meridan

[baruby47]

does anybody know if that grand ship is still afloat

[debs0712]

The Meridien sank after a fire. I believe that it was in Asia.

[BonneAmie]

I believe Celebrity sold it. And, then it sunk.

 

Happy Sails!

Aimee, CTA, ACC, DS

Bonne Amie Travel

 

"Without a travel agent, you're on your own."

 

Majesty of the Seas ~ March 2002

Celebrity Horizon ~ November 2002

Navigator of the Seas ~ April 2003

Crystal Harmony ~ November 2003

Radiance of the Seas ~ January 2004

Infinity ~ April 2004

 

Coming Soon . . .

Constellation ~ November 6, 2004

[rebeljohn]

Yes, it is now a man made reef somewhere in the Pacific.

 

REBELJOHN

Constitution '89 Meridian '90

Norway '91 Celebration '93

Zenith 11/01 Sensation 5/02

Century 11/02 Atlantica 03/03

Zaandam 11/03 Horizon 4/04

[kwsunset]

You bring back memories. I was a cruise staff member on the original crossing of the Meridan to Fort Lauderdale back in 1990. It almost sank due to horrific storms in Febraury in the Atlantic. I will never forget that we left 1000 passengers standing at the Pier when the Coast Guard said we were unfit to sail. We left and went to Norfolk for dry dock repairs and returned 2 weeks later.

For the next 2 years, I was the cruise director and dealt with countless problems that the she had. Given all that, we loved her as she was a grand old lady with style and class.

She provided me with many good memories of wonderful passenges and crew and while I now sail Celebrity's new ships as a passenger, I will never forget the Meridian.

Michael Z

 

MDZ

[Texed]

MDZ,

Thanks for sharing your story.

 

Texed

 

[bonsat]

sailed on her twice. great ship!

[Parrotgirl]

I sailed on her from New York to Bermuda over a decade ago and had a grand time. I was saddened to hear of her demise and hopefully, the fish and wildlife in the area are now enjoying her as much as I did.

 

Patricia

[Guest]

Below is a link to the Meridians history. She was the Sun Vista when she sank in 1999.

 

Don

 

http://www.maritimematters.com/sun-vista.html

[dougnewmanatsea]

In addition to the link from Maritime Matters (an excellent site, which also hosts my list of vintage passenger ships) that dkjretired provided, you might also want to see this site for more info on the sinking of SUN VISTA (ex MERIDIAN/GALILEO/GALILEO GALILEI). It also includes a good brief history of the ship by maritime historian David Pressler, who I had the pleasure of meeting recently.

 

Note: this thread was copied from the Celebrity board as I thought it might be of interest here as well.

 

Doug Newman

Cruise Critic Message Boards Host

e-mail: shiploverny AT yahoo DOT com

[jemingway]

I was on the Meridian in Nov., 1989 and it was a great cruise. The best food I have ever had on a ship.

 

JV The 4 stages of cruising: planning, anticipation, experience and reflection.

[bette65]

My DH and I were on the last cruise the Meridian had. It was to Bermuda for our 30th anniversary. We loved her.

[jemingway]

In reviewing my docs, I see I was actually on the Meridian in Nov., 1990, not 1989 as I said above and elsewhere.

 

JV The 4 stages of cruising: planning, anticipation, experience and reflection.

[blndee77]

I sailed the Meridian in 1993 (from what I can remember) on an 11-day. I think we left from San Juan and did 10 ports in the 11 days. It was a bit exhaustive to be in port so much as I really enjoy sea days.

 

I remember the ship fondly and also remember the excellent food. Really turned us on to Celebrity. We are slowly trying all the lines, but would jump on Celebrity in an instant.

 

I was very sad when I heard about the Meridian sinking. I've always thought it would be neat to revisit a ship I sailed on years ago.

[izucker789]

My first cruise, in 1991, NYC to Bermuda was on the Meridian. Wife and two sons What a wonderful time on a great old ship. It sold me on cruising. We are now coming up on our thirteenth cruise but the first holds the special memories Sad to hear she sank.

 

Chas Z

[hambone1205]

sailed her to burmuda on her last sailing there before she went to germany for refiiting she caught fire off madagascar and sank i believe

[dougnewmanatsea]

sailed her to burmuda on her last sailing there before she went to germany for refiiting she caught fire off madagascar and sank i believe

She caught fire of Malaysia, not Madagascar. See here for more on her sinking.

 

I assume that when you say you were on her last sailing before being refitted in Germany, you mean her last sailing as GALILEO before her conversion to MERIDIAN? The refit prior to her entering service as SUN VISTA was at Norfolk.

[emcemt]

WOW!! I was just wondering what happened to that ship. That was my first cruise ever. I was about 18 and went with 4 other friends....have been hooked ever since. Also never realised it had such a history. It also happened to be my roughest cruise ever ( as far as motion). We sailed in a hurricane from NY to Bermuda in sept of 93. 22 foot seas and we were moving. Never experienced anything like that since on cruise boat. I kinda miss it though. On these new megaliners it's so easy to forget your on the water. I kinda like the rocking.That was a great ship!!

[Philly Steve]

I used to watch Meridian cruise past Penn's Landing in Philly during her time on the Bermuda circuit. She had great lines and, from what I understand, magnificent wood interiors.

[dougnewmanatsea]

She had great lines and, from what I understand, magnificent wood interiors.

She did have great lines, but no magnificent wood interiors. There may have been a splinter of wood here or there but nothing extraordinary.

 

Most of her interiors dated from her 1989-90 conversion from GALILEO to MERIDIAN. Only the cinema and chapel remained relatively untouched. And in fact much of what was there as GALILEO came from the 1970s conversion from a liner to a cruise ship under Italia Crociere (a joint venture between Costa and the state-owned Finmare, who owned her previous owners Lloyd Triestino). Even her original interiors, in her first incarnation back in 1963 as Lloyd Triestino's GALILEO GALILEI, were pretty much devoid of wood... Lots of colored lino and great spindly '60s Italian modernist furniture, but no wood that I know of.

[dublin]

Sailed the Meridian May , 1996. Left Philly in the sun on Memorial Day.

 

First ever day at sea was a horrific storm and I spent the day in bed.

 

Had 5 glorious days in Bermuda's Dockyards in terrible wind and rain.

 

Saw sun once again as we cruised under the bridge into Philly.

 

First cruise for me and have been hooked every since.

 

She was a small ship but elegant.

 

Wish those types of ships would come back.

 

Peace be with you Meridian.

[JenCpLvr]

I sailed on this ship back in 1987 when I was only 5!!! At that time, she was known as the Galileo.. I remember that cruise fondly, although I was very young. The most vivid memory I have is getting lost on the boat (seems funny considering the size of ships now) and going to the pursers desk in the foyer asking where to find my family...haha... Most of my entire family went (about 25 of us).. Everytime I visit my grandparents we take out the group photo of the family taken aboard this wonderful ship.. And although we've all sailed many times since then on much larger ships, we all still reminisce about the time we had on this liner so many years ago....

[dougnewmanatsea]

The most vivid memory I have is getting lost on the boat (seems funny considering the size of ships now)

Size or not, I bet it would be easier to get lost in GALILEO than GRAND PRINCESS. (Well, maybe a bad analogy, as GRAND PRINCESS is not the easiest of modern ships to navigate...) If you saw a GALILEO deck plan (I have one, which I'll scan in if you like) you'd see why... Especially on the lower decks. Lots of winding corridors, "you can't get here from there" situations, etc. Makes me laugh when people today, on modern ships, complain that not all the elevators/lifts go to all the decks!

[seagoingJLW]

We sailed on the Meridian on December 12, 1994. We had a wonderful cruise that called on San Juan, La Guaira, San Blas Islands, Curaçao, Martinique and St. Thomas.

 

I wish there were some contemporary ships like the old Meridian.

 

We also enjoyed cruising on the Ocean Pearl and the Ocean Princess. Does anyone remember them?

 

Joan

[dougnewmanatsea]

We also enjoyed cruising on the Ocean Pearl and the Ocean Princess. Does anyone remember them?

Well, I don't remember them personally, but these are fascinating ships - and amazingly enough, bothe are still around.

 

OCEAN PEARL has a very long and interesting history. She was built at Wartsila's Helsinki yard in 1967 as FINLANDIA for Finland's EFFOA (Finska Ångfartygs AB, or the Finland Steamship Company) for service as a passenger and car ferry in the Baltic. She was sold to Finnlines in 1974, and in 1979 she was converted to a cruise ship after she was displaced by newer tonnage on the Baltic. This was unsuccessful and after a period laid-up at Toloun as INNSTAR, she was sold in 1981 to Danish shipowner J. Lauritzen AS, and extensively rebuilt for cruising. As PEARL OF SCANDINAVIA, she entered service on cruises in Asia in 1982, and was the pioneer in cruises in Asia for Western passengers. She was sold to Ocean Cruise Lines in 1987, and following another refit, became OCEAN PEARL, operating under the Pearl Cruises Banner. In 1990, Ocean Cruise Lines and Pearl Cruises were sold to Chargeurs Paquet, but OCEAN PEARL's operation was unaffected until 1993 when Paquet was sold to Costa. After being briefly renamed PEARL from 1994, Pearl Cruises ceased operations in 1995, and the ship was renamed COSTA PLAYA and entered service for Costa. This was relatively short-lived and in 1998 she was sold to Asian gambling interests as ORIENTAL PEARL, and began operating as a gambling vessel from Hong Kong. She was later renamed JOYWAVE and now operates as GOLDEN PRINCESS (not to be confused with the Princess Cruises vessel of the same name).

 

OCEAN PRINCESS was also a very interesting vessel - laid-down in 1963 at the Felszegi yards in Muggia, Italy, for a company called Sunsarda SpA, she was launched in 1965 but both Sunsarda and the yard (who had the same owners) went bankrupt and the ship was reposessed by a bank who created a company called Crociere d'Oltremare to complete the ship. In 1967, she finally entered service as ITALIA, on charter to Costa. Later that year, she was sub-chartered to Princess Cruises, becoming their first ocean-going ship (they initially started operations with Canadian Pacific's coastal vessel PRINCESS PATRICIA). She remained sub-chartered to Princess until 1973, when she returned to Costa. She continued with Costa until 1983 when she was sold to British entrepreneur Gerry Herrod (later founder of Orient Lines and Discovery World Cruises) and following a major refit she entered service in 1984 for his newly-formed Ocean Cruise Lines as OCEAN PRINCESS. Like OCEAN PEARL, her operations remained unchanged when Herrod sold Ocean Cruise Lines to Chargeurs Paquet in 1990. She narrowly missed becoming owned by her long-time charterers Costa: in early 1993, just before Costa bought Paquet, she collided with a sunken wreck at Belem, and was declared a constructive total loss and was sold in April to Greek owners. Following repairs, they renamed her SEA PRINCE and intended to put her into service in the Med under the Sunshine Cruises banner but instead she was sold to Louis Criuse Lines in 1995 and renamed first PRINCESA OCEANICA, then SAPPHIRE. She entered service for Louis in 1996 and has been operating for them ever since.