*** Rosemary Roberts’ family decided it was time she enter a nursing home, but Roberts had a better idea of a future dwelling?on board a cruise ship. Roberts eventually cruised and lived aboard the former Royal Viking luxury liners for 18 consecutive years, transferring to another vessel in the fleet when her “home” ship entered its annual dry dock. She banked and voted by mail, and when her family decided to pay her a visit, they merely consulted a Royal Viking brochure. Roberts pointed out “it’s cheaper than a nursing home,” and, at a $400 per diem for her room, board, and entertainment, she may have been correct. It was certainly a lot more enjoyable.   In the early 1990’s, shortly before the demise of the Royal Viking Line, the cruise company evicted Rose Mary, citing psychological problems. She was 89 at the time.

*** In 1996, an 18-year-old inebriated passenger aboard Carnival’s Celebration decided to relieve himself while standing on a high deck, shortly after the ship left San Juan.  As his shocked traveling companions looked on, he fell several decks off the Celebration into the Caribbean. His buddies immediately notified Celebration’s senior officers, who contacted the U.S. Coast Guard. A massive search immediately got underway , involving dozens of boats and helicopters. In a strange turn of events, the passenger turned up safe and sound, on a beach near San Juan, having swam four miles to shore. He spent two nights in a local hospital and returned home in excellent condition. However, he may opt to use restrooms in the future.

*** Morgan Robertson’s “The Wreck of the Titan,” is an unusual novel describing the doomed voyage of the luxury liner Titan, the largest and most glamorous liner ever constructed. Carrying the wealthy and prominent of her time on her April maiden voyage between Southampton and New York, she set out to break a nautical speed record. In the middle of the night, the Titan struck an iceberg and sank, killing most of the passengers as a result of an insufficient number of life boats. Sound familiar?

Yet, “The Wreck of the Titan” was published in 1898, fourteen years before the Titanic sank!  (I have a reprint of this book)

***  Between 1972 and 2007, Queen Elizabeth 2  made a yearly ninety day world cruise, carrying 1,200 passengers, whose median age is 72. In addition to carrying more than a ton of caviar, the QE 2 transported 27 coffins during its annual circumnavigation of the globe. Let’s hope they’ll run out of the caviar and not the latter!

*** In the 1970’s, before cruise lines worried about polluting the oceans, passengers aboard a now-defunct Royal Viking Line cruise ship sailing off the coast of Brazil, were invited to put a message in a sealed bottle and toss it in the ocean. A year later, one couple was contact by a boy in Indonesia who had discovered their bottle on a local beach. They exchanged mail for a while and the couple eventually went to Indonesia to visit him. They paid for his visit to the United States, later for his college and medical school expenses.

***In the 1960s, Holland America’s Rotterdam was sailing between Nassau and New York when a worried woman informed the ship’s officers that she couldn’t locate her husband. The staff scoured every inch of the ship and determined that he must have fallen overboard. Turning the ship around, they charted a course for their most recent port of call, where he had last been seen aboard the vessel. To everyone’s amazement, especially the Rotterdam’s captain, the elderly gentleman was found alive, treading water in the ocean, a full 18 hours after he had fallen from the ship. He did not request a refund for the time he wasn’t able to use the ship’s facilities.

*** Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE 2) entered service in 1968, and during her early years as a transatlantic liner, she carried many celebrities. Among them was artist Salvador Dali, who booked two suites — one for himself and the other for his two pet cheetahs. During the first night at sea, the cheetahs completely destroyed their penthouse suite and after a brief stint in the dog kennel, they were evicted from the ship. Apparently the QE 2 was not up to the cheetahs’ typical speed.

*** In “The European Discovery of America,” Samuel Eliot Morisson described what he considered the first pleasure cruise in history. It took place around 1536, when a London merchant chartered two vessels to set sail to Newfoundland, with the dual goal of catching codfish and enjoying the cruise. Sixty persons signed on, but the excursion was hardly a success. The first ship was lost soon after setting sail, and although the second eventually reached its destination, the voyagers found nothing but misery and had to resort to cannibalism. When the ship eventually returned to England, there were few survivors. As a leisure-time activity,  cruising was set back several centuries!
Any “amazing but true” stories to ad?

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Bookings are so high in the first quarter, 2010, that most cruise lines will increase fares between ten and 15% starting today. The highest increases are expected to affect cruisers booking Caribbean, Alaska and Mexico itineraries.

But to counter that, the Cruise Ships International Association (CSIA) reports that its 35 member cruise lines have unanimously voted to reverse its policy of forbidding cruise passengers from bringing alcohol aboard ships for consumption on their voyage.

According to CSIA president Carrie Vale “We’ve listened to cruisers who have expressed the desire to save money by bringing their favorite alcohol aboard ship. And, cruising is all about personal choice: You may still buy a cocktail for $12 per shot but now you will have the choice of purchasing a bottle duty free for about the same price.”

“This shows that there is no bigger vacation value than cruising,” Vale said.

Previously bottles of alcohol were confiscated when passengers tried to board the ship with bottles stashed in carry-on bags. This policy was in place to boost on board spending by forcing cruisers to purchase spirits, wine and beer from the cruise line. However, many cruisers skirted around the restrictions by bringing alcohol aboard in plastic bottles and in suitcases, which were loaded separately and not subject to cruise line inspection.

To make cruising even more family friendly, there will be no charge for soft drink or bottled water.

Well, cruisers…..will you bring a bottle or go on purchasing cocktails aboard ship?

(Oh, and Happy April 1)

(Photo: MegaGadgets)

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Since most cruisers are curious about what it would be like to run off to sea and work aboard a behemoth, you’ll love his funny, poignant and at times acerbic report.  click here

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P79Pg2FzqsQ&feature=related

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HUH?  That’s certainly a first for me.  I mean, you can’t tell the name or owner of the ship?  Impossible.

Granted, it took a bit of digging but here are the details.  The name of the ship is The Peace Boat, charted by a non-profit Japanese outfit, Peaceboat , which sails around the globe “to promote peace, human rights, equal and sustainable development and respect for the environment.”  The ship was sailing between Greenland and Venezuela when the Coast Guard decided to board the ship and inspect it.  

Ships don’t normally have holes in their hull but given this ship’s history, it’s understandable.  According to Wikipedia, the Peace Boat was built in 1955 as the Empress of Britain sailing transatlantic between Canada and Europe. In 1975, she was purchased by Carnival Cruise lines as one of the original “Fun Ships”, the Carnivale.  From 1993 through 1997 she sailed for Epirotiki and Royal Olympic as the Festa Marina and Olympic.  Today she is owned by Topaz Holdings of Greece, which charters the ship to the Peace Boat folks.

There may be a vessel built before 1955 that is still afloat, but I can’t find it.

According to local media, passengers are delighted to hang out in New York while Topaz Holdings’ owners figure out how to correct the safety problems.  And it’s nice to know that not all geriatic vessels are immediately sold for scrap metal, as the SS Norway  was two years ago.  

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If you yearn to study Scientology while taking a cruise, here’s the perfect ship: the Freewinds.  The Church of Scientology decided to get into the passenger shipping business and formed Majestic Cruise Line to operate its sole ship.  Built in 1968, the Freewinds sails on Caribbean itineraries as a “floating classroom” where members can take the church’s advanced classes although the ship was a setting for a huge birthday bash for actor Tom Cruise.

The bad news is that the ship was shut down this month because blue asbestos (which causes cancer) was discovered in the ceiling and panelling.  It is presently sitting in the Curacao Drydock Company sealed and isolated by local health officials until it is determined that the toxin can even be removed from the ship.  

According to Wikipedia, in 2001 an architect submitted a sworn affadavit claiming there was blue asbestos on the Freewinds.  In Curacao the ship’s Captain admitted that during previous maintenace by his personnel asbestos was released into the ventilation system but not reported.

Since Freewinds does not enter a U.S. port, the ship would not be inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard. 

Previously officials in Bonaire cited the Freewinds as an environmental hazard because the ship discharged large amounts of waste water into the islands inland waste pit.

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While the Homeland Security folks have a tarnished reputation, they outdid themselves yesterday in Miami.  A little birdy told me the bizarre details.

This week the Seatrade Conference, an annual confab of cruise line executives, journalists and travel agents, is taking place in Miami.  Oceania Cruises’ Regatta paid one of her rare visits to Miami so that travel agents and travel writers could board and tour the ship for a few hours.  As a matter of procedure, Oceania invited the agents and press, obtained the proper ID information and provided a list of names to port officials in advance. 

Press and travel agents, issued visitor’s passes, boarded Regatta with no problem.  However a Homeland Security agent doing a random search stopped Oceania execs and angrily informed they wouldn’t be allowed to board their own ship even though they had photo and cruise line ID’s, visitor passes and their names were on the list.

The reason?  There’s an obscure local law that cruise line staff and executives must also have clearance from the Port of Miami.  The law is so obscure that hardly anyone in the cruise industry knows about it.  It certainly isn’t enforced as a matter of course.

“You’re working for the company and should know better,” the angry Homeland agent  told the dumbfounded executives.  He was so irate that the Oceania execs turned to a Miami-Dade police lieutenant and asked  “are we going to get arrested?”  The police officer sheepishly said, “no, we’re not going to arrest you.”

It turns out that Oceania’s executives weren’t considered a security risk but were told by the Homeland Security agent they were guilty of …..trespassing.  Keep in mind that Oceania Cruises owns Regatta.   So, they sat on the pier for three hours until the last of the travel agents and journalists disembarked. 

Homeland Security may think it is protecting cruise ship passengers but this incident will make me feel even less secure the next time I sail from Miami or any other U.S. port.

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