Ocean Liner History: SS NORMANDIE and RMS QUEEN MARY during World War 2 Video of the SS Normandie The war found the French Line’s elegant trans-Atlantic ocean liner SS Normandie in New York. Soon Cunard’s RMS Queen Mary, later refitted as a troop ship, docked nearby. Then the RMS Queen ... Read More »
On a Mission to Save Cruise Ship and Ocean Liner Décor
Peter Knego at Alang (India) in 2005 with the former RMS WINDSOR CASTLE. Photo by Kaushal Trivedi, copyright MidShipCentury.com 2005. Peter Knego is a top authority on passenger maritime history along with being a major cruise travel journalists. His excellent stories on ships are featured regularly on the Maritime Matters ... Read More »
2011 Hotel Review: London’s elegant historic Athenaeum Hotel is our choice for the best in London.
Hotel Review: London’s elegant historic Hotel Athenaeum is our choice for the best in London. A boutique FIVE STAR PLUS gem with a link to the past. One can never capture the feeling of cruising the past in most hotels today. That chic traveling public is gone. Clients arriving from ... Read More »
US LINES – S.S. America… the Lady who died of shame – Luxury Liner, Troop Carrier, Immigrant Ship, Casino, Prison Hulk
Great YOUTUBE video from www.shipgeek.com of the S.S. AMERICA: taking a final break from her trans-Atlantic service on a cruise to Bermuda in 1963. The following year one of the last American flag liners would be sold off for immigrant travel from the UK to Australia. UNITED STATES LINES: S.S. ... Read More »
SS UNITED STATES beating all odds is saved.
In 1964, former SS United States purser Jim Green returned to the ship as a passenger for a West Indies cruise along with his beloved wife Frieda. Here, set to the music of the ship’s own orchestra, is a nostalgic journey back to cruising the past. Beating the odds, a ... Read More »
Contemporary portrait artist Juan Bastos carries on the tradition of John Singer Sargent.
Social History: Contemporary portrait artist Juan Bastos carries on the tradition of John Singer Sargent. “A number of Juan Bastos’ portraits remind me of [John Singer] Sargent.” Gore Vidal YouTube video on the Daughters of Edward Darley Boit (originally titled Portraits d’enfants). A painting by John Singer Sargent. (Left: Gore ... Read More »
Social History – The traditional past and Locke-Ober… still the Boston Brahmin dining retreat!
American social history: Locke-Ober… the grand French restaurant in Boston. The Brahmin city is so lucky. Jack’s in San Francisco and Perino’s in Los Angeles are gone. So are most of the wonderful American traditional restaurants. These were dining establishments that would have never permitted some parvenu wearing ... Read More »
Marilyn Monroe and the Hotel Del Coronado – Billy Wilder’s fabulous film SOME LIKE IT HOT!
Social History: Marilyn Monroe and the Hotel Del Coronado – Billy Wilder’s fabulous film SOME LIKE IT HOT! Hotel del Coronado (also known as The Del and Hotel del) is a beachfront luxury hotel in the city of Coronado, just across the San Diego Bay from San Diego, California. A ... Read More »
SAILING THE GREAT LAKES on the SS SOUTH AMERICAN and SS NORTH AMERICAN
Cruise and liner history: SAILING THE GREAT LAKES on the SS SOUTH AMERICAN and SS NORTH AMERICAN The history of commercial passenger shipping on the Great Lakes is long but uneven. It reached its zenith between the mid-19th century and the 1950s. As early as 1844, palace steamers carried passengers ... Read More »
The Nomadic will be restored. The tender ferried passengers to the RMS Titanic.
The Nomadic and the RMS Titanic Cruise Liner History: Belfast, Northern Ireland. Harland and Wolff shipyard has won a £2 million contract to help restore the boat which ferried passengers to the Titanic. The money was awarded by the European Union with additional funding from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board ... Read More »