August 30 Cruise

[steamboats]

SeaHunt,

 

I´m totally with you regarding the DQ! I´m pretty sure she won´t last long there and they overestimate her value as an attraction. She´s not made for salt water (only for short stays but not for a permanent stay). And if this happens I fear she won´t make it very long and will be gone forever!

 

steamboats

[SeaHunt]

SeaHunt,

 

I´m totally with you regarding the DQ! I´m pretty sure she won´t last long there and they overestimate her value as an attraction. She´s not made for salt water (only for short stays but not for a permanent stay). And if this happens I fear she won´t make it very long and will be gone forever!

 

steamboats

 

You know, it boggles my mind that with the businessman's background in the cruise industry (he sold a cruise only agency for big $$$, purchased the Orient Lines name and the SS Maxim Gorkiy to be renamed the Marco Polo II (though this never came to fruition due to the economy), apparently he likes cruise interests. So why he would have no qualms in destroying a wonderful symbol of river history?

 

(BTW per wiki the Maxim Gorkiy never was refitted and renamed Marco Polo II. The ship was sold for scrap in January 2009, and has since been demolished. Hmmm, maybe that's the vessel that should have been moved and turned into his hotel :rolleyes:)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient_Lines

 

The only thing I can speculate is that maybe history does not interest him, period.

 

For example, an Orlando Sentinel article from 2011 speaks of his mega-mansion being built where a historic house stood:

 

Wayne and Judy Heller, who purchased Casa Feliz in 2000 after selling a lucrative, cruises-only travel agency, started razing the 1930s house that year to make way for a larger, more-updated home — until they were stopped almost immediately by the city amid protests from preservationists.

 

and this:

Wayne Heller tried to appease detractors with his vision for the grand, new home he and his wife were planning. "Two years from now, people will say, 'Wow,' he said at the time.

 

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-07-11/news/os-casa-feliz-lot-gets-new-house-20110707_1_wayne-heller-casa-feliz-interlachen-avenue

 

Well a sad "wow" is what I say at this time. :rolleyes: Preservationists are protesting the DQ move too, but I'm very afraid money is going to win out in NSB.

 

Oh well, back to the AQ. :) hondorner thanks to your report I've already signed up for the email info and the brochure. I am hoping we will be on a fall 2013 sailing. We will be on the NCL Epic in January, so going from that monster to the AQ will be quite a difference LOL.

[steamboats]

Don,

 

I don´t want to take over your thread which I highly appreciate!!

 

But, SeaHunt, thanks!! I knew about his activities regarding the historic house he turned down. But I didn´t know about Orient Lines. The Maxim Gorkiy was very popular in Germany and running for a German cruise line called Phoenix. There were efforts to save this ship and turn it into a museum and floating hotel in Hamburg. The Maxim Gorkiy was built as TS Hamburg in 1969 and those who wanted to save her wanted to restore the original name of course.

 

... some steamship history!

 

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