A national survey conducted by P&O Cruises Australia has confirmed that love, exciting and new, can be rekindled aboard a cruise ship. 74 percent of those questioned recommended taking a cruise to put the spark back into a relationship. LOVE BOAT FOLLIES with Ethel Merman, Carol Channing, and Ann Miller. The spark may wane if the world’s sexiest man George ... Read More »
In the 1950s, a cruise to Hawaii was sailing round-trip from California to Honolulu (alternating between San Francisco and Los Angeles) on Matson Line’s SS Lurline. All First Class LURLINE made the crossing in 4 and 1/2 days – 4 days at sea. Most passengers spent 9 days in Hawaii before returning to the California major cities. It was an American flagship with ... Read More »
In October 1959, Ruth and Harry Hotz boarded the SS Homeric in New York and sailed south on a seven-day voyage that would turn out to be one of the last cruises to the island until briefly in the late 1970s and then recently. SS Independence, SS Homeric, SS Constitution docked in New York. Bob Hotz, their son, recalled his ... Read More »
The Excalibur, Excambion, Exeter, and Exochorda were four of the most successful U.S.-flag combination passenger-cargo ships. They were put into service following World War 2 for the New York to Mediterranean service. The “4 Aces” had beautiful public rooms and an outdoor pool, and all the staterooms had a private bath. They were the first fully air-conditioned commercial passenger ships ... Read More »
Jeraldine Saunders, the creator of hit ABC series The Love Boat, died Feb. 26 at her home in Glendale from complications of kidney stone surgery she underwent in December. She was 96. She was best known for writing the 1974 book The Love Boats, which the ABC comedy-drama was based on. The book documented her experience on the high seas ... Read More »
After spending more than two decades anchored in Philadelphia, a retired ocean liner is preparing to make waves once again. The SS United States, which holds the record for the fastest maritime journey across the Atlantic Ocean, has been docked at Philadelphia’s Pier 82 on the Delaware River since 1996. Since then, several plans to revitalize the cruise liner have sputtered. But ... Read More »
More than a 250 stars attended the September 1954 Pantages Theatre gala premiere. Many predicting an Oscar sweep for the films with top acting awards going to Judy Garland and James Mason. More than 20,000 fans were spectators at the Pantages premiere demanding Warner Bros and the Los Angeles Police Department to organize traffic pans for the premiere. VIDEO OF THE NBC COVERAGE ... Read More »
The French Line’s flagship had been out of service for nearly four years. Then on February 9, 1942, crowds gathered at New York City’s pier 88 to witness a spectacle. The largest ocean liner in the world was on fire. Fire fighting efforts successfully contained the fire after five and a half hours of effort, but the effort was in ... Read More »
The MV AUREOL of 1951 was a hard working, much-loved liner that linked Liverpool (and later Southampton) with West Africa in the waning days of the British Empire. She was operated by Elder Dempster Lines, one of the UK’s largest shipping companies, and during its 150-year history, it operated more than 500 ships. Based in the historic port of Liverpool ... Read More »
J. Pierpont Morgan Jr. could never imagine his yacht Corsair IV would be turned into a deluxe cruise ship just after World War 2 whose short career with voyages from California would end in tragedy, but it happened. J.P. Morgan Jr. and his legendary business tycoon father, J. Pierpont Morgan, owned four yachts christened Corsair and built three of them. ... Read More »
The RMS Aquitania was the longest serving Cunard liner built in the 20th century and to survive service in both World Wars. The contract to build the ship went to John Brown & Co, and great publicity was given to the fact that it would be the largest liner in the world. The Aquitania was launched on 21 April by ... Read More »
The Canadian Pacific Line’s 6,000-ton Princess Kathleen, queen of Alaskan liners, was 18 miles from Juneau on the last trip of the season from Vancouver, B.C. to Skagway, Alaska. It was 3:15 a.m. Most of the 425 passengers and crew, including Captain Graham Hughes, were sleeping. A light rain was falling, but the lookout reported fair visibility. The final moments of ... Read More »
Chasen’s was a glamorous world – “Celebrity chefs” will never replace stylish hosts and personalities such as Dave Chasen or Vincent Sardi or Mike Romanoff. The “chefs” were in the kitchen. Not greeting you at the front door! Now the once famous eatery is a supermarket catering to the newly rich and what Dave Chasen would call the déclassé. No ... Read More »
In July 1956, the SS Andrea Doria sank on the last night of its voyage from Italy to New York City. With over 1,134 passengers aboard, including Hollywood movie stars Ruth Roman and Betsy Drake, barely 100 short of her passenger capacity of 1,241. There were 190 first class passengers, 267 cabin class passengers and 677 tourist class passengers, which ... Read More »
This is the first in a series of blogs on the Mexican railway service. These are scenes of Buena Vista Terminal in Mexico City and school children visiting on a morning sometime in the early 1970s. Buena Vista was built in 1961, replacing the older terminal. It was vast and modern. When I could, in the early 1970s, I traveled ... Read More »
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