??s about several now-defunct cruiselines

[Tarheelbelle]

1] I sailed on a ship out of New Orleans to Key West and Cozumel and Cancun in 1990. Can't think of the name of it, but I think it was a Commodore cruise. Any ideas about which ship this might have been?

 

2] I sailed on the Emerald Seas in 1992 on a Bahamas cruise. We stopped at CocoCay, which is now of course RCCL's private island. Which cruiseline operated this ship at that time?

 

3] Several friends and I took a Southern Caribbean cruise in November of 1996. It sailed from Oranjestad, Aruba, and had a great itinerary that included Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, and Martinique. The ship was not in great shape, but the itinerary and activities on board made up for it. We cannot think of the ship's name or the cruiseline which operated it. Any ideas?

 

Thanks!

Lynn

[dougnewmanatsea]

Commodore ship from New Orleans was probably either ENCHANTED ISLE or ENCHANTED SEAS.

 

EMERALD SEAS was Admiral Cruises. 1992 was her last season in North America, and also the last season for Admiral, which was a low-end subsidiary of Royal Caribbean (hence using CocoCay). NORDIC EMPRESS (now EMPRESS OF THE SEAS) was EMERALD SEAS' de facto replacement.

 

Your Southern Caribbean cruise from Aruba is the hardest to pinpoint, but I think Dolphin's OCEANBREEZE may have done something along those lines.

[ArkansasFish]

ENCHANTED Capri was the Commodore ship that had windows in the swimming pool. You would remember that part. All the men used to sit at that bar that went around the pool and watch the bodies!!

[dougnewmanatsea]

ENCHANTED Capri was the Commodore ship that had windows in the swimming pool.

Tarheelbelle couldn't have been on ENCHANTED CAPRI - Commodore didn't have her until 1998.

[Tarheelbelle]

1]I have since discovered that it was not a Commodore ship in 1990, it was the Bermuda Sun I sailed.

2] Thanks for the Emerald Seas/Admiral info.

3] The cruiseline was Seawind and the ship was the Crown, I think on the Aruba cruise.

 

Thanks to all who responded!

[dougnewmanatsea]

1]I have since discovered that it was not a Commodore ship in 1990, it was the Bermuda Sun I sailed.

Are you sure it was BERMUDA SUN and not BERMUDA STAR? Only reason I ask is that I don't believe there ever was a ship called BERMUDA SUN in the first place, or at least I can't think of one at the moment.

 

If you do mean BERMUDA STAR, then you were on Bermuda Star Line right before they merged with commodore. The ship became ENCHANTED ISLE. See here for more.

 

3] The cruiseline was Seawind and the ship was the Crown, I think on the Aruba cruise.

SEAWIND CROWN was actually a rather nice vessel... I thought of her but couldn't decide what island it was she operated from. See here for more on this ship.

[cruisernurse]

in 1990 the Caribe was the ship that Commodore had sailing to those ports of call. It was great. That was our first cruise ever and caused us to get addicted to cruising. The sad part of the Caribe is that several years later we sailed on her again out of Port Everglades under the Regal Cruise Lines. Very bad condition at that time. You could tell she was ready for the drydocks. Last April 2003 we were in Progresso Mexico and saw her pull in beside us. Wow, it was even sadder. We found out that just the next day the maritime police came onboard and closed her down for good. Apparently the company went bankrupt. The passengers on board had to get home and the ones ready to get started on their next cruise was just turned away. I think we enjoyed the Commodore cruise lines more than the larger fancier ships now. We sailed 4 times on Commodore. The food was the best ever. Those were the days when you could order crepe suzettes(?sp) or something else fancy for breakfast. Well, those were the good old days

[jla418]

Hi TarheelBelle,

 

The Emerald Seas was my first cruise, back in 1983. We had a great time on that trip! Back then, the name of the line was Eastern Cruise Lines, I guess a forerunner of Admiral! It's kind of scary to think, but I still have the ticket receipt and the brochures from the trip!

[dougnewmanatsea]

The Emerald Seas was my first cruise, back in 1983. We had a great time on that trip! Back then, the name of the line was Eastern Cruise Lines, I guess a forerunner of Admiral!

Yes, Eastern was one of three companies that merged to become Admiral: Eastern Cruise Line and Western Cruise Line (really the same company; one operated on the East Coast and one on the West Coast) and Sundance Cruises.

 

Eastern gave them EMERALD SEAS, Western AZURE SEAS, and Sundance STARDANCER.

 

In the early '90s, the relatively new cruise ferry STARDANCER became VIKING SERENADE and replaced AZURE SEAS on short cruises from LA (she's now ISLAND ESCAPE with Island Cruises, a joint venture between RCI and UK tour operator First Choice that sells Med cruises to the UK market in the summer and South American cruises to the Brazilian market in winter), while NORDIC EMPRESS replaced EMERALD SEAS from Miami.

 

Eastern have a very long and fascinating history - they were really the first of the Miami cruise lines, well before NCL - but I don't have the time to go into that right now... More another time.

 

Incidentally, on the topic of REGAL EMPRESS... Regal Cruises did shut down in 2003 but the ship is now operating for Imperial Majesty Cruises on 2-day cruises from Ft. Lauderdale. She replaced OCEANBREEZE (ironically this was once AZURE SEAS, the former Admiral ship) which was scrapped in Bangladesh.

 

For a history of REGAL EMPRESS from Maritime Matters, see here. For a history of Imperial Majesty's first ship, OCEANBREEZE, see here. Imperial Majesty's own official web site can be seen here and you can also visit our own Imperial Majesty board here.

 

For CARIBE fans living in Florida, a short cruise on REGAL EMPRESS might be an interesting nostalgic getaway. From what I understand, she's in better shape than she has been in some time, and she's now the last classic liner operating from a US port.

[petermccue]

Here are some recent (as in taken last month the week before Hurricane Jeanne hit Florida) pictures of Regal Empress as she left Port Everglades.

 

http://homepage.mac.com/petermccue/PhotoAlbum2.html

 

Any idea what SeaEscape or St. Tropez was before?

 

Regal Empress is in much better shape than the other two I saw (along with a bunch of others), she was clean and well painted.

 

V

[dougnewmanatsea]

Nice photos, thanks for sharing.

 

The SeaEcsape ship is ISLAND ADVENTURER (SeaEscape is the owner). She was built in 1976 as the ferry KAZAKHSTAN for the Soviet Black Sea Shipping Company (BLASCO). After the fall of the Soviet Union she was renamed UKRANIA in 1994, then ROYAL SEAS in 1996 (for Royal Seas Cruise Line, a failed Tampa-based venture), UKRANIA again in 1997 when she first started operating for SeaEscape, and has been ISLAND ADVENTURER since 1998. She was one of five BELORUSSIYA-class ships built at Wartsila in Finland from 1975 and 1976.

 

ST. TROPEZ was built in 1974 in Greece as the ferry CASTALIA for Hellenic Mediterranean Lines. She was sold by HML in 1988 and has been in and out of service on day cruises from Florida ever since, under many different names. She was renamed ST. TROPEZ in 2003.

 

Hope that helps.

[Tarheelbelle]

Doug--you are probably right ---I think it was Bermuda Star

[tomatopa]

we sailed on the seawind out of Aruba around 1993. it was a great cruise. it was with the St Louis Cardinal baseball team. Stan the Man was on the cruise. a small ship...you really got to know w=your fellow passengers....

[Casshew]

I sailed on epirotiki in 80's on three of their ships ~ the Jason, the Atlas and this ship - the Oceanos which is now underwater off the coast of Africa!!:eek: we were in the suite, it was orange and had three big portholes. Strange to think of it underwater now.

 

[tomatopa]

cass, don't think i like your picture as i get ready to sail in less than 3 weeks. do you know why is sunk? or do i not want to know? were there people on it? Judy

[JLC@SD]

cass, don't think i like your picture as i get ready to sail in less than 3 weeks. do you know why is sunk? or do i not want to know? were there people on it? Judy

 

Here is a link with a brief description:

 

http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/

 

Type in Oceanos for search,

 

Oceanos was built as the Jean Laborde by Chantiers de la Gironde, Bordeaux, for Messageries Maritimes (MM) in 1953 - part of their substantial programme of post-war rebuilds. Jean Laborde was 10902 gross tons, 493 feet long, and was used on MM's Indian Ocean services from Marseilles to East Africa, Madagascar, Reunion and Mauritius. In 1971, Jean Laborde was purchased, with sister Pierre Loti, by Constantine Efthymiadis and was converted into a ferry for service between Patras and Ancona. After a fire in 1973, she was converted into a car ferry, but was soon chartered for use between Singapore and Fremantle as the Eastern Queen. This was also short-lived, and she returned to Greece as the Oceanos of Epirotiki after arrest in 1975. She was lost 100 miles from East London (South Africa) on August 4th 1991, whilst on charter to South African company TFC Tours. Following a spectacular rescue by South African Defence Force helicopters, all 580 passengers and crew were rescued as she sank following an engine-room flooding.

 

As I remember the story, they had removed some valves for maintenance in the sewage system. The ship left for it's crusie in rough weather, suffered a major leak which would not have sunk the ship except for the missing valves. The ship filled with water by flooding the sewage system backwards as they had no way to stop it.

 

But the amazing part of the story is the crew and captain abandoned ship first, before the passengers. The entertainers were the only on board personel to assist in the evacuation of the ship, using resuce helicopters.

 

When interviewed, the captain was asked why he left first. He stated that when he gave the command to abandon ship the order included him as well........:rolleyes:

 

Needless to say he never got another command.

[Casshew]

Yes thats correct, there was a huge maritime enquiry into the Captain & crew that left before the passengers. He said it was to direct rescue efforts from the air.

 

The good news is that all passengers were rescued, no one died. I can still picture walking around this ship, sitting at dinner, sitting by the pool. I worked for a company that chartered these 3 Epirotiki ships in the caribbean so I was on all of them 2 or 3 times each.

 

I was totally shocked when I heard on CNN Breaking news there was a cruise ship sinking, I am looking at the live pics and thinking, OMG that so looks like the Oceanos :eek:

[tomahawk]

I saw several messages about the Rotterdam. As I recall the Rotterdam was sold to Premier cruise line and renamed the Rembrandt that we sailed upoon. I don't know what happended to it after it was renamed "Rembrandt" by Premier Cruise lines.

[dougnewmanatsea]

I don't know what happended to it after it was renamed "Rembrandt" by Premier Cruise lines.

Premier folded in 2000 and the ship was laid up at Freeport.

 

She is now in Cadiz, Spain being prepared for a new life in Rotterdam as a hotel, conference centre, museum, and floating university.

[SingerEsq]

Host Doug--

 

Your knowledge of cruising is amazing. I especially enjoy reading the whereabouts of former ships. Have you written any books? If not, what are some of your favorite books on the subject?

 

I'm currently reading "Liners to the Sun" and am always interested in good books on ships. Of course, having worked on the Constitution, I am always on the look out for books or passages on her and the Indy.

 

Thanks for sharing your wealth of info.

[flairishbbw]

Does anyone know about this ship. This was my first cruise in 1969. My parents took us as a treat since my sister and I were upset about moving to florida. I think we sailed out of miami. We went to freeport and nassau.

 

I remember afternoon tea, jamician waiters twirling thier trays with baked alaska with sparklers...and that the slot machines were in a hallway and my dad would let me play

 

I got the cruise bug as a kid...but always remeber my first cruise. I think it was a converted warship. The cabn was a bunkbed and a sink adn you shared the bathroom with the people next door. (and people complain about cabin size NOW) you couldn't turn around.

 

If anyone has any info..please let me know. Of our many family trips, this one stands out the most.

[xray]

Our 1st cruise was on the Commodore Enchanted Isle and we thought it was the biggest thing afloat til we got to Cozumel and docked next to one of the older Carnival ships. The last I heard after Commodore went bankrupt one of their ships was docked across the river in New Orleans waiting to be sold for scrap. There was mention of this on these boards a long time ago but I can't find it nor do I remember all the details.

 

Cliff

[xray]

Our 1st cruise was on the Commodore Enchanted Isle and we thought it was the biggest thing afloat til we got to Cozumel and docked next to one of the older Carnival ships. The last I heard after Commodore went bankrupt one of their ships was docked across the river in New Orleans waiting to be sold for scrap. There was mention of this on these boards a long time ago but I can't find it nor do I remember all the details.

 

Cliff

[cable]

Admiral, which was a low-end subsidiary of Royal Caribbean (hence using CocoCay).

Doug, no offense, but I think you have it backwards. Emerald Seas was calling at Little Stirrup Cay ("Coco Cay" sounds bloody awful) way before RCCL was ever involved - I believe starting the late 1970's! Now that I think about it, could the rights to the private island have been the catalyst for the whole takeover??

[jimmargraphics]

1] I sailed on a ship out of New Orleans to Key West and Cozumel and Cancun in 1990. Can't think of the name of it, but I think it was a Commodore cruise. Any ideas about which ship this might have been?

 

I would bet you're thinking about the Emerald Isle. I worked in the gift shop there for six months. We sailed her last cruise before she was sold and sent off to Asia.

 

 

Several friends and I took a Southern Caribbean cruise in November of 1996. It sailed from Oranjestad, Aruba, and had a great itinerary that included Trinidad, Tobago, Barbados, and Martinique. The ship was not in great shape, but the itinerary and activities on board made up for it. We cannot think of the ship's name or the cruiseline which operated it. Any ideas?

 

I'll bet you're thinking about Dolphins Ocean Breeze. I was in the gift shop about the time you cruised!