Cruise nostalgia: Fans keep vintage ships afloat online
Remember the sleek, blue-hued SS Norway? What about Carnival's early fleet of ships, like the TSS Mardi Gras and SS Festivale, with their red-white-and-blue smoke stacks?
Fans of these classic cruise ships that once departed from South Florida ports don't just remember them — they keep the ships afloat online through blogs, forums and tribute videos. They post vintage photos and deck plans and recount historical trivia on sites such as midshipcentury.com and maritimematters.com.
"Those who sailed the older ships feel this nostalgia, since they provided wonderful memories, overall more personality and charm over the current-day ships," said Rob O'Brien, an engineer who runs classicliners.net.
His site's banner reads: "The Classics are remembered here."
O'Brien, who lives in New York City, launched the site in 2008 after he traveled on the MS Regal Empress, which departed from Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades. He was enamored by the ship's old-school charm — the wood paneling, brass windows and etched bar mirrors — as well as its back story. It was originally known as the Olympia when it launched in 1953.
"The fact that this ship was still around, with interiors largely intact from when she debuted in 1953 was unheard of," he said of the ship operated by Imperial Majesty. "A ship has a soul, and many of the older ones can be felt to possess one."
While some love the history, others love the milestones they commemorated on these cruise ships.
"People tend to celebrate life-changing moments on ships, lots of marriages and lots of engagements," said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor-in-chief of cruisecritic.com. "There is a very strong group of hardy cruise aficionados who have been cruising a long time, who want to share their experiences and continue to keep those ships alive … The forums offer them an opportunity to do that."
A common topic on her website: the Norway. With its notable navy blue hue and twin smoke stacks, this steam-powered vessel used to be the flagship of its parent company, Norwegian Cruise Line. The liner, which sailed for years from Miami on weekly trips to the Caribbean, was called the France when it launched in 1960 and renamed the Norway in 1979.
"The Norway was magnificent and majestic. She was a beautiful ship," said Jennifer Hengels, director of logistics for a video technology company in Chicago and a regular visitor of cruisecritic.com.
She said reading the comments and discussion threads on the site allows her to reminisce about her first cruise on the Norway in 1994 with her then-boyfriend.
"Our room was so small it barely fit the two of us. It contained bunk beds, which seemed fitting since, of course, we were not married at the time. We didn't mind a bit, it was part of the adventure."
The cruise had such an impact on the couple, she said, that "the following year we decided to get married on a cruise ship. The actual ceremony took place on a beach in Saint Thomas. But I spent the day walking around in my wedding dress."
To mark their anniversary each year, "we bring out the shot glass we received on the Norway, shaped like a Norse helmet horn, to toast each other."
After a boiler fire in 2003, the ship was put out of service and later dismantled for parts. On YouTube, fans have posted tribute videos of the ship during its heyday.
Florida Atlantic University student Mike Faust shares cruise ship trivia on his cruisecurrents.com site. In September, he asked readers to guess the former logo of a cruise line. Another entry focused on how the Mardi Gras ran aground during its 1972 maiden voyage from Miami. Headlines at the time declared: "Mardi Gras on the rocks."
"The 'fun ship' concept actually came from that cruise, because everybody was a bit drunk, and people were just having a good time … in the middle of the Port of Miami, on a grounded ship," Faust replied to a visitor of his site.
Today's cruise lines understand the importance of this nostalgia. Princess Cruises is tapping into people's love for the ABC series, "The Love Boat," by reuniting the cast on Nov. 5 at Port Everglades for the christening of its new MS Regal Princess.
Princess, Norwegian and other cruise ship companies also have blogs where former passengers swap stories about their trips.
On the Princess site, Jupiter couple Denise and Rick Bennette blogged about meeting as teens in 1972 aboard the Sea Venture, which later became the Pacific Princess, aka the Love Boat. After marriages to other people, they found their way back to each other 30 years later.
"The funny thing is, before we got back together, I would watch 'The Love Boat' television show and think, 'Gee, I wish my romance had turned out this way,'" Rick Bennette wrote on the Princess site.
Other people list the ships, the port and the year they traveled. Others comment on how they used to board with mere identification buttons at visiting ports.
"No security screenings ... no sail-and-sign cards ... Oh, for the good old days," wrote one passenger on Carnival's "Funville" forum.
Vance Gulliksen, a spokesman for Carnival, said he's not surprised people talk about the old ships such as the company's first, the Mardi Gras.
"It's a huge part of the company's history and people still ask us about it," he said. "It's really a great ship that people really enjoyed."
So, what happened to the Mardi Gras and other ships whose silhouettes once cut against the Fort Lauderdale and Miami skylines? Lots of fans ask that.
Some companies retire their older ships rather than invest in government-required upgrades.
The Mardi Gras was transferred in 1993 to a Greek cruise line and became known as the Olympic. It was sold to scrappers in 2003, according to cruise ship blogs.
"The sad fact of it is that most ships, once they outlive their life expectancy, they go to the rocks, they are broken up, and parts are sold for scrap," Spencer Brown said. "Oftentimes, they are recycled and used in Europe and Asia as casino boats."
The original Pacific Princess, where "The Love Boat" was partially filmed, was dismantled in a scrap yard in Turkey in 2013, after the ship began taking on water, according to cruise ship blogs and news reports at the time.
Some vessels head to their final resting place off Alang, India. There, ships are "torn apart piece by piece and the steel melted down and all other remaining materials is used by the village," according to O'Brien.
At the end of his photo collection for the Regal Empress, O'Brien reported that the ship was last seen in India, where it was stripped for its goods.
"A fond farewell to this REGAL lady," he wrote, "as she is remembered for being a well-loved and long-accomplished ship."
Staff researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.
johnnydiaz@sunsentinel.com or 954-346-4939
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