Preserving the Glamour: Asuka II, the Love Boat, and the Queen Mary
Anniversary
The late Mary Tyler Moore would be proud: the Asuka II turned 35 in July. The ship, operated by Japan’s NYK Cruises, is the former Crystal Harmony. Ms Moore was the ship’s godmother back then, in June 1990, the very start-up of elegant Crystal Cruises. At the time, the 960-bed, Japanese-built Harmony was often described as the “most luxurious cruise ship yet built.” It was transferred in 2005 by then NYK-owned Crystal to full-time Japanese cruise service.
We had the first of many cruises on the Harmony back in August 1990. The ship was absolutely impeccable! And we were aboard the ship’s final cruise under the Crystal house flag (to Alaska out of San Francisco) in the summer of 2005.
Return
Terra Nova is a new operator in the small-ship expedition cruise sector. Under Terra Nova’s charter, the St Helena, originally built in the UK in 1989 to serve the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena, will sail once more – this time through Antarctic waters, carrying fewer than 100 passengers per voyage, although her capacity is for 150.
RMS St Helena is one of the last British-built Royal Mail Ships still in service.
Love at Sea
Occasionally, I still catch the reruns on Sunday evenings. A one-hour cruise where love was the number one guest. And every star in Hollywood — or just about — must have been a guest. When the original Love Boat hit the airwaves in 1977, viewers were introduced to a Princess Cruises’ ship, the Pacific Princess, and its classic west coast of Mexico/Acapulco itineraries. Thanks to beloved characters Captain Stubing, Julie, and Gopher, a cruise craze was born. Now, almost 50 years later, Princess Cruises is still celebrating its Love Boat legacy.
On November 16th, the Regal Princess will cast off from Galveston on a week-long, western Caribbean itinerary with the surviving Love Boat cast onboard (Capt. Stubbing has passed, for example). Yes, a gala shipboard reunion.
Lauren Tewes, who portrayed the charming and resourceful cruise director Julie McCoy, will reunite with fellow Love Boat cast members Jill Whelan (Vicki Stubing), Fred Grandy (Burl “Gopher” Smith), Ted Lange (Isaac Washington), and Bernie Kopell (Dr. Adam Bricker) for this fan celebration at sea.
Queen Mary Fundraising
A nonprofit group that supports preservation of the Queen Mary has reached an agreement with the City of Long Beach that lets it fundraise and pursue restoration projects aboard the vessel without needing individual approvals from the City Council. With this step, the Queen Mary Heritage Foundation will start accepting donations as it works with the city over the next 60 days to prepare a list of potential projects.
Crossing the Bar
We also note the recent passing of Commodore Everett Hoard, a long & most devoted champion of the Queen Mary and its preservation at Long Beach.
Looking Ahead
Projected design (in early August) for the SS United States Museum in northwest Florida. Both funnels, the radar mast and lots of items from the ship to be used.
Summer Cruising
Our good friend Jan Willem Goudriaan was out cruising in Rotterdam harbor aboard the preserved tug Elbe. He photographed another well preserved vessel, Holland America’s Rotterdam (in service 1959-98).
Small World
Breakfast today with a fellow guest (from Scarborough in the UK) and she remembered that we sailed twelve years ago, on the Saga Sapphire (see below), on a Northern Lights/Norwegian cruise (in March). She recalled that I was the escort on an all-day train excursion and assisted when she’d taken a fall.
A Long, Long List
A nice chat with Adam Wright, our Cruise Director here on the beautiful Silver Shadow. He began as a musical act with his wife and then graduated to the fine art of cruise management. He began back in 1983, on cruises from Venice to the Eastern Med on the La Palma, a converted Greek cruise ship owned by a long-gone firm called Intercruise.
And then began Adam’s list and the changes:
- Mermoz (Paquet Cruises)
- Galileo (Chandris-Fantasy)
- then Mardi Gras, Holiday & Jubilee (Carnival)
- Ocean Princess, Ocean Islander & Ocean Pearl (Ocean Cruise Lines)
- Song of Flower (Seven Seas Cruise Lines)
- Stella Solaris (Sun Line)
- Black Prince (Fred Olsen)
- Sea Breeze & Ocean Breeze (Dolphin Cruise Lines)
- Marco Polo & Crown Odyssey (Orient Line)
- and finally, beginning in 2016, to Silversea and the Silver Wind, Silver Whisper, Silver Cloud, Silver Spirit, Silver Moon, and now the Silver Shadow.
