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Interesting, Eric. Great to hear steamship schedules are now on your schedules website . Shown on your steamship schedules for 1955 are sailings for the S.S. America (sister to the S.S. United States) and Holland America's 1938 flagship (restored 1947) version of the Nieuw Amsterdam. In 1954 I saw my parents board the America in New York. Their return was on the Nieuw Amsterdam although I was with grandparents in TN at the time.
I do remember a very early train ride from Wilmington to New York and, as a young boy, being astounded by the size of the ship as the taxi pulled up to, I believe, pier 42.
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Fortunately, I caught the last of the steamship era with the "Famity trip to Europe" during 1960.
Over was the s/s Rotterdam to Southampton; return six weeks later on the s/s Constitution from Naples (and trust me, long enough by three weeks; it really wasn't all that much fun or educational, but that is just asking me). Between those two ports, it was fly to Paris, Orient Express to Stuttgart (set out Wagon Lit), thence a Bennie to Napoli.
I think ocean travel to get from here to there, i.e. a ferry, and passengers doing it because they had to and hardly because they wanted to, would present an experience beyond that of the Love Tubs.
For a peek at the experience, I think "The Only Way to Cross" by John Maxtone-Graham is required reading.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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I have only taken one "Love Tub" cruise in my life, and that was eight years ago. It was pleasant enough, but I understand from the gossip on the cruising community message boards that a lot of people suspect that, in the "race to the bottom" to have the Lowest Ticket Prices, the cruise lines are cutting the quality of the onboard food served in a not-so-subtle attempt to push as many passengers as possible to eat in one of the new onboard restaurants. As one passenger put it, "They already have us paying the salaries of our room stewards and dining room help through gratuities; now they want us to foot the bill for their chefs through making us eat in the restaurant."
-------------------- --------Eric H. Bowen
Stop by my website: Streamliner Schedules - Historic timetables of the great trains of the past! Posts: 413 | From: Houston, Texas | Registered: Mar 2006
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Gil, we saw the Orient Express several times on our family Grand Tour in '68 and would like to have ridden it. The rail highlight of our trip was the Lusitania Express from Lisbon to Madrid. It was electric when we started, but by morning I woke to the subtle rhythmic pull of a steam locomotive. Raising the shade, the smoke was drifting by the window. Quite a sight.
As to Love Boats, I think you get what you pay for. Thanks to a son who was the Hotel Director on a small expedition type ship that helped us get a large discount, the food and service were outstanding. On a recent Disney cruise, it was equally enjoyable even if there were lots of little ones around. Helps when your granddaughter is one of them. I especially liked that the ship looked more like an ocean liner than a floating box that seems to be in fashion. While the food was excellent, it was worth it to splurge at the premium restaurant, Remy, for one night. Disney knows how to handle crowds - never had to wait in line.
The voyage over (TWA return) on our grand tour was on a Portugese Line vessel from Port Everglades. Great food and service also but probably not on a par with the Queen's Grill.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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While my last Love Tub experience was during 1988, it would appear that Andy Smith's experiences related over at the Amtrak Forum would suggest that the lines are simply offering a platform on which you are captive for the duration and which they will present you with every "extra" imaginable. I'm sure that the Parasails that are featured on one Tub's TV ad or the other, are "not exactly thrown in".
I guess SBA Frank and Miss Vicki, both Amtrak Forum participants, enjoy the experience more as they apparently opt for the more upscale "Tubs".
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Eric -- Thanks so much for putting all those neat old train and steamship schedules on the web. Those are great! They bring back great memories for me.
I miss the old days. Travel back then was civilized. Sigh.....
I was quite fortunate as a school-age child to have lived overseas (in the early 1950s), and thus to have been able to do a lot of traveling back before there were crowds. And I was old enough to remember some of it.
We took a transatlantic voyage back in April of 1951 on the CP’s “Empress of France” steamship, from Liverpool to Montreal, via the North Atlantic. Yes, it was rough, but I was too young to be scared. Thought it was fun, as a matter of fact. Not surprisingly, there were few passengers eating in the dining room, but we did fine. One of my parents’ friends ibn later years was a man who had served in the Navy during WW2. His “beat” was the North Atlantic, and he said, “You couldn’t PAY me enough to go on that route!”
My mother remembers that, even after the ship had been in the St. Lawrence Waterway for some time, it was still rough.
I had a great time back then! Flying was a lof of fun back then, too.
i am not at all attracted by those “Love Tubs” -- I call them “floating cities”. Too big and crowded for me, even if I really liked “sailing the bounding main” -- which I don’t. I MUCH prefer taking the train. Or flying -- if security was no more than what we had back in 1980, and if the planes all had as much legroom as the old DC-4s and Constellations I used to fly in had.
Those were the days!
Posts: 211 | From: California | Registered: Dec 2004
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