The Big Red Boat and Norwegian Dawn

At one time, Oceanic was one of the most popular cruise ships sailing from New York. Built for Home Lines at the end of the ocean liner period, she had a sleek design and an elegant interior. When she was older and no longer competitive with the first tier of new cruise ships, she was sold to Premier Cruises, and once again achieved great popularity doing family-oriented cruises as the Big Red Boat. When Premier went bankrupt, Oceanic once again rose from the ashes and became very popular in Spain cruising for Pullmantur.

Now, after four decades of bringing people joy, Oceanic is sailing the world for the Japanese Peace Boat organization. She still carries paying passengers but her interior, while clean and well-maintained, looks like a time capsule of the late 20th Century. While in New York, she was detained by the Coast Guard because of a crack in her hull and other safety violations. It seems unlikely that Oceanic can stage another great come back in popularity.

Oceanic’s story is a classic illustration of the life cycle of a cruise ship - - first tier competitor; budget cruise ship; and then “foreign market” cruise ship. What makes it particularly interesting is the fact that Oceanic managed to achieve popularity at each stage. My article about Oceanic along with photos of her interior appears at: http://beyondships.com/Cruise-historic-Oceanic.html

One ship that is still competing in the first tier of the cruise industry is NCL’s Norwegian Dawn. Like Oceanic, Dawn has spent most of her early years sailing from New York. As a result, I have often been able to snap a photo of her at New York’s Passenger Ship Terminal or sailing the Hudson River. However, I have also encountered her smiling face while at sea and in other ports. Accordingly, I have put together a photo essay of Norwegian Dawn in New York and elsewhere. http://beyondships.com/NCLDawn-essay.html

Carnival Victory and P&O's Ventura

Periodically, cruise ships have to go in for a refit in which new features are added and the ship is given an overall sprucing up in order to bring her in line with the most recent ships in the line’s fleet. So too with the sections of the Beyondships website. Every so often they have to be updated to keep current with the ship that they are about and to keep them consistent with the profiles that have been added to the site recently.

This week, the Carnival Victory section of the Beyondships website has come out of a refit. Quite a few new photos have been added as well as a new set of Carnival Capers (daily programs) and a new set of menus. In addition, the Carnival Victory section has been re-organized along the lines of the other Carnival sections of the site. The new Carnival Victory section begins at: http://www.beyondships.com/CARNIVALVICTORY.html

I had a very interesting talk about the upcoming Carnival Dream with ship architect Joe Farcus recently. His interior design work on the other Carnival ships has been very creative and so I was interested in finding out what he is seeking to achieve on Carnival Dream. I’m putting our conversation into an article that will be posted in September in honor of Dream’s entry into service next month.

Meanwhile, I have posted a photo essay about P&O’s Ventura on the site. http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Ventura-Barbados.html Ventura is a mega-cruise ship built upon a design that can be traced back to Princess Cruises’ Grand Princess. Intended for the British market, Ventura spends most of her year sailing from Southampton, England. However, in the winter months, she sails from the former British colony Barbados It was there on a bright sunny day with puffy white clouds overhead that I found Ventura along with several other cruise ships including sister ship Emerald Princess. The essay shows Ventura from different angles alone and together with her companions.

Inside Carnival Pride - A conversation with Hotel Director Brian D'Souza

Carnival Pride has consistently received high marks from passengers on those comment cards that the cruise lines ask passengers to fill out at the end of every voyage. She received them on the West Coast when she was operating out of Los Angles and she is receiving them now that she is on the East Coast operating out of Baltimore.

The ship is a Spirit-class (also called a Vista-class) design. These ships have good speed and good seakeeping properties so that they perform well in rough weather. They also have a convenient interior layout. The major public areas are on three decks and so it is relatively simple to find ones way around. So, that could be one explanation for the high marks.

Baltimore is just developing as a cruise port. Yes, cruise ships have stopped there before but Pride is the first ship to sail year-round from Baltimore on a regular basis. Having a first-tier cruise ship within driving distance makes cruising a convenient option for many people. Perhaps the high marks just reflect the fact that they are happy to have such a ship based nearby. But then, the ship received high marks in Los Angles and on the cruises she did out of Miami in the process of repositioning to Baltimore.

To get an inside perspective as to why Carnival Pride has succeeded so well, I spoke with her hotel director Brian D’Souza. Brian has worked his way up the management chain on a number of Carnival ships and so is in a position to know why Carnival works even in these tough economic times. I also asked him about what it has been like taking Pride to a new home.

Our conversation is posted at: http://beyondships.com/CarnivalPride-art-Dsouza.html

Carnival Triumph Photo Tour and Hotel Director Interview

Some ships just have a good feel about them. I immediately noticed such a feeling when I went aboard Carnival Triumph a couple of years ago to get the material to create a Carnival Triumph section for the website. I am happy to say that that feeling was still there this year when I went back to Triumph this summer.

Triumph was one of the first Destiny class ships. It has been a very successful design and has been used for a flock of ships for both Carnival Cruise Lines and Costa Cruises since then. Of course, the design has developed in the ten years since Triumph went into service. However, Triumph has been upgraded over the years so that she has most but not all of the features of the most recent Destiny class ships.

What gives Triumph a good feeling is not so much the amenities but rather the crew. I spoke with Hotel Director Stewart Howard who is a Triumph veteran and he immediately attributed Triumph’s continued success to the team that has developed over the years on the ship. Friendliness and competence is what I found.

As a result of my recent cruise on Triumph, I was able to completely redo the photo tour of Triumph on the site. It has many new photos and a page showing some of the areas that have changed on the ship. It begins at http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalTriumph-Tour-1a.html In addition, I have added my interview with Mr. Howard to the site. http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalTriumph-art-HD.html
Finally, there are copies of new Carnival Capers and new menus as well as other information about the ship on the Triumph Profile Page. http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalTriumph-profile.html

The Captain of Carnival Triumph and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Speak

Carnival Triumph has been around for nearly a decade. She was one of the first mega-cruise ships of over 100,000 gross tons. The ship has been tremendously popular with passengers as hundreds of thousands of guests have sailed on her.

But how is she as a ship? I decided to go straight to the top for the answer to that question and ask Captain Francesco La Fauci. One of Carnival Cruise Lines longest serving captains, he has commanded Triumph for several years. From a seagoing family, Captain La Fauci not only had his formal education at a maritime academy, he has more than 30 years experience at sea.

As one would expect, Captain La Fauci gave his candid assessment of Triumph, comparing her to other ships in the Carnival fleet. In addition, he discussed how Carnival keeps the ship up-to-date. My conversation with Captain La Facui is posted at http://beyondships.com/CarnivalTriumph-art-captain.html

On the military side of the site, I’ve posted an article reporting Admiral Mike Muillen’s recent remarks at the Cornell Club of New York. Admiral Mullen is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - - essentially, the number one uniformed person in the American military.

Admiral Mullen spoke about areas of concern to the United States. It was a wide-ranging discussion covering the state of the American military to the United States’ role in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as US relations with China, Russia and North Korea. The article is posted at: http://beyondships.com/ssp1-Mullen-09.html