Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The Ship That Just Kept on Sailing

Once upon a time, actually 1953, a beautiful (huge), luxury cruise liner was built in the ship yards of Scotland. The ship was soon purchased by The Greek Line, named the T.S.S. Olympia, and began Trans Atlantic cruises from Greece to The United States. With Trans Atlantic traffic declining, in the early 1970's, she became a one class seasonal ship, cruising the Caribbean , and ports in the north Atlantic
I was a passenger on this very ship in the Fall1972 from Baltimore to Bermuda
It was my first cruise, and I thought the ship was simply elegant!. I do remember there was a lot of Greek food on their menu, which was something new for this small town Texas girl. I also recall that our steward didn't speak English ...Amazing how a lot of Americans  expect people to! I wanted to locate the shuffle board sticks....They probably had an English name (other than "those sticks"), but again this small town girl had never seen shuffle board game.. I tried sign language. Pushing an imaginary stick out in front of me. I saw a light  in the steward's eye, as he scurried off down the hallway....only to return with the vacuum cleaner :(

I thought the Olympia surely went to the scrap yard, with all of the newer larger ships around in the coming years...but I was wrong. The ship was sold, and refitted in 1983 and became the Carib I, part of The Commodore Cruise Line.. cruising the Caribbean. Next, she was sold to Celebration World Cruises in 1993, becoming the Regal Empress. The list gets longer as she was auctioned off in 2004 and became part of a fleet of two night cruises from Miami to Nassau.

Despite a campaign to save this mighty ship....she made that dreaded final voyage to India in 2009... to be broken apart for scrap.

I still enjoy cruising, although, I have changed a bit over the years too! .....and sadly, my Greek hasn't improved.
Do you like Cruises? If so do you have a favorite ship? These days, I have fallen in love with River Cruising.

* Image of ship taken from my postcard



8 comments:

  1. A nice story, had to laugh about your vacuum cleaner story!
    No I have never made a cruise and I don't think I will do so. I like ground under my feet and drive through landscapes and mountains.

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  2. i become so provoked with myself when I lose my messages! No, I have never been on a cruise and agree with Marianne. I could be tempted if it was a small ship on the Inner Passage of Alaska or perhaps a river cruise. Love the vacuum cleaner anecdote and especially the story!!

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  3. How lovely you look there Janey! No I would never go on a cruise on the ocean, fear of deep water :) but love the idea of river and canal cruising. The criuse ship had a long and exciting life before being scapped :)

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  4. have never cruised and have no intention of. :) i'm too much of a loner to be 'trapped' aboard with other folks. :)

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  5. Great photo, Janey! I love cruising! So relaxing, and going to the Caribbean when it's cold where I live is a real treat!

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  6. I simply adore cruising...but, alas, Mr. Sweet doesn't care for it at all. Therefore the two I've been on may well be my last.

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  7. At this stage cruising is not for me, but never say never. The small town Texas girl looks stunning.

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  8. Fun story about the vacuum cleaner. lol I've never been on a cruise, but we have friends who love to take cruises - like on the Danube. They too seem to really enjoy river cruises. I think I would like a river cruise much more than spending 10 days crossing the Atlantic (or whatever it takes).

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