Cruising The Past Cruise News

The SS Lurline was the third Matson vessel to hold that name and the last of four fast and luxurious ocean liners that Matson built for the Hawaii and Australasia runs from the West Coast of the United States. Lurline’s sister ships were the SS Malolo, SS Mariposa and SS ... Read More »

On October 7, 1985, four men representing the Palestine Liberation Front hijacked the Italian MS Achille Lauro liner off the coast of Egypt, as she was sailing from Alexandria to Ashdod, Israel. The MS Angelina Lauro was the sister-ship… MS Oranje, later known as MS Angelina Lauro, was a passenger ... Read More »

At least four people are dead and nearly 300 missing after a ferry boat sank off South Korea’s southern coast Wednesday. Authorities initially reported most of the passengers were rescued but quickly backtracked and raised casualty figures dramatically as the scale of the tragedy became clear. The passenger ferry was ... Read More »

“Tennessee Williams, who knew more about actors than anybody in our time … said, ‘There’s only one great actor in the United States and that is Mickey Rooney. … He can do anything. He sings, he dances, he can make you weep. He can play tragedy, he can play comedy,’ ... Read More »

The Bianca C, on the ocean floor off the island of Grenada, faces strong tidal currents, making this an advanced deep dive (with a checkout dive required). The top deck lies at 90 feet and most dives proceed around the stern, where you can swim into the pool, visit the ... Read More »

The “Night Ferry” was the first, and until the opening of the Channel Tunnel the only, through train from London to Paris. The “Night Ferry” being loaded to cross the English Channel. The train was made up of sleeping cars provided by the CIWL (Companie Internationale des Wagon-lits or International ... Read More »

The Coast Daylight had its inaugural run on March 1, 1937 between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It was hauled by GS-2 steam locomotives. It was the first of the Daylight series that also included the San Joaquin Daylight, Shasta Daylight, Sacramento Daylight, and Sunbeam. The Coast Daylight ran behind ... Read More »

Murder, suspicious deaths and disappearing at sea aboard liners from Cunard to Union-Castle have made cruise history.   The romantic decks of “The Love Boat” can be a very dangerous place. As for cruising the past, history finds there were two or three murders supposedly linked to Cunard Line’s RMS Queen ... Read More »

What was the Coast Guard’s role in the SS St. Louis affair, often referred to as “The Voyage of the Damned”? SS ST LOUIS arrives Havana, Cuba. But never docked in Havana Harbor.  In the years since the end of the Second World War, the exact role of the US ... Read More »

 They called them the “White Flyers of the Pacific.”  Overnight by sea between Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco… USC rooters heading north from Los Angels to San Francisco on the SS Yale for the Stanford/USC football game.  The sister ships Yale and Harvard were the fastest steamships on ... Read More »