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OLYMPIC VOYAGER took me for a cruise that became an Aegean dream to me.  A historic review from an experience in 2001 ... OLYMPIC VOYAGER, formerly named OLYMPIA VOYAGER, renamed as the Olympic Comittee arrogantly "wished", was built in Hamburg by BLOHM+VOSS . The hull design is based on the BUNDESMARINE MEKO frigates which had been developed by the shipbuilder. Originally the two vessels, the sister is OLYMPIC EXPLORER, should have become fast ferries for a SUN LINES subsidiary. But the design was totally altered to fast cruise vessels, when the two rivalling families (Keusoglou and Potamianos) did overcome their differences. ROYAL OLYMPIC CRUISES, a merger from EPIROTIKI LINES and SUN LINES, intended with the two speed cruisers a 7 day/night 3 continent cruises experience - a novelty. Athina (Athens) Αθήνα [ aˈθina ]- Istambul - Alexandria. by Earl of Cruise OLYMPIC VOYAGER at speed - promotional picture of defunct ROYAL OLYMPIC CRUISES It did not ha...

For liners and the shipping companies movies and films had been a top marketing tool Movies or Films and liners at sea, had been intriguing me since I have read about in my youth in LUXUSLINER - BILDER EINER GROSSEN ZEIT by Lee Server ( THE GOLDEN AGE OF OCEAN LINERS ). But earlier, mot only since my first crossing, I was keen watching movies with liners in it, and disapointed, which was an understatement, when I realized the films have been made in a set ashore in some movie "factory". That was after my first crossing.   by Earl of Cruise an essay in progress `Sabrina´, Humphrey Bogart in the office, while LIBERTÉ is sailing out of New York harbor - screenshot Ocean liners, especially those of the luxury category, had been the location of dramas, love stories, thrillers, suspense and catastrophies sinde film was born, or nearly. In this list, the most descriptions are taken from Wikipedia, as I guess no one can expect having seen all these films ... otherwise I w...

HAMBURG-AMERIKANISCHEPACKETFAHRT ACTIEN GESELLSCHAFT - HAPAG or HAMBURG AMERICA LINE is reflecting, as Germany, the LLOYD of Bremen, two times of rsing and two times of devasting downfall and a third rise. BORUSSIA , 1856, First Day Cover 1956 of Deutsche Bundespost - own collection Once Germany´s biggest shipping line HAPAG / HAMBURG-AMERIKANISCHE PACKETFAHRT ACTIEN GESELLSCHAFT-LLOYD, merged with it former old Hanseatic rival NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD in 1970, to now HAPAG-LLOYD, had its peaks and downs, but rose each time on its own to new hights, without any state subsidies. As German mail subsidiaries did never cover the costs for purchasing or mainting the vessels ordered for the specific German mail lines.   by Earl of Cruise In this article I used most German Wikipedia links, as they proved to be mostly of better research quality, and surprisinf to me, some English lines and liners have only German written articles, for the others, English Wiki links are to ...

Over years, in my early youth, the QUEEN ELIZABETH was shaping my mind for the perfect ocean liner, despite having made my first experiences with a liner onboard the HANSEATIC (1), ex EMPRESS OF SCOTLAND, ex EMPRESS OF JAPAN. When leaning at the rail of HANSEATIC entering the port, my eyes where every where and I wished to by a camera, I took all in. And when seeing the QUEEN ELIZABETH with my own eyes, the nice behaving young boy turned into a tomboy, that my grandmére was no longer able to tame ... I did draw quite a lot of looks, back then. I found, while on research, this article and thought it interesting publishing in my blog: written and published by John Sheperd at liverpoolships.org editing and comments by Earl of Cruise I ( John Shepard ) joined the CUNARD LINE in March 1962 as an Assistant Purser and sailed the QUEEN ELIZABETH throughout that year, before transferring to the Liverpool-based CARINTHIA in November, where I remained as Crew Purser for the next five...

Not many know about the Austro-Hungary shipping line, AUSTRO AMERICANA , which sailed out of Trieste to the Americas. Austro-Hungary and shipping? You may ask ... you may have heard about Vienna Walz, coffe house culture, Hotel Sacher and its famous chocolate cake, the Prater, chateau Schönbrunn, the Fiakers - the famous horse carriages and such things. But passenger shipping lines? There has been AUSTRO AMERICANA and ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD , renamed in LLOYD TRIESTINO after 1918 and after purchased by EVERGREEN renamed in Italia Marittima. The actual company ÖSTERREICHISCHER LLOYD is a new formed management company situated in Austria.   by Earl of Cruise KAISER FRANZ JOSEH I. the biggest liner of AUSTRO AMERICANA - own collextion Parts of my family lived for a long time in the Austro-Hungary empire, which can be qualified as a "United Nations of the Balkan". Having traces into Austria-Hungay, the realm of Hungary in special, it is a pleasure for me making thes...

The CAP express liners of HAMBURG-SÜD, CAP FINISTERRE, CAP TRAFALGAR, CAP POLONIO and CAP ARCONA, are known worldwide for their luxury, renowned service on board and grandeur. Their successors of the 60s, the CAP SAN vessels, have not been that elegant, but truly first class and were known as the "White Swans" of the Atlantic. by Earl of Cruise HAMBURG-SÜD´s SANTA TERESA in Santos - courtesy HAMBURG-SÜD Since its formation in 1871, HAMBURG-SÜDAMERIKANISCHE DAMPFSCHIFFFAHRTS-GESELLSCHAFT ( HSDG or HAMBURG-SÜD ) has evolved from a conventional freight and passenger shipping company into a global operating transport logistics organisation. Today, it ranks among the world's ten largest container shipping lines and is one of the leading providers in the North-South trades. T ill recently it was a member of the successful Oetker Group, one of the largest and best-known family enterprises in Germany. The heirs and owners sold HAMBURG-SÜD to the Danish MAERSK Group ...

The Panama Papers focus again dubios Caribbean Billions by Earl of Cruise The new GENTING purchase NORDIC YARDS, source wikipedia Panama Papers and a German Shipbuilder Not since the publication of the Panama Papers, a German yard group got dubios money transfers - the WADAN YARDS and his former owner the Russian Billionaire Andrei Burlakow got into sight of the German tax police. Burlakow, with connections to the Russian Maffia died by the bullets of a hitman. Prior to his shooting Bulakow sold his German entity, the WADAN GROUP, in 2009 to Igor Yusufov - his investment company FLC West.  Vitaly Yusufov, courtsey from ex NORDIC YARDS Jussufow is an e x minister and GASPROM board member. WADAN became NORDIC YARDS and would be run by the son Vitaly Yusufov . It had been haggled, money shifted and cashed ... employees had the dead end - unemploy ment. in June 2015, the HypoVereinsbank reported in a money laundering display flashy money flows in favor of NORDIC...

s s / te NORMANDIE starting from cold Owners: COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE BUILDERS: PENH Ö ET, St. Nazaire, France   by Stephen Carey © , editing by Earl of Cruise   This document is almost exclusively about the engineering aspects of NORMANDIE , mainly on how to start her up from cold. If you are looking for photos of the passenger spaces, there is a plethora of them on the web, in Facebook groups - Admirers of the ss Normandie , ss Normandie photographic file , The French Ocean Liners / Les Paquebots Fran ç ais , ss Normandie , GREAT LINERS OF THE PAST & PRESENT , and others, Pinterest and in articles about NORMANDIE here in the blog, please see at the end of the article. Using "ss" for NORMANDIE is quite incorrect, as NORMANDIE was a Turbo Electric vessel and not a steamship, therefore NORMANDIE should be adressed as "te".   by Earl of Cruise te / ss NORMANDIE berthed in Le Havre, Gare Maritime May 29th, 1935 - colouring courtesy ...

Gustav Kopal segelte mit ss COLUMBIA der HAPAG, einem German Greyhound, verfasste einen Reisebericht, welcher in Die Gartenlaube 1890 publiziert wurde - Ueber den Ocean, Bilder von einem deutschen Schnelldampfer .  reprint from Die Gartenlaube, writer Gutav Ko pal Ich habe den Reisebericht bei meinen Recherchen für meine neue Artikelserie über die Deutschen Windhunde ( German Greyhounds ) zur See gefunden. Viel Spaß beim Lesen. Der Text ist in der alten deutschen Orthographie gehalten, um die Authentizität aufrecht zu erhalten.     ss COLUMBIA auf einem HAPAG Reiseplakat von 1893 Ueber den Ocean. Bilder von einem deutschen Schnelldampfer von Gustav Kopal, Zeichnungen von Alexander Kircher. ss COLUMBIA - Die Gartenlaube (1890) Bild von Alexander Kircher Haben Sie gehört? Die ,Columbia‘ hat den besten Record! In 6 Tagen 7 Stunden 48 Minuten über den Oecan, noch dazu auf der ersten Reise; beste Fahrt und beste maiden-trip, die je gemacht wo...

The COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE, known since the Belle Epoque as FRENCH LINE in the English speaking world (or TRANSAT or CGT), had its origins in 1861.  by Earl of Cruise E mperor Napoléon III. wanted strengthening the French primacy on the oceans and an adequate mail line for the French mail. The 1855 established COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE MARITIME of the Péreire brothers was the core for the new company. This company´s headquarter was, as any major business in France, situated in Paris, while the homeport of the vessels had been Le Havre for the North Atlantic and Marseille for the route to the Orient and Africa. Houseflag of COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE S.A. - soure: ebay "On   limited space, we put our country on display", a crewmember declared once. And no other line put in more of its national personality into its product than COMPAGNIE GÉNÉRALE TRANSATLANTIQUE . After the French - Prussian/German war of 1870/71 France had to sig...