CRUISING THE PAST Travel and Social History

Six months after the Nazis celebrated Kristallnacht, the German transatlantic liner MS St. Louis sailed on May 13, 1939, from Hamburg Germany. The voyage became a symbol of American and Canadian heartlessness, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. CUBA PROFITED WITH HEAVY FEES FOR VISAS Flags were flapping in the wind and well-wishers ... Read More »

The Titanic didn’t just send hundreds of its passengers to the bottom of the ocean—it also took all the evidence of what life was like onboard for the ill-fated travelers. Or at least it would have, were it not for Father Francis Browne. Frank Browne’s mother died whilst he was ... Read More »

By the mid-1950s, with the postwar passenger boom at its peak, more than 50 passenger liners sailed the sea lanes between New York and America. Among the most splendid were two new ships of the Italian Line, the Cristoforo Colombo, and the Andrea Doria. Newsreel of the Andrea Doria They ... Read More »

For first-class passengers aboard ocean liners and cruises, from the 1930s into the 1960s, the menu choices were staggering. On ships like the SS Europa, RMS Queen Mary, and the SS United States, dinner might have had 12 courses, with 8 to 10 options for each course. It is difficult ... Read More »

One of the most shocking tragedies of World War 2 occurred on November 18th, 1939, when the Dutch liner “Simon Bolivar” struck a German mine in the North Sea, and sank with the loss of over 120 lives, including woman and children. Poignant stories told by survivors are here reprinted ... Read More »

Zim Lines began passenger service connecting Israel with Mediterranean ports began after the State of  Israel was established in 1948 and for 20 years they operated an excellent sea transportation fleet of ships In the early 1950s, Zim became a member of the North Atlantic Passenger Conference and bought Home ... Read More »

First as the trans-Pacific record holder liner, then serving during World War 2, followed by being renamed the Empress of Scotland on the trans-Atlantic run and then finally sailing under the German flag. It was ironic, the allied ship used during WW 2 to fight the Nazis, was sold to ... Read More »

The U.S. has no true high-speed trains, aside from sections of Amtrak’s Acela line in the Northeast Corridor. The Acela can reach 150 mph for only 34 miles of its 457-mile span. Its average speed between New York and Boston is about 65 mph. FLORIDA IS A HIT Virgin Rail ... Read More »

The Steamboat Gordon C. Greene cruised round-trip from Cincinnati to New Orleans on the Ohio and Mississippi with over a hundred passengers on a 21-Day river journey via Cairo, Paducah, Evansville, Memphis, Baton Rouge. When times were much different. The speed of the boat – was about that of the ... Read More »