7. Cruising - a new life for the 'grand old ladies'

Cruising to subtropic areas was already usual in the 30s, especially in winter when there were few transatlantic passengers.

Many of the ships that became redundant because the transatlantic airlines took over the passengers, were used for cruises. The former France for example sails since 1978 as NORWAY for the Norwegian Cruise Lines.

The BREMEN of Norddeutscher Lloyd exchanged the cold North Atlantic for the sunny Barbados.

Also the Cunard Line went into cruising. To the West Indies, to the North Cape or journeys around the world. So we can meet the QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 in exotic places such as Hong Kong.

The HANSEATIC of the Deutsche Atlantik Linie was the former SHALOM from Israel. After only one transatlantic season she went into fulltime cruising.

Cruising became increasingly popular during the last decades of the 20th century. In Castries Harbour, St. Lucia, we see in 1990 not less than five cruise liners. Clockwise from the harbour entrance: DAPHNE, SUN VIKING, FEDOR DOSTOYEVSKY, MERMOZ en CUNARD COUNTESS.


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