NAVIGATION-Cruising and Maritime Themes

"APOLLON" was built by VICKERS ARMSTRONG in 1961 as the EMPRESS OF CANADA, she departed on her maiden voyage on the 24th April 1961, she was operated by CANADIAN PACIFIC, the ship was 27.290 GRT and had a cruising speed of 20 knots. She is seen here at Liverpool in 1998 on charter with DIRECT CRUISES. "APOLLON" was sold for scrap in 2003 as the ROYAL OLYMPIC after 42 years in service

The beautiful P & O liner SS "CHUSAN" was built in 1950, another product of VICKERS ARMSTRONGS in Furness, she was named after a Chinese Island and was said to have brought new standards of luxury to the India and the Far East route, CHUSAN was 24.200 GRT and had a top speed of 23.5 knots. I have very fond memories of this vessel when in 1972, still just a very young boy I assisted this amazing liner docking in Lisbon on board my uncle´s tug where he was the master, this is how I used to spend my summer holidays. CHUSAN  was withdrawn from service in 1973 and scrapped in Taiwan. Postcards in this post sent by Antonio Silva

"FEDOR DOSTOEVSKIY" was built in 1987 by HDW Kiel in Germany and delivered to MARLON CORPORATION as the ASTOR. In 1988 the vessel was sold to BLACK SEA SHIPPING CO and renamed FEDOR DOSTOEVSKIY, she was sold again in 1995 and is still sailing on charter with TRANSOCEAN TOURS, the ship was once again renamed ASTOR, she is a little over 20.000 GRT and has a cruising speed of 18 knots, photos show the vessel departing Lisbon in 1989

This post is a very Historic one and would not be possible without the contribution of my Friend António Silva, keen follower of this blog, who sent me the postcard of the Paddlesteamer "RIPON". The ship was built for P&O in 1846 and was 1508 GRT, seen here in this remarkable postcard, the ship is leaving Southampton in 1854 with the "GRENADIER GUARDS" on board on their way to the CRIMEAN WAR. The GRENADIER GUARDS is an infantry regiment of the British Army and were founded in the 17th century, during the CRIMEAN WAR four of their members received the VICTORIA CROSS, the highest military decoration awarded for valour. "RIPON" was also famous when she brought the first hippopotamus to the UK in 1850. A very special thank you to Antonio Silva.

The "EMPRESS OF ENGLAND" was built by Vickers Armstrongs in 1957 and operated by Canadian Pacific Steamships on the Liverpool to Montreal route, she was 25.580 GRT and had a service speed of 21 knots, she was scrapped in Taiwan in 1975, fine looking ship she was indeed

This post is about a very special ship, the fenomenal SS "FRANCE", the ship was built at Saint-Nazaire on what was known at the time by PENHOET, she was launched in 1960 and delivered to CGT in 1962, "FRANCE" departed on her maiden voyage on the 3rd of February 1962 from Le Havre to New York via Southampton, she was at the time 66.348 GRT and was powered by Parsons geared turbines that could propel the ship to an amazing 35.2 knots. The ship was operated by CGT on the transatlantic run Le Havre to New York until 1974 when the French government announced that could no longer afford any further subsidies to keep the ship running so CGT withdrawn the ship on the 25th of October 1974, she was laid up at Le Havre. She has now of course been scraped but the memories will last forever of a ship that was gracious, incredibly sleek and powerful, a joy for ships enthusiasts

Nicknamed the GREEN GODDESS by the people of Liverpool because of her livery resembled that of local trams RMS "CARONIA" was built in 1947 and debuted for Cunard White Star Line in 1948, the ship served CUNARD for 20 years, she was just over 34.000 GRT and had a speed of 22 knots. She was so small compared to the old QUEENS that Captain Warwick, one of the ships Captains, later first master of the QE2 and father of Ronald Warwick, first master of present QUEEN MARY 2 used to say to his family that he was going to sail around the world in his yacht, CARONIA was a transatlantic liner when she was built but was later used mainly for cruising around the world, she was scraped in 1974, postcard of my private collection

The P & O flag traces earliest routes to Spain and Portugal in the 1830´s, the flag reflects royal patronage of both Iberian Countries, the red and yellow of Spain and the blue and white of the Portuguese old Monarchy,next year the company celebrates 175 years of Maritime History, today it still is one of the most prestigious names on the cruise market industry

Seen here at Saint-Nazaire on the 28th of September is the cruise ship EXPEDITION owned by Canadian based GAP ADVENTURES, she was built as a passenger ferry in Denmark in 1972 and was operated by JYDSK FAERGEFART A/S sailing as the KATTEGAT, she has also been operated by MIDLAND MONTAGUE, TOWNSEND CAR FERRIES and VIKING LINE, in 2008 she was converted into a cruise ship

P & O CRUISES the legendary shipping company is celebrating 175 years  next year. To commemorate in style they will assemble all seven ships at Southampton, the date, one to remember for sure is the 3rd of July 2012. Included photos of the existing cruise fleet, ADONIA (photo kindly sent by Portimão cruises author António Silva, linked to this blog) ORIANA, AURORA, OCEANA, ARCADIA, AZURA and VENTURA, sequence starting with the smaller, ending with the largest

This is an addition to the previous post, it´s interesting to compare how much the cruise terminal known as the ADOSSAT QUAY has changed, the photos show us the cruise ship "DON JUAN" in 1995 and a present day picture taken on the 1st of October 2011

Once again we travel back in time, this time to 1995 where the cruise ship "DON JUAN" can be seen, she was originally built as the LAS PALMAS DE GRAN CANARIA and was operated by TRASMEDITERRANEA, the vessel was converted into a cruise ship in 1986. A subsidiary company of TRASMEDITERRANEA was created, named ROYAL HISPANIA to manage the ship by then named "DON JUAN", she has already been scraped

During the World Exhibition in Lisbon in 1998, some classic liners were chartered for accommodation, few photos to remember taken during the summer of 1998

VENTURA seen in Funchal during her maiden call. 13th May 2008 VENTURA was P&O's first superliner, the passenger ship to surpass the 100,000 GT in the company's history. She debuted in 2008 and was followed by a sister ship, the AZURA in 2010, both built in Fincantieri, Monfalcone yard in Trieste, Italy. Here's some images of VENTURA in Funchal, taken through the years, in 2010 and 2011 and including of her maiden call in Madeira. VENTURA with an unusual full brown painting in her funnel, 1st April 2010. With the modern globalization of the cruise market, especially within the Carnival group, cruise liners are becoming more similar with each other, floating cities full of balconies, like this P&O superliner class, almost identical to Princess Grand and Crown ships. And it's just a shear example of this industry nowadays and what is to become in the future. What's the fun of identical cruise ships sailing the seven seas? Nothing special, just the enthusiasm to...

Good news for all free style cruising admirers and for ships enthusiasts in general. NCL has announced that the names for their next two mega cruise ships are "NORWEGIAN BREAKAWAY" to debut in May 2013 and "NORWEGIAN GETAWAY" to be delivered in April 2014. Both ships will be built by German Shipyard MEYER WERFT will have approximately 144.000 GRT and capacity for about 4000 passengers. It has also been known last week that BREAKAWAY will have New York has her home port from May 2013 until March 2015, she will become the largest passenger ship ever to home port New York. Exciting prospects for NCL and the world of cruising

Seen here at Southampton in June 2000, is the former P & O CRUISES ship "ARCADIA", the ship was originally built as the SITMAR "FAIR MAJESTY", she was sold to PRINCESS CRUISES and renamed "STAR PRINCESS", the ship debuted in 1989. Between 1997 and 2003 she was transferred to P & O CRUISES sailing as the "ARCADIA", the vessel is today employed by P & O CRUISES AUSTRALIA and is named PACIFIC PEARL.

P&O's Vista cruise ship ARCADIA seen in Funchal on a sunny 8th of July 2010 during a Canary Isles cruises. The 4th passenger ship with the name in the centennary history of the fleet, entered service in 2005 and was inicially planned to became the 5th Holland America Vista class ship. During construction she changed owners twice, first for Cunard to be launched as their's QUEEN VICTORIA and finally to P&O displaying the final result. As the main author of this blog Vítor once stated, she's really one of a kind! Her beautiful mast resembles of the last great liner QE2 and the funnel similar to QV's and the new QE only modified to P&O's style. Bellow is a video of the ship leaving her berth and "saying goodbye" to Madeira. Text, Photos and Video: João Abreu-Madeira.

There are seven cruise terminals at the BARCELONA PORT, Terminals A, B, C, and D located at the ADOSSAT QUAY, three other terminals at the BARCELONA WORLD TRADE CENTRE which are known as North, South and East Terminals. The one thing they have in common, there´s always plenty cruise ships occupying these terminals almost on daily basis throughout the year, a major investment deeply rewarded. Photos 30th of September and 1st October