Today is the 40th anniversary of the start of my first cruise, a seven-day voyage from New York to Nassau, Bahamas, and back to New York on Oceanic. I was 15.
I have many fond memories of that cruise. Oceanic was certainly a far more modern ship than Hanseatic (ex. Empress of Scotland), which I sailed on to and from Germany in 1963. Oceanic had air conditioning, elevators, color TVs in the public rooms and a variety of other conveniences that now seem mundane but were hardly commonplace on ships 40 years ago.
Oceanic, flagship of the Home Lines fleet, was originally designed to operate as a two-class transatlantic liner. But with liner market rapidly succumbing to air travel in the mid-1960s she was sent directly into cruise service
Cruising was a far different experience back in 1970. Oceanic had no casino and the evening’s entertainment was held in a nightclub-like lounge (the Aegean Room), not a theater. There was little effort made to upsell passengers on extra services and the food was abundant and fantastic. Oceanic’s all-Italian staff launched me on my lifelong enjoyment of Italian cuisine.
Some random memories of that cruise:
-My 25-year-old sister having her bottom pinched by a steward as we headed down a passageway.
-Seeing a drunk fall into the pool as I headed to a midnight buffet with my mother and brother.
-Winning $40 at BINGO.
-People dressed formally on most nights.
-Playing the pinball machines (or “flippers,” as Oceanic’s crew and publications called them) in the game room.
-Trying to make a ship-to-shore call to a friend back in New York and not being able to make myself understood to the Italian-speaking operator.
I next met-up with Oceanic in 1998, as I arrived once again in Nassau. I was startled to see her docked across the pier as I disembarked from Sovereign of the Seas with my wife. Oceanic still looked good, despite having passed through the hands of several owners since her Home Lines days—including a period when she was humiliatingly marketed as “The Big Red Boat.”
Oceanic currently sails for a Japanese organization as “Peace Boat,” promoting various ecological and humanitarian causes. Last May, the old gal (and her crew) successfully repelled a pirate attack off the coast of Yemen.
As I write this entry, Oceanic’s future appears dim. But my memory of her remains bright and vibrant.
