Ever sail the Skyward?

[NthernLgts]

She was the first cruise I ever took in 1987, and was the one that made me realize how much I love cruising. Her sister ship was the Southward if memory serves me correct. This was back in the days of golfballs and clay pigeons off the stern of the ship....

[bowlcoach]

We sailed on the Starward in 1980. You are right - great times. Smaller ships, real doors that exitted onto the Promenade deck, etc. Yes, NCL had 4 ships then - Skyward, Starward, Southward and the Windward.

[cp556]

October 13, 1985. My first cruise. MS Skyward ... part of NCL's "White Ships" fleet. And don't forget the Sunward...

I booked as a single quad share (me and three female strangers). NCL messed up the res and I ended up with an outside double to myself. I think that's what got me hooked on cruises.

I LOVED the top deck bar ... it had a couple of swinging chairs you could sit in and roll with the ship ... lol.

What was Skyward ... 16,000 tons? Teeny compared to the ships of today.

Thanks for memory lane......

[NthernLgts]

October 13, 1985. My first cruise. MS Skyward ... part of NCL's "White Ships" fleet. And don't forget the Sunward...

I booked as a single quad share (me and three female strangers). NCL messed up the res and I ended up with an outside double to myself. I think that's what got me hooked on cruises.

I LOVED the top deck bar ... it had a couple of swinging chairs you could sit in and roll with the ship ... lol.

What was Skyward ... 16,000 tons? Teeny compared to the ships of today.

Thanks for memory lane......

 

I think youre right at the gross tonnage. This was back when the cruise line was NCCL. The Norway was also in the stable at that time and was the largest cruise ship in the world then (something over 70,000 tons if I remember). I remember being told that the Skyward was small enough in theory to fit inside the Norway. Our cabin on the Skyward was an outside with a round porthole. I remember getting a bridge tour & a photo with yours truly at the "helm".

[seacruise9]

Hi,

 

I cruised aboard the Skyward in June 1976 (when I was 11 years old). Back then, the 16,000 ton Skyward was an average sized cruise ship. The original NCL ships were seek, modern and attractive. It is amazing how ships have changed over the past 30 years! I fell in love with cruises during this trip. Unfortunately, this has become an expensive habit. In May, I took my 50th cruise and have two more cruises booked.

 

Chuck

[NthernLgts]

Hi,

 

I cruised aboard the Skyward in June 1976 (when I was 11 years old). Back then, the 16,000 ton Skyward was an average sized cruise ship. The original NCL ships were seek, modern and attractive. It is amazing how ships have changed over the past 30 years! I fell in love with cruises during this trip. Unfortunately, this has become an expensive habit. In May, I took my 50th cruise and have two more cruises booked.

 

Chuck

 

Chuck, You and I are about the same age. Even though the Skyward was a "middle aged" ship at the time I sailed, to me it was an experience I will never forget.

[cp556]

A funny recollection:

Since Skyward was my first cruise, I knew zilch about cabin locations or ship operations.

The outside double I ended up with had two portholes, on the sheer side of the ship, so I knew eough to know that I could leave my curtains open ... there was no promenade deck outside.

I came out of the bathroom the morning we called at Cancun, au naturel, and there, looking in my porthole, was a man.

Turns out we had to tender into Cancun, and my cabin was near the doors used for tendering. So when the tender came alongside, the crew was level with my porthole.

My first reaction was to cover myself. The second was to grab the camera.

So, somewhere, I have a photo of that Mexican man smiling as he looks into my porthole.

[electricron]

The Skyward.

12949 Gross Tons, Length: 450ft, Passengers 850, Crew 240, Speed 16 knots, Engines 2 x MAN 12792 Kw

 

 

Skyward was a sister to the Starward, and was completed in 1969 by AG Weser of Bremerhaven. She was sold in 1991 to Singapore owners, receiving the subsequent names Shangrila World (1991-1992), Asian World (1992), Fantasy World (1992-1993), Continental World (1993) and Leisure World (1993- ). She operates under this last name for New Century Cruises in 2005, still operating out of Singapore, although in practice she is usually anchored in international waters with transfers to and from the ship are by high speed launch.

Starward was completed in 1968 by AG Weser of Bremerhaven, for the Kloster subsidiary NCL (Norwegian Caribbean Line, later Norwegian Cruise Line). She operated out of Miami, on seven day cruises to the Caribbean islands. She originally had a stern car door and garage space to take trailers, particularly to Jamaica. This space was later converted to cabins. Starward was sold to Festival Cruises in 1994, their second ship, becoming the Bolero. In 2000, Bolero was chartered to First Choice Cruises, followed by charters to other travel companies. Following the collapse of Festival Cruises, Bolero became the Orient Queen of Orient Queen Shipping. She passed to Louis Cruise Lines in 2006.

 

A second pair of sisters were ordered from Italian builders, to be named Southward and Seaward. The cost of the second ship increased following the nationalisation of the builders, and the order was cancelled. Southward entered service in 1971, and operated with NCL, including service from California, until sold to Airtours in 1994, becoming the Seawing of Sun Cruises. From 2004 she joined the Louis Cruise Lines fleet, under the name of Perla. In 2005 she operated cruises out of Piraeus to the Greek Islands and Turkey, after a winter in the Far East.

[Miss Connie]

The Skyward was my first cruise also--in August 1980. I met my husband on that cruise; he was our waiter in the dining room. He worked a total of 14 years on the Skyward, leaving in September 1983. I made several more cruises on it while he was still there, It took him quite a long time to ever want to cruise again because he knew how hard the crew had to work for so little, but finally when our sons were older, he went to oblige my mother and aunt. Since then we have made many other cruises, but our favorite now is still NCL. We all love FREESTYLE! Imagine my husband, on a cruise with no schedule to follow!!!!!!! I still remember with fondness the smaller size and fewer passengers.;) It changed my life!

[NthernLgts]

The Skyward.

12949 Gross Tons, Length: 450ft, Passengers 850, Crew 240, Speed 16 knots, Engines 2 x MAN 12792 Kw

 

 

Skyward was a sister to the Starward, and was completed in 1969 by AG Weser of Bremerhaven. She was sold in 1991 to Singapore owners, receiving the subsequent names Shangrila World (1991-1992), Asian World (1992), Fantasy World (1992-1993), Continental World (1993) and Leisure World (1993- ). She operates under this last name for New Century Cruises in 2005, still operating out of Singapore, although in practice she is usually anchored in international waters with transfers to and from the ship are by high speed launch.

 

Thanks for the pic....it brings back a lot of memories.

[gcjstri]

Ditto, thank u very much for the pic. My first cruise was in 1987 on the M.S. Skyward where i met my DH. We have been on 10 other cruises sine then 8 of then with NCL. I still have an MS Skyward beach towel with the ship onit that i bought on the ship. Great memories

minimom:) :) :)

[LateCruiser]

The Skyward.

12949 Gross Tons, Length: 450ft, Passengers 850, Crew 240, Speed 16 knots, Engines 2 x MAN 12792 Kw

 

 

Skyward was a sister to the Starward, and was completed in 1969 by AG Weser of Bremerhaven. She was sold in 1991 to Singapore owners, receiving the subsequent names Shangrila World (1991-1992), Asian World (1992), Fantasy World (1992-1993), Continental World (1993) and Leisure World (1993- ). She operates under this last name for New Century Cruises in 2005, still operating out of Singapore, although in practice she is usually anchored in international waters with transfers to and from the ship are by high speed launch.

Starward was completed in 1968 by AG Weser of Bremerhaven, for the Kloster subsidiary NCL (Norwegian Caribbean Line, later Norwegian Cruise Line). She operated out of Miami, on seven day cruises to the Caribbean islands. She originally had a stern car door and garage space to take trailers, particularly to Jamaica. This space was later converted to cabins. Starward was sold to Festival Cruises in 1994, their second ship, becoming the Bolero. In 2000, Bolero was chartered to First Choice Cruises, followed by charters to other travel companies. Following the collapse of Festival Cruises, Bolero became the Orient Queen of Orient Queen Shipping. She passed to Louis Cruise Lines in 2006.

 

A second pair of sisters were ordered from Italian builders, to be named Southward and Seaward. The cost of the second ship increased following the nationalisation of the builders, and the order was cancelled. Southward entered service in 1971, and operated with NCL, including service from California, until sold to Airtours in 1994, becoming the Seawing of Sun Cruises. From 2004 she joined the Louis Cruise Lines fleet, under the name of Perla. In 2005 she operated cruises out of Piraeus to the Greek Islands and Turkey, after a winter in the Far East.

 

Is that Hull Art I see near the center of the ship (or a coffee stain on the photo:D)?

[cp556]

You're right: there was Hull Art on Skyward! It was a little golden sun, and I think there were some blue lines, too.

Now the "hull art" near the anchor is rust ... lol ....

[cruisenuts4ever]

She was the first cruise I ever took in 1987, and was the one that made me realize how much I love cruising. Her sister ship was the Southward if memory serves me correct. This was back in the days of golfballs and clay pigeons off the stern of the ship....

 

We sailed on the Seaward and even back then they had a specialty restaurant that you paid extra for. It was a beautiful ship even thou there were no balconeys.

[electricron]

We sailed on the Seaward and even back then they had a specialty restaurant that you paid extra for. It was a beautiful ship even thou there were no balconeys.

 

The Seaward, Norwegian Sea, is now the Superstar Libra, sailing for the rest of the summer from Keelung, Taiwan.

History: Seaward was built by Wartsila in 1988. Seaward was renamed Norwegian Sea in 1997. In 2005 she was transferred to the Star Cruises fleet as SuperStar Libra.

 

The Seaward: 42,276 gross tons, 709 feet long, 93 feet wide, 740 cabins, with a double occupancy capacity of 1480 passengers.

 

 

I really miss her sailing from Houston. Must have been the last cruise ship NCL built that looked like an old fashioned cruise ship.

[Larrydano]

My wife and I sailed on our Honeymoon on the Southward early March 1978. We are now scheduled for our 16th cruise, this time on the Norwegian Majesty-Boston to Bermuda (4th time on this cruise/itinerary) this September.

Its hard to believe that the Majesty which is now considered small and outdated is about 3 times the gross tonnage than the Southward was.

We have sailed on ships sized from the Southward to the QM2.

They are all great and I love them in many ways.

 

Times have changed-not for the better or for the worse-just changed.

 

Larry

[crugirl]

Like yourselves this was our very first cruise during the 1980s. The cruise was the Mexican Fiesta with stops in Cancun and Cozumel. On the pool deck there was a replica of a Mayan pyramid. Our last cruise with NCL was in 1995 and we have decided to give freestyle a try in April 2008. This would be our 5th cruise with NCL however Our Lattitude Status doesn't give us credit for this very first cruise. Despite phone calls and correspondence to the cruise line we have had no response. Has anyone else encountered this problem?

[bowlcoach]

Credits with NCL for cruises with them that long ago doesn't count towards their Lattitudes credits. I checked and got the same response.

[YKNOT2Day]

I smile thinking about The Southward...my first cruise in 1974. I was ten years old. I remember boarding the ship and thinking there was no way we could float. That trip began my passion for cruising 18 and just booked #19!:D

[Umbarger]

Our first cruise was on the Skyward also. We had the most wonderful time and the memories are priceless. We will always have fond memories of the Skyward.

[chasetf]

We sailed on the Starward in 1980. You are right - great times. Smaller ships, real doors that exitted onto the Promenade deck, etc. Yes, NCL had 4 ships then - Skyward, Starward, Southward and the Windward.

We sailed the Eastern Caribbean on Starward in 1991. We then ran across her in Mykonos in 2005 as the Orient Queen. The first picture is when we sailed on her in 1991, and the second is in Mykonos.

[NthernLgts]

Like yourselves this was our very first cruise during the 1980s. The cruise was the Mexican Fiesta with stops in Cancun and Cozumel. On the pool deck there was a replica of a Mayan pyramid. Our last cruise with NCL was in 1995 and we have decided to give freestyle a try in April 2008. This would be our 5th cruise with NCL however Our Lattitude Status doesn't give us credit for this very first cruise. Despite phone calls and correspondence to the cruise line we have had no response. Has anyone else encountered this problem?

 

On our cruise I think they called it Mayan Magic :). We stopped in Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Cancun (we did the Tulum and Xel-Ha tour), and the NCL private island. I understand you no longer can take the steps up to the top of the temple at Tulum anymore. Back then, you could. It was indeed a beautiful view of the Caribbean from the top.

[perrys]

My parents went on the Skyward (without me) when I was about eight. It is funny though, because I remember pouring over all of their dailies and papers from the ship. I also remember obssessing over the little chart with all of the ship stats and sea terms. So, although my first cruise was when I was 21 on the old HAL Westerdam , the Skyward actually got me hooked on the idea of cruising.

[NthernLgts]

We did the same thing with our kids! This time however, the oldest gets to come with as a grad present.

[clean1owner]

A funny recollection:

Since Skyward was my first cruise, I knew zilch about cabin locations or ship operations.

The outside double I ended up with had two portholes, on the sheer side of the ship, so I knew eough to know that I could leave my curtains open ... there was no promenade deck outside.

I came out of the bathroom the morning we called at Cancun, au naturel, and there, looking in my porthole, was a man.

Turns out we had to tender into Cancun, and my cabin was near the doors used for tendering. So when the tender came alongside, the crew was level with my porthole.

My first reaction was to cover myself. The second was to grab the camera.

So, somewhere, I have a photo of that Mexican man smiling as he looks into my porthole.

 

 

That was me looking into your room!!

 

JUST KIDDING

 

Skyward was also home for my my first cruise, Cancun, Cozumel, Great Stirrup Cay, as well as my second, San Juan, St Thomas, St Maarten. Both in 1984. Just the other day my 17 year old daughter and I were discussing our upcomming Majesty trip, and the conversation turned to how I got interested in cruising and my earlier trips. So I dug out a bunch of my old Skyward brochures and pictures. I was simply amazed at how many details I could remember about those trips! Almost like it was just last year, rather than 25 years ago. Of couorse, my daughter, being 17, wasted no time critiquing my fashons of the day, or hair cut.

Reminds me again of how cruise vacations are worth every penny we spend on them.