CRUISE SHIPS AND LINERS

I just had to create this blog, ships, I love them all, some are mine like the cruise ferries I am sailing on monthly basis, but my passion since the SANTA MARIA days when I was 5 in 1963 has been for passenger ships, liners, I was fortunate to grow up during a period when the heirs of the ships that were the only way to cross the oceans were still around, to name but a few I remember the INFANTE DOM HENRIQUE, CRISTOFORO COLOMBO, FRANCE, LEONARDO DA VINCI, I have sailed on the GUGLIELMO MARCONI, to name but a very few, those ships were still in their prime, with the evolution of times and particulary with airplanes, those ships were no longer the only way to cross, but a lot of them were given a different role, cruising, and today the cruising industry is stronger than ever, this blog is destined to keep old memories alive and follow new cruise ships, I hope you enjoy visiting this blog, for me every post will be emotional

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CRISTOFORO COLOMBO, one of the nicest ships ever built

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This post is dedicated to all the Italian followers of this blog. This past week saw an unprecedented number of pageviews from Italy, I was really pleased to notice that the post "WILLEM RUYS BECOMES ACHILLE LAURO" is the most popular post of this blog, leading by far all the posts related to the COSTA CONCORDIA's tragedy, so despite the relevance of the tragic events which obviously dominated the news not just in Italy but around the world, there is an obvious interest on Italian passenger liners and this is reassuring for me, I do believe that the most beautiful liners came out of Italy, this is why I have chosen CRISTOFORO COLOMBO for many the most elegant liner ever built as a testimony of appreciation to the great nation that Italy was and still is as far as shipping and ship building is concerned, so thank you to all my Italian followers, I will endeavour to carry on with the best possible work on this blog. Postcards of my collection
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SS "LEONARDO DA VINCI" a remarkable liner with a short career

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The SS "LEONARDO DA VINCI" was an ocean liner built by ANSALDO SHIPYARDS at Genoa in 1960, the ship was intended as a replacement for the ill-fated ANDREA DORIA to operate on the North Atlantic run with ITALIAN LINE, she was as built 33.340 GRT and had a top speed of 25.5 knots. The ship left on her maiden voyage on the 30th June 1960 from Genoa to New York, she was kept on this service until 1965 when the new superliners MICHELANGELO and RAFFAELLO entered service, LEONARDO was then used on cruising in the MED, CARIBBEAN, SOUTH and NORTH AMERICA, after the withdrawal of the new superliners from service on the North Atlantic due to lack of passengers  LEONARDO was back on the transtlantic service, but only for a brief spell, she went back to cruising until 1978 when she arrived at La Spezia in Italy to be laid up, she caught fire in 1980 and was considered a total loss, she was finally scrapped in 1982, a brief career for such a beautiful ship, she was not a lucky vessel un
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Remembering the "SUNDREAM"

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This post takes us back to 1997, the "SUNDREAM" is seen secured for sea ready for another departure from Barcelona. The ship was built in 1970 by WARTSILA in Finland as the "SONG OF NORWAY" to Royal Caribbean, she was 18416 GRT with a top speed of 22 knots, the vessel was lengthened by 24 meters in 1978, the GRT was increased to 23005 GRT. In 1996 the ship was sold to AIRTOURS SUN CRUISES and was renamed "SUNDREAM", she is still around operated by INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING PARTNERS under the name of "GEMINI" but facing uncertain times with the ship being reported for sale or charter
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