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Albert Ballin started his career with HAPAG (Hamburg Amerikanische Paketfahrt Aktien Gesellschaft) as manager of the passage department and within two years rose to Managing Director. Ballin noted that the company’s flagship Auguste Viktoria spent all winter in lay up, thus not making any money. Of course the reason for this was that passengers avoided the inclement […]

Caronia is one of the first luxury cruises ships of the postwar era. The (British) cruising market was divided mainly between three vessels at the time, for budget cruises the Pacific Steam Navigation Company and later Union Castle Line operated the Reina del Mar, for the middle class there was Royal Mail’s Andes and for long (expensive) cruises Caronia was introduced

The Hurtigruten company, which is the result of a merger between two Norwegian shipping companies, OVDS & TFDS, has been operating ships on expedition cruises in the Polar regions since about the turn of the century, almost twenty years now. The company set out to be the market leader in polar expedition cruising and is

One of the first brochures in my collection dating from 1975 – it is of a Dutch tour-operator specialized in cruising, Zeetours-  some last minute cruise news is included the last page: a Greek shipping Tycoon,  John Carras would introduce two brand new vessels, Danae and Daphne. Both 5 -star de luxe vessels, measuring 10,160 GRT. They would

Around 1970, Scandinavian-designed cruise ships dominated the market. Newbuildings for NCL, Royal Caribbean and Royal Viking Line were examples of this new series of passenger ships. Sea Venture and Island Venture belonged to the same breed of ships, being designed by Tage Wandborg, a naval architect from Denmark for Norwegian owned Flagship Cruises. Measuring 19,903GRT,  they carried 626 passengers

For interior photographs of Hurtigruten ships please check out the Cruiseships-page where Fram, Midnatsol, Nordnorge and Trollfjord are featured; interior photographs of the 1952 built Hakon Jarl can be found on the Static ships page. Èvery day of the year, one of the coastal express ships of the Hurtigruten-service leaves the port of Bergen, Norway, for a twelve-day trip along the coast

In Germany in the 1930’s., the  National Socialist regime came to power. Immediately, the Nazi’s established the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront). In order to force the existing worker unions out of business, they established a propaganda division called Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy) offering the working class all kinds of attractive leisure activities.

Many thanks to Senic Cruises US which provided the interior photographs of Scenic Eclipse. The mission building this first deluxe expedition yacht: “The vessel’s design incorporates state-of-the-art engineering and external design inspired by the sleek contours of a mega yacht.” Scenic Eclipse in Rotterdam, August 10, 2019, prepearing for her maiden voyage out of Iceland two

No one could have envisaged the huge success Carnival Cruise Lines would have in the following years, when they started operations in 1972 with their second hand Mardi Gras. Two more former liners Carnivale and Festivale were introduced shortly afterwards in 1975 and 1977. To their initial three converted liners were added Tropicale (1981), Carnivals first newbuilding and a series of (near-)

Built 1984 Yard Waertsila, Helsinki, Finland Some data as built: Length 231m Passengers 1260 Crew 520 Cabins total 600 all outside cabins BRT 44588 Speed 19 knots After more than three decades of service, Artania still is a gem of a ship, with her sleek lines, her long tapered bow, and her traditional profile that sets her apart from today’s mega ships with their boxy exterior designs.