We're gonna need a bigger iceberg

[Scooter]

[ex-khobar Andy]

You couldn't get me on one of those ships. I'm lucky to have travelled the Atlantic six times on liners between about 1955 and 1961. My father worked then in Mexico and Canada for a Scottish company, and they paid our fares to and from by ship. This was just before air travel was revolutionized by the Boeing 707 and the Lockheed Stratocruiser. For kids those liners were a blast. Nowhere was off limits - the bridge, the engine room, even the movie theatre showing (by the standards of the day) slightly risqué movies - no-one cared or checked. (I'm sure the crew did care, and kept an eye on us.) Most parents assumed that kids wouldn't get lost, would eventually get hungry and want dinner, and had enough sense not to fall into the briny. I was probably six to eleven and I didn't see my parents between breakfast and dinner. We kids all found each other, formed gangs, and went between first and second class ignoring the barriers. 5 days of adventure from Liverpool or Southampton to New York or Halifax NS. But you would not catch me near of those modern ugly cruise ships.

I once worked out that I have probably flown across the Atlantic 60 or 70 times. Yes it's quick and convenient and relatively inexpensive and boring AF. But those liners were so much fun.

[BoSoxGal]

I went on a Carnival cruise once.

I was coaxed by a boyfriend against my better instincts. It was a pretty terrible experience, although the staff were fantastic and I did love the cute towel animals they left in our room every evening. The food on the endless buffets was bland and even the upgraded restaurant we shelled out extra for was nowhere near my top ten dining experiences.

And you are stuck in a tin can on the ocean with thousands of inconsiderate ill mannered often intoxicated people - and their children. Although there were areas designated off limits to children, somehow there were always children there. I don't dislike children - but I do dislike ill mannered unsupervised children running and screaming through my vacation.

And the whole place is a petri dish for norovirus. Blech.

I'll never cruise again.

[Big RR]

I've been on a few cruises, and feel as you do BSG; once I am on the ship I feel trapped (FWIW, I fee the same way about islands, although to a lesser degree); the only cruise I liked was one to Antarctica (but then, that's pretty much the only way to get there). My wife, however, loves them and has gone a number of times with family and friends, but she can't stand the big ships (I've only been on smaller ones with her). She says the bigger the crowds are, the worse the cruises get and she usually opts for the smaller ships. Most of the ones she has been on (and all of them I have) have had few children as passengers (you have to go when school is in), but there were still plenty of drunks, not to mention people who were just naturally rude.

FWIW, we took my dad on a cruise a little before he died as he had worked for a number of cruise companies (and sailed on many of the older ships as the company rep (apparently the management generally sent a manager on each ship to handle problems that cropped up)); he said he didn't like what cruising had become (although I think a lot of that occurred when cruising was made more accessible, just like flying, with lower fares). When the fares decrease, so does the quality of service. So you get food 18 hours a day, but its quality is akin to bad weddings (and even if you opt to upgrade to a "premium" restaurant it's only OK; entertainment has suffered as well.

[Bicycle Bill]

Cruising today sure ain't like they showed it on 'The Love Boat'!   Even river cruises along the Upper Mississippi are starting to go to the more bloated, oversized boats (which actually started with the paddlewheel reproduction 'Mississippi Queen', which has since been scrapped, and her larger sister, the 'American Queen') that are limited only by the clearance height of the bridges and the length of the lock chambers they need to pass under or through.

-"BB"-

[Sue U]

I have never been on a cruise and really have no desire to go -- unless it's aboard a rehabilitated S.S. United States, which has been docked in South Philadelphia (near the IKEA, lol) for decades:



Sadly, it seems the ship is unlikely to ever sail again and is instead destined to be sunk as part of an artificial reef.

[Jarlaxle]

Meh. No interest.

[Bicycle Bill]

I have never been on a cruise and really have no desire to go -- unless it's aboard a rehabilitated S.S. United States, which has been docked in South Philadelphia (near the IKEA, lol) for decades:



Sadly, it seems the ship is unlikely to ever sail again and is instead destined to be sunk as part of an artificial reef.

I had a plastic model kit of the S.S. United States, made by Revell, that I built back in the 1960s.
I also remember that it didn't float in the bathtub worth a tinker's dam, either.

She also had a 'sort-of' sister, the S.S. America, constructed in 1940 and (as the American Star) wrecked off the Canary Islands in 1994 while under tow to be refitted for used as a floating hotel in Thailand.


-"BB"-

[Burning Petard]

Your model did not do well in your bathtub but the actual thing set speed records across the Atlantic that still stand unbroken.

snailgate.

[BoSoxGal]

I have never been on a cruise and really have no desire to go -- unless it's aboard a rehabilitated S.S. United States, which has been docked in South Philadelphia (near the IKEA, lol) for decades:



Sadly, it seems the ship is unlikely to ever sail again and is instead destined to be sunk as part of an artificial reef.

If nobody wants to pay to refurbish her, it’s better she becomes a reef than to be sold for scrap.

Why can’t Zuck or Musk or Bezos invest pocket change into this worthy cause?

[Bicycle Bill]

Why can’t Zuck or Musk or Bezos invest pocket change into this worthy cause?

Yeah...   If Elon wants to invest so much money into the Trump campaign to "Make America Great Again", let's see him spend some of his trillions to bring back stuff like this — along with real passenger trains and railroad infrastructure from when America really WAS great.

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

It would probably need new engines; this was built in the time when no one gave a damn about how much poured out the stacks.

[BoSoxGal]

Elon can make her electric!

[Joe Guy]

Elon can make her electric!

If Elon made it electric wouldn't it sink from the tremendous weight of the battery? And what would Trump do if he was on that ship as it was sinking?



link to video

[Crackpot]

Probably already is electric. (They used diesel to power the generators)

[datsunaholic]

Probably already is electric. (They used diesel to power the generators)

Steam turbine with reduction gears, fed by boilers. Very similar setup as the Iowa class battleships and Midway class aircraft carriers.

[Big RR]

Exactly, that is why it is called "SS". And being it was made in the 40s, I'd bet the burning of fuel to make the steam is quite dirty; modern engines are better, although not perfect.

[Big RR]

Actually, this thread does bring back memories; in the 60s my father often was the company rep in NYC docks for embarkation, and he often brought me. I had full run of the ship(s) before boarding (unlike modren security protocols) ), and I was on many of the great ships sailing then--the United States, the France, the Queen Mary (the last voyage actually) and the QE2, the Constitution, the Independence... All of the were interesting, but the United States was different with modern (at the time) streamlined rooms and cabins which contrasted with the wood lined interiors of the others (now I would like them better but I found this more compelling as a kid). All of them were pretty small, even by small and medium cruise ship standards today, but they had a feel, maybe a majesty, that I don't feel in the ships of today much like I feels when I compare aircraft interiors in older plane cabins and those now. Even in the 90s there were public rooms on the wide bodies with bars and pianos--I even recall having hot and cold hors d'oeuvres buffet once coming back from Europe in the early 90s; people stood around and socialized, now you're told to shut up and sit down (and don't ever ask for more snacks...). But we have commoditized travel, with tocket price (or apparent ticket price, since the significant add-ons for what was previously free come later) the only driving force. It's not all bad, a lot more people can travel today, but we have lost something as well.

[BoSoxGal]

It's not all bad, a lot more people can travel today, but we have lost something as well.

Actually, it IS all bad. Mass tourism is one of the driving forces behind climate change, responsible for 8% of global carbon emissions. Also tourism is making all the tourist hotspots unaffordable for the locals who were born there to find housing and continue to live there.

That's why we are starting to see protests against tourists like the ones in Spain this year. Spain and France are the top two tourist destinations in the world and that isn't actually a good thing for the people who call those places home.

I don't know what the solution is, but I know it's a real problem. We and the planet would be better off if travel was more expensive and limited tourist permits issued for high impact areas.

[Jarlaxle]

I have never been on a cruise and really have no desire to go -- unless it's aboard a rehabilitated S.S. United States, which has been docked in South Philadelphia (near the IKEA, lol) for decades:



Sadly, it seems the ship is unlikely to ever sail again and is instead destined to be sunk as part of an artificial reef.

If nobody wants to pay to refurbish her, it’s better she becomes a reef than to be sold for scrap.

Why can’t Zuck or Musk or Bezos invest pocket change into this worthy cause?

Because it would probably cost several billion dollars-assuming it's even POSSIBLE, which it may not be.

The interior has largely been stripped, and her engines require parts that haven't been made in decades...and I'm not sure ANYONE still has the knowledge to run or repair them.