Tag Archives: Cruise History

The Southern Pacific’s Streamliner Coast Daylight was the West’s finest train into the 1950s, linking Los Angeles and San Francisco in a glorious daylight trip, streaking along the edge of the Pacific Ocean for more than a hundred breathless miles. Chair car passengers had full access to the Coffee Shop, ... Read More »

The Klondike gold rush galvanized the Union Steamship Company to begin operations in Alaska. The company was founded in 1889 by John Darling, the director of a New Zealand shipping company who recognized a great need for a scheduled service that would transport supplies and work crews to various northern ... Read More »

Arosa Line was the trade name for Compañia Internacional Transportadora. The steamship line bought older ships, sailing Trans-Atlantic and on winter cruises out of New York. Thousands of emigrants came from Europe to Canada and the USA on their four ships. In 1949, the shipowner Rizzi had bought his first ... Read More »

With the 65th anniversary of the record-breaking voyage of the SS United States, the SS United States Conservancy has published a clip from the documentary film Lady in Waiting showing footage from the ship’s maiden voyage. On July 3, 1952, the SS United States departed New York and proceeded to ... Read More »

National holidays were celebrated onboard liners and cruise ships with special events and elaborate menus. From Russian Caviar to Filet Mignon to Ice Cup, Independence Gourmandizes. Anchor Line’s SS CITY OF ROME – July 4th Menu – 1900 The Anchor Line trans-Atlantic passenger liner CITY OF ROME, built by the ... Read More »

When the last night boat ended its service in April 1962, a travel editor noted that it would be especially missed by one particular group of passengers: honeymooners. Twelve hours is plenty of time to get to know someone. These “night boats” operated throughout the United States and Canada from ... Read More »

Instead of those boring shows presented by the cruise lines – the ship’s should rely on their entertainers to produce them.  This is a great video of cast members doing their own video instead of the dreary shows created by someone like Barry Manilow. All those cruise lines advertise what ... Read More »

Fall River’s Borden family helped fund the company.  They were mainly known for their famous family member: Lizzie Borden. B was tried and acquitted of the axe murders of her father and stepmother… Cruise History – The Old Fall River Line – Everyone from presidents to swindlers sailed the Sound on ... Read More »

The RMS Empress of Ireland sinking resulted in the deaths of more passengers than the RMS Titanic disaster. In this horrific maritime disaster, over a thousand passengers en route from Quebec to Liverpool were lost in just fifteen minutes—the length of time it took for the ocean liner to sink ... Read More »

The first all-gay cruises were operated by RSVP cruises aboard the SS BERMUDA STAR thirty years ago. This is a retro look at gay life in the 1980s aboard the first gay cruises.  Operated by gay pioneer RSVP, the passengers dubbed the ship Bermuda Star Cruise Line ship the SS BRENDA STARR. ... Read More »