http://home.earthlink.net/~skyejethani/SITMAR.html

If anyone here could help me out, I'd be very appreciative. There were a lot of interesting things at that site.

[ 06-09-2002: Message edited by: Zero Signal ]

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Originally posted by skyej:
I created that page years ago, but have closed my account with earthlink and never rebuilt the page.

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No pressure, but have you ever thought of doing so? I'm sure lots of people out there would enjoy it...

I happen to be somewhat fascinated by Sitmar, as one of my very favorite ships, Sky Princess, now Pacific Sky, was of course built for them, as their 1980s flagship.

A good deal of the staff when I was aboard her ten years later had been with the company, if not the ship, since the Sitmar era, and the service on that cruise was the best I have ever had.

My first cruise was on Fairwind in 1982 and I also sailed on Fairsky (later Sky Princess) during her inaugural season to Alaska in 1984. She was a beautiful ship- and I agree, Sitmar had the best service I have every expereinced from a cruise line. I was sad to see the line bought by Princess.

Actually, skyej, Silversea is closely related with the people who used to own Sitmar. Or at least it is said that they are. You would be more likely to know than I...

Those Sitmar fans with the budget to cruise Silversea are apparently very happy, but I would love to see them come up with a new cruise line to compete with the likes of HAL and Celebrity.

It is very interesting that many of the really top people at P&O today got there through Sitmar.

Despite the fact that these employees are still around, Princess is deteriorating due to the cost-cutting schemes of the bean-counter management. This especially seems to be a problem since Princess was split off from P&O.

My last cruise on Princess was on the Grand in 2000, and I could not have been more satisfied. The ship was beautiful, though big for my taste, the food was as good as ever, the service was not as personal, but still very good, and the entertainment was outstanding. The ports were great too.

But very soon after that cruise, the winds of change started sweeping over Princess.

I am irked by Personal Choice, and that Sea and Ocean are going away in favor of non-Panamax vessels. That would mean less varied itineraries, and itinerary has always set Princess apart from the rest.

Now I suppose it is food that sets them apart, since RCCL's food is so mediocre...

When princess purchased sitmar in 1988 is was for one reason- new ships. Both Carnival and Royal Caribbean had orders on the books for new 70,000+ ton ships, and Princess had none. They needed to add new ships fast to remain competetive, and Sitmar had 3 ships on order (eventually becoming Star, Crown and Regal Princess).

When Sitmar was purchased many crew members and executives from the line joined Princess and remain to this day. Almost all of the original Sitmar ships now sail elsewhere in the P&O Princess fleet- but if you look at the basic design and layout of newer Princess ships (Sun, and Grand class ships) you can see significant influence from the original Sitmar designs of the Star/Crown/Regal Princess.

I could safely argue that Princess' success over the past decade is a result of Sitmar's forward thinking in ship design, and the fantastic crew and executives that came from Sitmar.

I sailed on Grand Princess in '99 and was delighted to have a waiter that had been with Sitmar... he was fantastic and made the entire cruise a delight. In 2000 I sailed on Dawn Princess and saw a huge difference in service. The crew was very young- and not as professional as I had experienced earlier.

I really don't blame Princess. We are experiencing a major shift in the cruise industry away from personal service, and toward self-service. That is what happens when ships carry 3,000 passengers, and become mass marketed.

You are correct about Silversea falling under V ships management. Some Radisson ships also are managed by V ships- but neither are owned by the company. They simply train and staff the crew. I have never sailed with them, too expensive, but have heard they are wonderful.

I remembered Draikar’s cruise talk post about Time travel the WEB.
And what did I find? Exactly the SITMAR page of 'Skyej'. Too bad that al the pictures are missing or not uploaded but al the texts are there and the internal links are also working.
It seems that this travel server stores many, many web pages that are uploaded onto the WEB as early as 1996. I was also surprised to find my own cruise site stored there.

Well here is the link to the SITMAR website, enjoy the reading.
SITMAR CRUISES

All the best, Onno

[ 06-26-2002: Message edited by: Onno ]

Thanks Onno! I don't know why I didn't think of that before ?

Unfortunately on most of the 'web archive' pages none of the graphics work. Skyej, do you still have the photos on your computer? Some of them probably show things I have never seen...

On a more serious note, it is evident that some of the text was copied directly, or almost directly, from other sources... If the page were ever revitalized, this would need to be changed...

However I do think there is a place for a similar site... I would start one but I don't have the Sitmar paraphenalia that would be needed ... Any volunteers?

Oh, and by the way, it seems that the last Sitmar ship to remain under the Princess name is staying around at least until 2004. Regal Princess is scheduled through that year. It was assumed she would join her sister at A'ROSA, but I suppose that since the success of that project is not assured, they are leaving her with Princess.

I have always admired the design of Crown and Regal, when I first saw them, docked next to each other at Fort Lauderdale in 1994, I was taken by their graceful, unique profile. They were in my opinion the prettiest ships Princess built at least from the outside...

I hope eventually to sail on the last Sitmar ship in the Princess fleet before they send her somewhere else, which is inevitable...

I have tons of Sitmar stuff- and most of the photos from the orginal page as well. The materials would need to be rescanned- which would take some time for me.

If you are serious about rebuilding a Sitmar page maybe we can work something out. I can supply the images- if you do the work of building the page.

One resource I highly recommend is a book called "The Sitmar Liners and the V Ships". It gives the whole history of the line, including cargo and merchant fleets. It is an incredible book. It also has rare photos of ever ship, including the conversion of the Fairsea and Fairwind from Cunard ships, construction of Fairsky, and a shipyard photo of the Fairmajesty in her orginal livery before becoming Star Princess. It is one of my most treasured books.

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Originally posted by skyej:
If you are serious about rebuilding a Sitmar page maybe we can work something out. I can supply the images- if you do the work of building the page.

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I'll think about that. I might not always have time for updates, but if it was a static information site, then I certainly could do it, I could build it over this summer. I'll think it over and get back to you. Thanks very much for the offer.

quote:

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Originally posted by skyej:
One resource I highly recommend is a book called "The Sitmar Liners and the V Ships". It gives the whole history of the line, including cargo and merchant fleets. It is an incredible book. It also has rare photos of ever ship, including the conversion of the Fairsea and Fairwind from Cunard ships, construction of Fairsky, and a shipyard photo of the Fairmajesty in her orginal livery before becoming Star Princess. It is one of my most treasured books.

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Oooh - I need that book. Going to Amazon.com right now to see if they have it!

http://fp.carmania.f9.co.uk/Sitmar.htm

[ 06-26-2002: Message edited by: skyej ]

Aha, I have found the book. On barnesandnoble.com, there was a used copy for $150 or thereabouts, at which point I almost abandoned by search... But bingo! The Internet Bookshop out of the UK (an online branch of WHSmith) has it for GBP26, I think that is a more reasonable price (about $41US)! So I will probably order it later...

Whoops, skyej, I din't realise you had posted before me. Price is GBP29, the same as the publishers are selling it for. I've bought things from Internet Bookshop before and they are quite good. For those interested they are atbookshop.co.uk.

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Originally posted by cruiseny:
I'll think about that. I might not always have time for updates, but if it was a static information site, then I certainly could do it, I could build it over this summer. I'll think it over and get back to you. Thanks very much for the offer.

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Hello,

I once did a report on the architect Renzo Piano and of course I also include his design for Crown and Regal Princess I also have some visual material of the several wooden models made for the ship and a side elevation that is even more dolphin shaped as the ships ended up to be and it also shows how the new Sitmar Cruises livery and logos where going to be painted on the ships. (as it was already don on Fairwind.

If you are seriously thinking of making a new site dedicated to Sitmar Cruises, I would be happy to send you these pictures just e-mail me if you would need them.

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Originally posted by skyej:
Here is a great page that gives the history of the Saxonia-class Cunard ships (Later the Fairsea and Fairwind of Sitmar). The page has wonderful photos- some of which appear to be taken from my old Sitmar page.

http://www.e-cruiseworld.com/saxonia2.htm

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Thanks. That page, though, has been in my Favorites for a long time. Got it of Raoul Feibig's site Das Ruderhaus. He has a very good review and photo gallery of Albatros (ex Fairwind) there. What a nice looking old ship, it is wonderful to see her so popular and well cared for in her old age.

It was on the e-Cruiseworld page that I first saw an image of Sitmar's 1988-89 color scheme, and the swan logo.

Personally I rather liked the old buff funnel and blue "V" symbol, it distinctly identified Stimar ships for sure. In some Italian port two years ago (don't remember which one, maybe Livorno) I saw a cargo ship with that funnel, I guess part of the V.Ships extended family. That was when I was on Grand Princess. I could easily see the Sitmar influence, most notably the cabins whose design was introduced on Sitmar FairMajesty (now Arcadia and before that the first Star Princess) in 1988.

Sitmar also had another logo, that was used at the time of the old "V" funnel. I'll see if I can scan it in and post it. The handles on the plate glass doors in Sky Princss' public rooms were still in the shape of that logo. Door handles in the shape of the corporate logo - now that's class !

Actually while the ship obviously wasn't very showy by 1998 standards, I could see that she obviously must have been quite something back in 1984. Certainly no expense was spared in her construction. As the quote on your site said, her underbody is a masterpiece - she is the smoothest riding ship I've been on, and I don't mean because of the lack of vibration, either.

On both of my Princess cruises I was fortunate enough to run into quite a few Italian officers and crew left over from the Sitmar days and cruising with them was a pleasure. I am a pasta lover, and Princess is the only cruise line that I've been on that makes it the correct way IMHO. On RCCL in February the pasta was downright disgusting - sticky, overcooked and sort of pasty, in ridiculous sorts of sauces ... Then again that is now par for the RCCL course...

I'll probably go ahead with the Sitmar site, it will take me some time to get resources together but I'll try to get it up by the end of the summer. I'll probably be able to start work in a week or two.

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Originally posted by PamM:
Onno, you seem adept at using that web archive page, perhaps you can help me as I'm getting nowhere. There a very good site on the North Sea Bergen route ferries

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quote:

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Originally posted by cruiseny:

I'll probably go ahead with the Sitmar site, it will take me some time to get resources together but I'll try to get it up by the end of the summer. I'll probably be able to start work in a week or two.

Cruiseny

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Let me know what you need- I will try to find a means of scanning the photos I have and send them to you. I have virtually every year's brochure from Sitmar, including 1989 (the last) with their new logo and FairMajesty.

I know the old Sitmar Logo you are referring to. It is called the "rope" and it is an inter-twined S and C (for Sitmar Cruises). This logo was on all the dishes, keys, postcards- everything. But not on the funnels. The "V" was to identify the Vlosov family that owned the line, and other shipping lines as well. Here is the logo from an Ebay auction:

When the FairMajesty (later Star Princess) was ordered Sitmar was looking to update the logo and livery of the ships. I have a progression of drawings of the Fairmajesty with differnt variations. The first is the classic colors, buff funnel with plain black V. The next is a yellow funnel with a stylish V that wraps around the funnel- the next is a white funnel with very future/graphic looking V, and the final is the blue funnel with Swan logo and waves on the hull- the final version before Princess bought the line.

Anyway, let me know what pictures you need, and I will try to get them for you.

[ 07-01-2002: Message edited by: skyej ]

Thanks Skyej, I am looking forward to this project. The next two weeks (through two weeks from yesterday) I'll mostly be doing other stuff as it is my family's vacation time. After that from the second half of July on I'll have plenty of other time to do things like this so then I'll get started. Until then I'll start thinking about what I'd like to include.

quote:

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Originally posted by skyej:
When the FairMajesty (later Star Princess) was ordered Sitmar was looking to update the logo and livery of the ships. I have a progression of drawings of the Fairmajesty with differnt variations. The first is the classic colors, buff funnel with plain black V. The next is a yellow funnel with a stylish V that wraps around the funnel- the next is a white funnel with very future/graphic looking V, and the final is the blue funnel with Swan logo and waves on the hull- the final version before Princess bought the line.

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Hi Skyej,

I’m a graphic designer from profession so I have a natural interest in logo’s and house styles, and I was wondering if you could mail me those pictures of the different V and swan logo’s of Sitmar Cruises. I would be happy if you would and in return I can mail you some pictures of a Crown Prinsess drawing with the new Sitmar livery of the swan logo and wavy lines on her hull and some pictures of different models of Crown Princess and a morph graphic from a dolphin into the ship made by the Renzo Piano office.

Thanks in advance!

And to cruiseny if you like I can also mail them to you for your new Sitmar site, just mail me.