She suffered minor damage from an electrical fire, was repaired at US Government expense, then laid up at Tampa, Florida in late 1996, and I wish I had seen her before her demise.

Edited by ellie1145
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  • 2 years later...

This thread is so great, I joined the forum just to post in it!

 

I just returned yesterday from my second ever cruise, a five nighter aboard the Disney Magic from Miami to Grand Cayman and Castaway Cay. It was amazing in every way. I will be going again.

 

My first cruise was in May, 1984...a four nighter from Philadelphia to Bermuda aboard Britanis.

 

I was 13 and had flown to Europe previously, but this was my first journey at sea. I had no idea at the time that Britanis was over fifty years old at that point...it seemed huge and grand, with cool deck names like Aruba and Dorado, and a pool! We had an outside stateroom, fairly high up, with a portal. I really don't remember much else about the cabin unfortunately. We did have a private bath.

 

Well, the seas were angry that week my friends. Stormy waves pitched the ship up and down, side to side, and turned us green with nausea. We were late to Bermuda and got all of four hours to enjoy that beautiful island (I went back by plane on my honeymoon in 2003 for a week :)

 

Being the packrat that I am, I still have the daily morning navigator papers from that cruise. I remember the tiny pool was too cold to swim in (and the Atlantic was too rough anyway). I remember playing lots of bingo at the back of the ship and watching movies in the little theater in the very bottom of the ship where the motion sickness seemed to lessen for me. I remember a casino that I was not old enough to be in. I remember the great dinner service each night, and our server bringing my younger brother a plate of sliced tomatoes every night (his favorite).

 

It was a great adventure all in all, one I would never trade. I wish the weather had been better, but that's how it goes sometimes.

 

Five years later, in August of 1989, I flew to Miami with my best friend in high school (we had just graduated and were visiting his dad there). As we drove towards his house, I looked over to the cruise ships at the port and saw a white ship with two blue stacks with big Xs on them...it was Britanis!

 

I was sad to learn of her fate a year or so ago, but I agree with others that it is better to be at the bottom of the ocean than dismantled for scrap. Great to read about so many memories of this great old ship.

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I asked my dad if we had two staterooms, as we had five people...he said yes, and though they were supposed to be next to each other, my brother (6), sister (9) and I (13) were on a lower deck than our parents! Crazy!

 

My sister does not have good memories about it as she got VERY seasick. My brother was very young but remembered the tomatoes each night and lots of shuffleboard. My parents haven't been on a cruise since.

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  • 2 years later...

This thread might be dead, but, i'm a new member and am excited to see this thread and information.

 

I also got the "Cruise Bug" on the Britanis in the late 80's when I was in high school. I knew it was old, but, didn't appreciate it's rich history.

 

It was an amazing experience and I was exposed to great food, drinks, and service.

 

Firsts included:

- Baked Alaska

- Marzipan

- A Manhattan

 

Another post mentioned the exhaust from the smoke stack. I DO remember getting covered in diesel specks while lounging at the pool.

 

Even as a teenager, I enjoyed being with the adults and acting grown up. I didn't need an on-board Teen Club.

 

I've loved cruising ever since.

 

Chandris Britains 1987

Admiral Stardancer 1988

Disney Magic 1998

Disney Wonder 1998

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Just happened to be looking at a picture on our wall of my wife and me getting on the Britanis on our first cruise ever. It was a "trip to nowhere" out of New York. Boy, it was a lot of fun, even though she was in her twilight years!

Edited by vic1949
had typed the word "wife" twice.
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For all Chandris Lines & Chandris Cruises fans - nice Magazin (Ulkomatala Shipping Magazin) of all the Chandris passenger ships. Unfortunately in finnish language, but the pictures alone is worth to watch!

 

http://ulkomatala.net/magazine/UM_2015-6.pdf

 

enjoy

 

Frank

UM_2015-6.pdf

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  • 2 years later...

Sailed on this ship in the Greek isles with an all Greek crew.  Best service on a cruise ship ever by men who chose their line of work as a 'profession'.  Of course, this was in the era of flaming desserts, Caesar salads and fish boned at tableside.  Our waiter, one of the best, was carrying a tray overhead between tables when a passenger suddenly and abruptly stood, upending the waiters tray.  The passenger announced he was a lawyer and was going to sue.  The waiter was summarily dismissed.  Unfortunately, I say, because the whole event seemed to be preplanned by the passenger.

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21 hours ago, the simpsons said:

Sailed on this ship in the Greek isles with an all Greek crew.  Best service on a cruise ship ever by men who chose their line of work as a 'profession'.  Of course, this was in the era of flaming desserts, Caesar salads and fish boned at tableside.  Our waiter, one of the best, was carrying a tray overhead between tables when a passenger suddenly and abruptly stood, upending the waiters tray.  The passenger announced he was a lawyer and was going to sue.  The waiter was summarily dismissed.  Unfortunately, I say, because the whole event seemed to be preplanned by the passenger.

 

Thank you for an interesting story.  Unfortunate that the waiter was dismissed; I don't see any reasonable grounds for the passenger to threaten to sue.  

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  • 3 months later...

So glad I found this thread although it is decades old!  Yes, I sailed on the Britanis on a cruise to nowhere out of New York in 1983 or so, and I could NOT remember the name of the ship or the cruise line.  I kept think I was on the Britannia, which of course is incorrect.

 

An even stranger coincidence--my father loved Chandris and took us on our first cruise on the Romanza in 1973--two weeks in the Greek islands and the Black Sea.  Then in 1976 our family did the Chandris Victoria in the Caribbean out of Puerto Rico. In 1992 my husband and I took the exact same cruise on the Victoria again. 

 

Yes, I have so many fond memories from those Chandris cruises, and I have become a very dedicated cruiser!  Thanks to all of those who posted their many experiences!  Cruising certainly does permanently enter into one's heart, mind and soul.

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  • 11 months later...

I cruised 3 times on Britanis in the 70 s. The first / second time was with Chandris Lines on a back to back cruise from Southampton to Piraeus to Southampton in September 1971, and the third was a Western Mediterranean Cruise beginning and ending in Southampton under the Chandris Blue Sea Cruises division in August 1973. Does anyone know how or where I can find out the exact itineraries, or any other information about these early cruises?

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