If you could go back in time and cruise on any liner...

[patterson3]

which ship would you choose?

 

Personally, I love the elegant steamers from the early 20th century, so my choices would be:

 

1) Titanic or Olympic (Obviously the Titanic has a special place because of its historical significance but I love the open promenade on the Olympic)

 

2) Mauretania

 

3) Queen Mary

 

4) Oceanic (I love the look of the 3 masts on this ship)

 

5) Normandie

 

Obviously todays ships have much more to do than the older ships, and having a balcony is infinitely more appealing than a porthole, but visually the older steamships are much more beautiful in my opinion. I love the 2, 3 or 4 funnels vs. one funnel, and the rounded stern of the older ships looks 100 times better than the "wall of steel" that most modern ships have...

[bowlcoach]

And...as a 30 year old, which of these liners have you sailed on?

[Wadadli1]

And...as a 30 year old, which of these liners have you sailed on?

 

Definitely not on Titanic......

 

Did you miss the message title part about "going back in time"?

[sho]

I'd love to be able to cruise on the Queen Elizabeth (one).

 

Sadly the first and the last time I saw her was in 1972 when she caught fire in Hong Kong. I was only 6.

[isujim]

Queen Mary or Normandie.........but heck, I would go back in time to sail any of them.:)

[cp556]

Normandie. Something about her style has always appealed to me.

[rdsqrl]

The United States -- because I love the movie "An Affair to Remember."

[Grandpaul]

The Norway. I've been more than 3 dozen cruises and my two favorites were on the Norway.

[songanddance]

While sailing on most any ship from the golden era of sailing would be a treat, I think my favorite would be to have sailed on the Lancaster when she made the very first world cruise. That must have been a very special voyage as no doubt she docked in ports that had never seen a ship that big before and the shore excursions would have been very mysterious and romantic.

 

However, something more modern would do just as well. In 1973 I had the opportunity to tour the France the day she was preparing to sail from New York on her world cruise. We took our daughter with us and many of the elderly passengers thought we were also on the voyage. Had we known, we just might have brought our luggae along and tried to cage a cabin from some of these passengers so they could have enjoyed our 4 year old child. Shameless I know but what an experience it would have been for all three of us.

 

Now, I am a solo traveler and I will be doing the dream cruise of a lifetime come this next January. I will on the QE2 for its last world cruise. A 90 day voyage filled with romantic evenings of dancing and days filled with bright conversation and exotic ports. There is an intereding web site about this trip at www.2008worldcruise.com I think you might find it interesting.

[stowaway2k]

Oh oh....

The United States --

Was in the movie "Bon Voyage"

because I love the movie "An Affair to Remember."

which took place on the S.S. Constitution

 

:rolleyes:

[stowaway2k]

From OCEAN RECORDS A Pocket Handbook For Travelers

(published in 1925)

 

 

Every passenger spends his day in his own way, for the ship is to that extent Liberty Hall. But it may be worth while to pass in review the day's doings of an ordinary man who has found by experience that the best way to enjoy life is to follow the mild routine of the ship.

 

Morning. The brilliant sun streaming through the cabin window, and the discreet tap of the steward at the door with your morning cup of tea, plus biscuits and fruit if you wish it. How fit you feel. That brain-fag which sent you on this trip was a blessing in disguise; that is, if you ever had it at all - which by now you have begun to doubt.

 

"Bath ready, sir," and off you go to your invigorating "tub" in water fresh and cool direct from the wide sea itself. A brisk rub down, and then a walk over your measured mile along the spacious and spotless deck makes you long ravenously for the breakfast bell with much-too-frequent glances at your watch, and with an inward resolve that you will not run when the bell does go, no matter how much you may feel like it.

 

Such a breakfast. Delicious grape-fruit prepared by a veritable artist of a steward who knows now exactly how you prefer it. Fresh rolls, delicious butter, and three or four courses of breakfast viands to choose from, tea brewed just as you like it, or steaming coffee with an aroma that even the prophet might have envied - and an appetite to correspond, and above all congenial company at the breakfast table. Was there ever a time when you hated to talk at breakfast; when you had your "morning grouse" all to yourself. It seems incredible.

 

After breakfast, the best pipe of the day, and a chat on deck with one of the many good friends you have made on the ship. Then come the morning recreations - a round or two of boxing or a spell on the bars in the gymnasium; a game or two at shuffle-board, or deck-quoits, or tennis, or cricket, with a zest that makes you a youngster again. At mid-forenoon, along comes the deck steward with ices for the ladies - and for some gentlemen who have not gone in search of other sustenance to support them until the bugle blows for lunch.

 

A lounge and a chat on deck, or perhaps a brisk rubber or two with that little coterie of congenial spirits in which you have found you niche, and the morning has gone. It has been all too short.

 

Lunch exquisitely cooked and tastefully served, comes none too soon, however, for that sea-appetite of yours seems more vigorous every day. Then follows a smoke with the coffee in the lounge, to the accompaniment of pleasant conversation, or if you prefer it, with that excellent book which you have borrowed from the ship's library, for company.

 

Afternoon brings its rounds of pleasant games and recreations until tea. A lounge on deck takes you to the time when the evening bugle blows, warning you to dress for dinner; where you know a menu that would be a credit to the finest hotel or restaurant in the world will be set before you, and what makes it all the more enjoyable is that it will be served at the table which you have made exclusively your own, where your friends sit with you, and where your happiness is greatest.

 

Evening brings it train of social pleasures; dancing on the wide smooth deck to the strains of a first class orchestra; a brilliant concert or other entertainment in the social hall; a rubber or two at bridge in the card-room, or a luxurious lounge on deck under the quiet stars with your best friend for company.

 

And then, as friend Pepys says, "to bed, to sleep with the soundness of perfect health that makes morning a joy, and the world a glorious place."

 

No wonder when the time comes to leave the ship, and to say farewell to the many good friends you have made during the trip you dread it with a poignancy of regret that you thought you had long left behind with your lost youth. Lost, no. Found again, thanks to the life-giving infinite sea that has given you back that most priceless of human possessions, "a sound mind in a sound body."

[ColumbiaSC]

I shall forever cherish the joy, excitement, and utter wonder upon my maiden Transatlantic voyage from New York to Southhampton on the SS France in June 1969. Jane Fonda and Roger Vadim were celebrities on board. My bride had been on the SS France earlier when single, and so she was my mentor. The food was divine, the wine delicious. We were at a table for 8, but at a table for 6 thereafter since a couple left us after the initial dinner. Those were the days when wine came with the tariff. We were academics, as was one of the other couples. The third couple was from Mississippi, had an elevator in their home, and had a brown Cadillac in the hole, which we saw later outside a hotel in Edinburgh. It is amazing what one recalls. I shall never forget seeing the Bobby on the dock in Southhampton, and then we had two months in the United Kingdom. So the SS France is quite special. Later, as "Norway" she did her best, but it was not the same.

[stowaway2k]

"The New Art of Going Abroad" Cunard brochure 1929

Turmoil...hubbub...flurry! Taxis chugging... Rolls Royces emitting Wall Street-y gentlemen... tall slim-hipped young men recently at the Racquet Club... hypothetical debutantes... and proven film stars. Orchids... gardenias... photographers... flash lights... Trunks... trunks... trunks. Packages from Dean's, from Sherry's... from ten thousand far-flung florists... Prelude to a sailing... overture to a week that, to the initiate, will be a largish bit of heaven... in a box from Cartier...

 

For the initiate is aware that to live pleasantly it is necessary to consult one's own taste before, and not after, embarking on a given course, or a given steamer. ...The initiate takes pains to choose the ship that suits him or her as carefully as a prima donna chooses a gown or an actress her background.

 

Today, ocean travel has taken its proper place as a special aspect of the very special art of living pleasantly... People who know... sophisticated travelers... are aware that the transatlantic week, from pier to pier, can be - should be - one of the gala weeks of life... one of those rare and preciously perfect intervals, snatched from the grudging gods... can be - and is - on the Cunarders.... You've probably noticed, in the Social Notes of the Times .... or Spur ... or Town and Country that when Mr. and Mrs. So and So, of the Ritz Tower or the Savoy Plaza, or Tuxedo, Grosse Pointe, or Burlingame, or Beacon Hill, go abroad, it's almost always on a Cunarder .... You may not have realized why ... It's simply because, through long years of catering to people who have always made an art of living and who are accustomed to the ultimate best, in the way of service, appointments, food ... When it is more or less assumed that a certain Line customarily carries princes of the Royal Blood, and international bankers who deal casually in fugures that to most of us remain farce or fantasy - the Line must, of course, be prepared to function according to their standards. The result is a constant ... consistent enforcement (in the tiniest, minimum rate cabin, just as much as in the 'Prince of Wales' suite) - of the superlative as it is conceived, today ... by the poeple who live superlatively.

 

To hear anyone say, 'We're sailing on the Hottentot, because the children go to camp on the tenth,' is a source of anguish to all sophisticated travelers. It's like renting just any house that happens to be empty - like joining any club because it's nearby ... or choosing any hotel that has rooms that are vacant. How do you know you will like the club, the hotel, the town house ... or the Hottentot? As a matter of fact, there should enter into your choice of a ship just as much consultation of your personal tastes ... as you put into the choice of a summer hotel, or a country club, or a school for your children. More: you can resign from the club and join another or move from the hotel - but you can't jump off the Hottentot with your Vuitton trunks and your Hermes bags, if you change your mind!

 

"The Queens who cross in the Berengaria are the more conspicuous Queens ... the more debonair Mayors choose her. A Berengaria sailing is tempestuous with the exploding of flash-lights, the pursuit of reporters... Everything about the Berengaria is on the grand, the opulent, scale. Her passenger lists are electric with great names. Great enterprises of finance, of the world worldly, are flung back and forth across her tables. And you may find yourself the day after sailing with your deck chair next to one that rings louder around the world than any rumor of war or peace... No one who is amused by encounters with celebrities should deprive himself of the chance acquaintances of the Berengaria.

 

The county-family sort of atmosphere predisposes in her favor people of social consequence, people of title, people who like their transatlantic crossings to taste of that rather formal sub-division into hierarchies - social, political, hereditary - which mark their lives... If a ship may be like a house, the Aquitania is like some Georgian house of weathered brick that looks through the mist toward the fairy tale outlines of Windsor Castle. A house quiet and beautiful with age without, and inside as modern, as perfectly appointed, as some tower that has sprung up overnight to forty stories... The people who cross in her are people you might meet at an important Thursday-to-Monday, where blood and achievement both count. If you like to pack your simplest jumper suits and your heaviest boots alongside your most explicitly chic evening gowns and slippers and go down to Surrey or Berkshire or "Bucks' to weekend in some Elizabethan house that shows how beauty may multiply by the years... you will like the six-day crossing in the Aquitania, the aristocrat of the sea.

[franu]

I too would choose the SS France. I had heard so much about her on the radio and had seen her docked in NY but it was the description that caught me. They said that it was "the best French restaurant in the world". How I would have loved to sail her.

Fran

[henepup]

I would pick the SS Norway. I was on her for my 1st cruise with some friends. A couple of yrs later, I took my then hubby to be on her. It was a magical ship for me. I have been on 8 cruises since, and haven't found one yet to come close to her. The food was awsome as well as the service.

Thanks for reminding me!!!

[BiggyCruise]

And...as a 30 year old, which of these liners have you sailed on?

 

 

 

My choice would be the Titanic on her maiden voyage just to see if I could survive. I'd elect to take bowlcoach with me if I could have a guest. :D

[Wadadli1]

From what I have read and the pictures I've seen, I'd pick the Mauretania and the SS France. They were both so beautiful and gracious in their own times. And the Mauretania also because she was the fastest.

[Sandi149]

Definitely the Oceanic of the 60s and 70s. My parents sailed on her several times and I was a kid back then and dreamed of cruising. :D

[Happy ks]

I had the pleasure of sailing the Hawaiian Islands on American Hawaiian Independence (sister ship to SS. Constitution). If I could sail on her again, it would be delightful.

 

Some people saw a rust bucket, I saw a lovingly preserved vessel, no bells and whistles like new ships, but you do not see the wonderful patina on new ships :)

[Sally Forth]

which ship would you choose?

 

Personally, I love the elegant steamers from the early 20th century, so my choices would be:

 

1) Titanic or Olympic (Obviously the Titanic has a special place because of its historical significance but I love the open promenade on the Olympic)

 

2) Mauretania

 

3) Queen Mary

 

4) Oceanic (I love the look of the 3 masts on this ship)

 

5) Normandie

 

Obviously todays ships have much more to do than the older ships, and having a balcony is infinitely more appealing than a porthole, but visually the older steamships are much more beautiful in my opinion. I love the 2, 3 or 4 funnels vs. one funnel, and the rounded stern of the older ships looks 100 times better than the "wall of steel" that most modern ships have...

Titanic, but maybe just the one day cruise to nowhere before the big Atlantic one.

 

My dad came back from the war on the Queen Mary when it was in use as a troop transport.

 

Viv

[patterson3]

Titanic, but maybe just the one day cruise to nowhere before the big Atlantic one.

 

My dad came back from the war on the Queen Mary when it was in use as a troop transport.

 

Viv

 

I agree. The Southampton to Cherbourg Titanic trip would be great!

 

Thats really cool! Have you been to see the Queen Mary docked in Long Beach, CA? I haven't yet, but its definitely on my list of things I'd love to do before I die...

[Happy ks]

I agree. The Southampton to Cherbourg Titanic trip would be great!

 

Thats really cool! Have you been to see the Queen Mary docked in Long Beach, CA? I haven't yet, but its definitely on my list of things I'd love to do before I die...

 

 

We live about an hour south of QM and go at least once a year for Sunday Brunch. We've also spent the night on her in the past.

 

If you love old ships and relics, you will love Queen Mary :)

[sullaRaffaello]

I would, of course, love all of them. However, if I could choose only one, it would be the Normandie, in first class. I was on the France on her second to last eastbound crossing and her last westbound, both in tourist class, or as they were calling it at the time classe rive gauche. At 22 years old, I knew virtually nothing about French food or wine, but the food and service in the Versailles dining room was fantastic. In the years that followed, I learned more, and can imagine that to someone with knowledge, the Normandie in first class must have been the ultimate.