Anyone Collect Decks Of Cruise Line Playing Cards?

[norboy76]

Anyone else like to get the souvenir decks in the gift shops on board cruise ships? I have I dunno how many, maybe over 100 decks (some are multiple duplicates though) I have maybe 4 boxes full of playing cards that I've bought or collected or were gifts. I have decks from:

Holland America, Cunard, Grace Line, Safmarine, Canadian Pacific, Princess, Royal Caribbean, NCL, Royal Cruise Line, Sitmar, P&O, Swedish American Line, Ellerman Line, Harisson Line, Moore-McCormack, Swedish Chicago Line, BC Ferries, Commodore Cruise Line, Celebrity, Nederland Line, Viking Line, Irish Ferries, Brittany Ferries, Maersk Lines, Blue Star Lines, Lamport & Holt, Shaw Savill Line, Matson, French Lines, Disney Cruise Lines, United States Lines, Greek Line, Sun Cruises, American President Lines, Oceania Cruises, DFDS Seaways, Norddeutscher Lloyd, Farrell Lines, Regency, Scotia Prince, MSC.

Some photos of the decks:

*The Sun Cruises deck is from the Sun Vista that caught fire and sank during a cruise in 1999, no deaths

* The Holland America deck is from between: 1929 - 1939

[norboy76]

If you collect playing cards from cruise ships, what companies are your favorites? Some just have company logos and some have ships on them, what is your favorite decks you've bought on your cruise? Hope to see who like me, love to collect these nice decks of playing cards, a lot of mine are still sealed and never used, some are though, not played with, just that they've been opened.

[rkacruiser]

Somewhere in my archives, there is a set of Royal Caribbean cards that I obtained on Nordic Prince in 1983 or 1984.  If my memory is correct, the cards only have the company's logo on them.  I don't recall any others that I have. 

[norboy76]

4 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

Somewhere in my archives, there is a set of Royal Caribbean cards that I obtained on Nordic Prince in 1983 or 1984.  If my memory is correct, the cards only have the company's logo on them.  I don't recall any others that I have. 

I have a couple of versions for Royal Caribbean, a couple under their original name *Royal Caribbean Cruise Line*, and the others just say *Royal Caribbean* see attached photos of the2 different era Royal Caribbean playing cards. If you want to see photos of any of the others, I'll be happy to share them if interested in seeing them. You'll see the two names the company went under it in these photos, including a 3rd deck which is a double deck. I have photos of all my decks, so like I said earlier, if want to see more photos, let me know and I'll be happy to share

 

[Catnip]

I have a couple of the RCCL ones, too! 

 

[norboy76]

I got some nice new decks for my collection, including:

Canadian Pacific, Polish Ocean Lines, Swedish Chicago Lines, Sitmar (with the swan logo), and very very vintage MS Sunward playing cards from 1966, Harrison Line, Maersk Line, Lamport & Holt, APL, Cruise North (ship is the MV Lyubov Orlova), Oceania Insignia

[norboy76]

On 5/9/2021 at 4:29 PM, rkacruiser said:

Somewhere in my archives, there is a set of Royal Caribbean cards that I obtained on Nordic Prince in 1983 or 1984.  If my memory is correct, the cards only have the company's logo on them.  I don't recall any others that I have. 

Added new some decks of playing cards in my personal collection to this thread, I thought might like to see. As I get more, I'll add them too, to this thread.

Edited June 17, 2021 by norboy76
updated info

[rkacruiser]

5 hours ago, norboy76 said:

Added new some decks of playing cards in my personal collection to this thread, I thought might like to see. As I get more, I'll add them too, to this thread.

 

If you don't mind me asking, how are you obtaining these after so much time has passed?  

 

The Swedish Chicago Line is a new name for me.  When I sailed on Sitmar Fairwind, the Swan logo was on the funnel with the colorful waves along the side of the ship.  I don't think those designs lasted for too long.  We were aboard Fairwind when it was a Sitmar ship and returned to Port Everglades when it was a Princess ship.  The company's sale took place during our cruise.  

[norboy76]

6 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

If you don't mind me asking, how are you obtaining these after so much time has passed?  

 

Some of these decks of cards were found at thrift stores before the pandemic and some during the pandemic during the brief openings between the lockdowns and some of these decks I've had for years but never had taken photos of them and some were from Ebay.

 

The Swedish Chicago Line is one of the hardest for me to find information anywhere on the net. I've seen some photos of the ships, but there isn't actually that much on the actual line that I can find.  I've been able to find they they did freight-passenger ships and were formed around 1947 but unsure when the company ceased to exist, possibly into 1979, but that's all I can find on this line info wise.

Edited June 18, 2021 by norboy76
updated info