What is the best looking passenger ship of all time?

(My own personal favourites would include Oceanic of 1899, Olympic and United States).

*Nieuw Amsterdam 1938

*Normandie

I could go on and on.....

My personal (exterior) favourites shift from time to time. A couple of years ago I liked the Harland and Wolff look between 1900-1915 Currently I have a liking to the 70’s ships like Spirit of London, Italia Cunard Adventurer and Prinsendam. High up my list there are the QE2 (maiden year) Rotterdam V, Nieuw Amsterdam II, Normandie and Crown Princess (to add a modern ship)

Onno

RMS Titanic / Olympic
RMS Majestic
RMS Queen Elizabeth (one)
HMHS Britannic (loved the HUGE lifeboat davits)
RMS Windsor Castle (of 1922 with 4 funnels)

Too many to list

[ 04-07-2004: Message edited by: Ðraikar ]

My co-favorites. They are radical and beautiful at the same time. Canberra is the prototype for the modern cruiseship for exterior. Rembrandterdam is the benchmark for interior planning and design.

The form type is extremely hard to do well.

I know: Why aren't the Queens included? Frankly, their sense of symmetry is off, and by this I mean the placement of the funnels. They're a little too far forward to be effectively symmetrical, and resultantly suffer in aesthetics, although Elizabeth was better than Mary in that sense. Maybe because of the even number of funnels?

[ 04-07-2004: Message edited by: BigUFan ]

My favourites are:-

TOP 05)

1) CANBERRA
2) BIANCA C
3) FEDOR SHALYAPIN / LEONID SOBINOV
5) ACHILLE LAURO
4) IVAN FRANKO CLASS

ANY COMMENTS?

Best regards from Madeira,

ss Nieuw Amsterdam 2 1938

ss Rotterdam 4 and 5
ss Statendam 4
ss Normandie
ss Ile de France
ss Conte di Savoia
ss Leonardo da Vinci

ms Rotterdam 6 and ms Amsterdam 3

ms. Costa Romantica

[ 04-07-2004: Message edited by: Maasdam ]

I have probably chosen her because she still exists and I've seen her and been onboard her. For me she is the stereotyplical 'liner'.

Malcolm—you are probably right about the Queen Mary being the archetype of a passenger ship, most people will think of a ship looking like QM when ask to describe it. TV is partially to blame for that given that QM has been used in many movies and TV shows simply because it is easy to film on her.

Onno

[ 04-07-2004: Message edited by: Onno ]

LUSITANIA
LIBERTE'- Especially with orig. fins on funnels
QUEEN OF BURMUDA- as built
BATORY
QUEEN ELIZABETH 1
QUEEN ELIZABETH 2
QUEEN MARY
ORIANA 1960
RAFFAELLO/MICHELANGELO
EMPRESS OF BRITAIN 1931
SAXONIA SISTERS
MAURITANIA II- always in the top two or three
PRINCESSES PATRICIA AND MARGUERITE OF CP
FAIRSEA/FAIRWIND
STELLA SOLARIS

I know that some of my choices might not be considered beauties. i.e. Oriana, but to me a ship is beautiful if she captures your attention and says, "Look at me!"

"I never met a ship I could take my eyes off of."

Michael534

[ 04-07-2004: Message edited by: Michael534 ]

And I agree, no need to excuse ourselves for liking the Radiance Class. It was just a little humor.

[ 04-08-2004: Message edited by: jsea ]

2. France, before conversion to Norway.
I have a photo of her as my computer wallpaper, a low aerial shot, showing her as a lean, slender, sleek, and magnificent ship, slicing through the waves. Her proportions are perfect; the two funnels beautifully spaced; her signature fins spewing just the right amount of smoke to emphasize her speed and grace.

seriously I will make a montage and post it here tomorrow so you can see the differences (it's too late now).

I guess I should have been more clear... Sometimes I can't take my eyes off a ship due to utter shock!

Thanks for the laugh. I needed it!

In my opinion it would have to be the RMS Olympic of White Star Lines. She looked purer than her sisters with her completely open decks forward. The lines were simple, elegant, and balanced.

Second place would go, I think, to the France of 1962. She had the classical modern sweep of the Normandie without the bulkiness of the older liner. As the Norway, the addition of the landing craft tenders and extra decks ruined the masterpiece.

Third place would be the Oceanic in Home Lines livery. The buff colored top deck houses and funnel gave her sleek and porportional lines that fit her clipper bows.

A close up look at the Serenade of the Seas shows the beauty of the Radiance class vessels for sheer artistic value. When I first saw her, I thought was that she should be called the "The Beauty of the Seas."

This is my 2 cents CAD, for what it's worth in real money.

quote:

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Originally posted by rccldesign:
I will make a montage and post it here tomorrow so you can see the differences (it's too late now).

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Thanks!