Song of Norway

[KerriL]

Sailed on the Song of Norway in 1990. It was hubby's 1st cruise. He could not believe how huge it was!:p The largest ship he was ever on was the ferry that goes to Block Island.

I have some photos. I will try to scan them.

[sea-cruise]

Wasn't that the ship where we had to go outside to get to a seperate elevator that went up to the Crown lounge....or we could walk up the narrow staircase to get there? It was so long ago, I'm trying to remember.

[skandls]

Song of Norway was my first Royal Caribbean cruise. I loved it. We had been on the QE2 bumped to Grill class - what an experience - but so not real life. The second cruise was on Carnival - did not like it at all - after the QE2 thing we thought we could not afford a cruise we would like.

 

We loved the Song of Norway - it was a New Years Eve cruise and it was fabulous. What a great vacation - not the stuffy QE2 nor the mediocre Carnival cruise. It was upbeat - fund - we were very surprised with the upbeat friendly staff on SofN. We had such a great time we book the next New Years Eve cruise on the Nordic Prince.

[CruznTom]

Here she is now

*

[RenieRaider]

I remember having my hair done in the salon for formal night and Meet the Captain.... that evening I wore a blue sequin gown..... (long time ago huh?)

And Yes! You had to walk out , IN the OPEN AIR, and UP a narrow stairwell to get to the Viking Crown Lounge.

After midnight it became the "Owls Nest" and you would get a "Night Owls Card" The dance flooor was so small..... they didn't have stabilizers back in the early years. ...so at night when you'd be cruising to the next port (but if you were a Night Owl, you'd be up and partying) you could be dancing and EVERYONE would all of a sudden S_W_A_Y to the left and then S_W_A_Y to the right and LAUGH!!!!!!!!! So fun!

 

LOL, I remember there was a "window", like a "ticket window" where you would purchase Shore Excusions.

 

We've come a long way baby!

[margord]

We thought this ship was the biggest and most elegant ship we had ever seen. I am so glad it is still in service and not a bunch of scrap.

[sea-cruise]

Yes! You had to walk out , IN the OPEN AIR, and UP a narrow stairwell to get to the Viking Crown Lounge.

After midnight it became the "Owls Nest" and you would get a "Night Owls Card" The dance flooor was so small..... they didn't have stabilizers back in the early years. ...so at night when you'd be cruising to the next port (but if you were a Night Owl, you'd be up and partying) you could be dancing and EVERYONE would all of a sudden S_W_A_Y to the left and then S_W_A_Y to the right and LAUGH!!!!!!!!! So fun!

Yes!!! I THOUGHT that was the ship! You are so right about the fun!

Talk about SWAYING...we were near the pool's edge once (aboard one of the small ships with no stabilizers) and when the ship took a wave and rocked, my friend and I fell over and went underwater...all dressed up for dinner.

We had time to change into dry clothes, but we looked like drowned rats in the dining room with wet ponytails and racoon-eye makeup. The photos are a hoot. :D

[doublenickelgal]

All of our photos are glued into a scrapbook. If I can find the negatives, I'll develop some photos later this summer and post them. Too busy now. But, I do have great memories from our first cruise. We sailed New Year's week 1985/86 and visited Cayman Island, Ocho Rios and Cozumel. We were in cabin 511 on the A deck. It had two tiny portholes and was furnished in gold and blue fabrics. I remember how small the bathroom was. We joked that you could almost sit on the commode while taking a shower. We recently watched our video from the cruise and got a kick from the poolside conversation I had with Sid Ceaser.

 

Overall, the people we met made it so wonderful. We sat at a table for 8 with couples from Michigan, Illinois, Texas and California. On New Year's Eve we thought it would be fun to ring in the New Year for each time zone. We went to bed before California. Tony, our cabin steward, was terrific and was so thrilled to see his family when we docked in Ocho Rios. Our waiter, Georgio, was a cutie and took good care of us. But I especially remember Sharon and Marty Sell from Detroit. We wrote to each other for a number of years after the cruise, but lost track when we started our families. I would love to know how they're doing now.

[jaspercat]

My very first cruise (well with RCI anyway - first cruise was with Carnival, but I no longer count that one!!) was on the Song of Norway.

 

I'll dig out the photo album and see what pics I have - if come across any that maybe of interest will scan them for you.

 

Oh one doesn't forget about having to climb up those stairs to the Viking Crown -- you left your cabin all 'nice and pretty' and in one second you could say 'bad hair day"! (the Nordic Prince was the same way.):D

 

I almost forgot about the partying into the wee hours and getting your sticker for being a Night Owl - not to mention the club card! And yes, you didn't need much rythum of your own, the ship's was pretty much what everyone was danced too.:)

 

Oh the memories!!

[crsrock]

oh boy! What great memories! I sailed on the Song, AND the Nordic Prince AND the Sun Viking AND the Sovereign. Hard to believe it was 30 years ago.......(not the Sovereign, only 17 years). And my photos are hilarious! I can't scan them either because they're glued in the scrapbook. The photos of those staterooms are right on! My folks and I were in a pull-down bunk room. Must have been somewhere on the 3rd deck (Mom and Dad always went for the cheap rooms). My first cruise was a 14 nighter: great Caribbean adventure. And they DID give out Night Owl badges if you stayed up past 2am.....I had 14 of them! I never missed a party or a show or a game. My folks couldn't believe I could stay up every night like that. Met a great young man on board; we corresponded for several years and he just kinda faded away. I still know his name and tried to find him. He may have returned to his native Sweden. Anyway, My second cruise was also a 14 nighter. Subsequent cruises were one week. Never had a bad time. You make your own fun!

Did three cruises on the Legend in the last 15 months. She was ported here in Tampa Bay, and it was very convenient to just get on and go! She won't be back, but Grandeur taking her place in November.

I remember on the two week cruises: Talent Night, Easter Bonnet Parade, Masquerade Party (I went as the Kansas City Bomber Roller Derby Queen....complete with blond wig, knee pads, helmet and roller skates.....yep, skating on a moving ship!!!!) Horse Racing at the PoolSide,

movies, you name it. It was a great time.

Hope everyone has happy cruises and great memories! Bon Voyageeeee!!!

Christine

[skandls]

Do you by any chance have the Passenger Manifest for the 1985 cruise? I know we did 2 New Years Eve cruises in the mideighties. I lost many of my souveniers in a move we made several years ago.

[Mr Veendam06]

Hi we cruised on the Song of Norway Prez. week fed 1986 !! I remember her well !.We did it with friends .It was the first of 8 cruises on RCCI and 3 more booked .We been on 60 cruises .But alway like RCCI .We did the W.Caribbean out of Miami.The one thing i really remember about the cruise is we almost got snowed in in NJ !! We had to change our flights to go a day early .I like that ship .Very small cabins kinda like the one"s on the Empress of the seas .Just did her last Feb .

Mr Veendam

[margord]

I forgot about the manifest. At the end of the cruise you got a copy of the manifest with names and home towns of all the passengers. I am sure that is not a security issues--smile.

[Kapricorn]

Here are some of photographs from the Song of Norway's cruise which I took from October 9 to 16, 1983. Does anyone remember the maitre d', Vincenzo (3rd photograph)? Does he still work for RCCI?

 

I still have the passenger list from that cruise. It is very interesting! Of the 856 passengers (97.7% full, with only 20 empty beds), 210 (24.5%) were from California! There also were 86 from Illinois, 72 Texas, 61 Florida, 44 Missouri, 39 Louisiana, 36 Ohio, & 30 Pennsylvania. There were 40 states and DC represented by the 788 American passengers.

 

The 68 passengers from outside USA were: 49 Canada, 7 England, 7 Norway, 2 Turkey, 2 Chile & 1 Cayman Islands.

 

I do not understand why passenger lists were discontinued. "Security"?:confused:

 

Donald.

[Son of a Cruiser]

Thanks all for the great memories and pics (keep 'em coming) We sailed the Song of Norway back in 1980 and couldn't believe how beautiful and big she was!! I had almost forgotten about the open air stair to the Vikikng Crown - quite an adventure on a windy night!! Remember the Pool Cafe? It was a little window serving a VERY limited menu near the pool. Hard to believe this grew into the huge Windjammer on today's ships. Speaking of today's ships, I always find it funny when today's Vision and Radiance class ships are referred to as the "small" ships. They are about 4 times the size (by tonnage) of the Song of Norway!!

 

That ship will always be special to us - it started an ongoing love of cruising and the open ocean.

[Son of a Cruiser]

Thanks all for the great memories and pics (keep 'em coming) We sailed the Song of Norway back in 1980 and couldn't believe how beautiful and big she was!! I had almost forgotten about the open air stair to the Vikikng Crown - quite an adventure on a windy night!! Remember the Pool Cafe? It was a little window serving a VERY limited menu near the pool. Hard to believe this grew into the huge Windjammer on today's ships. Speaking of today's ships, I always find it funny when today's Vision and Radiance class ships are referred to as the "small" ships. They are about 4 times the size (by tonnage) of the Song of Norway!!

 

That ship will always be special to us - it started an ongoing love of cruising and the open ocean.

[crsrock]

I remember Tea Time in the afternoon, Ice Cream Socials, and the strolling musicians in the Dining Room. Also, they had a sommelier (wine steward) who came through the Dining Room with after dinner drinks! The Baked Alaska with real blazes on the heads of the waiters!

[doublenickelgal]

Do you by any chance have the Passenger Manifest for the 1985 cruise? I know we did 2 New Years Eve cruises in the mideighties. I lost many of my souveniers in a move we made several years ago.

 

I may still have it, but will have to figure out which box it's in. I'll take a few minutes to look for it later on.

 

Swaying - yes I remember the floor coming up to meet my foot on the dance floor.

[skandls]

Doublenicklegal - if you do find it I am looking for Steven Heller. If you find us I would love a copy of the page. Those two New Years eves were the best we had.

 

I have one 'ship shape' visor and a bag with 1 RCCL pirate coin from Labadee.

When we were there they had guards and fences - we were wandering around and the guards sent us back to the lunch area. Haiti was rather unstable at the time.

[attagirl]

Oh those Ship Shape dollars. I remember my dad making sure we were all up for the morning exercise class just so he could collect all the Ship Shape dollars. I think after the week he had enough for a t-shirt :) He was so tickled with himself.

 

Our family still talks about our adventures on that cruise. My grandmother took her children and grandchildren for a Thanksgiving sailing. Now my mom is taking all her children and grandchildren on our family cruise in December. We hope the Liberty will have as many memories for our own kids as Song of Norway still has for us.

[dickens56]

Where is the Song of Norway today?

[doublenickelgal]

I'm not exactly sure where she is today, but did find this link that includes some of her history after being retired by RCI.

 

http://www.ssmaritime.com/songofnorway.htm

 

 

P.S. Just found some more information on Wikipidia. Looks like the old girl is out of service. Read on:

"Dream Princess (aka Song of Norway) is not currently cruising. Following Hurricane Katrina, the vessel was chartered by Tulane University, to provide accommodation for students. On 14 December 2005 she left for New Orleans, Louisiana arriving to the Orange Street Wharf in January 2006."

[b72bronc]

This was our honeymoon cruise in August of 1989. It was my wife's first cruise. I had been a crewmember on the S.S. Norway in 1983 so it was memorable as my first cruise as a passenger. Much prefer being a passenger. Since, we have been sailing on Celebrity but have booked btb cruises on the Adventure of the Seas in July 2008, our first btb. The Song of Norway was a great ship. Our TA gave us a poster of the ship which we framed and has hung in our bedroom ever since. Great memories. Garlicruisers.

[zuscruiserz]

SON was my first cruise experience in 1976/1977(?) - I was just a teen back then and we watched ALL of the Love Boat episodes. Experienced my first "shipboard romance" - he was from NJ, me CA, it was never meant to be - lol! They also had a penny dive that my brother loved :D .

 

 

 

And how about the Cherries Jubilee flamed right at your table - sooooooo cool!!!

[Shaden1982]

Sooo many memories come rushing back while reading this thread! I will look for some pictures from our first cruise on Song of Norway.

She sure had a knack for 'hooking' all of us on cruising. I know I still have the passenger manifest too, it's in the scrap book I made from the cruise...I hope the pictures aren't glued in so I can scan them and post them for you.

I had forgotten about the afternoon tea, I loved the little sandwhiches...and the night owl badges/stickers....I remember on the 50's nite they had a hula hoop contest in the Owls Nest/Viking Crown and I won!!:D

I thought Labadee was paradise, even though there were guards around us.

So much has changed since that first cruise. They don't have the horse races anymore. :(