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Photo essay by Ted Scullfrom the World Ship Society
At the bottom there's comparison note about QE2 arriving on the first leg of her annual World Cruise. It's scary to think that the 26th January will be the 40th anniversary of the departure from New York of the Caronia's very last Great World Cruise...
Regards,Steve (Peter S.)Caronia II Timeline Webmaster
Thanks fore sharing David.
Greetings Ben.
Ben,....I have to agree with you!
-Russ
J
quote:Originally posted by Johan:Very interestingAlso you can see "the writing is on the wall", and passenger shipping as an essential mode of transport isn't serious anymore :apart from the "Prinses Margriet" and "Kungsholm" , all other ships are returning from trips to the Caribbean (broadly spoken).The time between Christmas and New Year is a slow time, but still, if it were really necessary, crossings would have been made.J
Winter period on the Atlantic was by nature not the favorite time to travel. Passengers where staying home and only whene needed they travel. The poor sea conditions of winter atlantic. Often the bigger liners sailed almost empty. Therfore the Lines leth there biggest ships cruise. To Europe later also to the Carribean. And there smallerst ore oldest where on the Atlantic.
Lasuvidaboy I remember as a teen in the '70's that a neighbor of mine used to get this yearly "state of the world" type reference book as part of an encyclopedia series. They had it going back to 1960. In the 1965 book under the category of "world shipping" after a large section heralding the new Michelangelo and Raffaello they then mention that passenger ships carry only about 15 percent of all transatlantic travellers and then also casually mention that ships were carrying about 50 percent of all people bound for Europe just five or six years earlier. Yet somehow the author managed to conclude that this state of affairs was just fine, people who need to get to Europe fast have the plane and those seeking a leisurely trip have all these great new ocean liners. I'd love to meet the mind that could conclude that a business that had lost 70 percent of it's customers in just five years was doing well. That's an optimist! In any case the mid 60's may not have been a great time business wise for passenger ships, but as those pictures show, boy were they pretty!
Steve
quote:Originally posted by Rotterdam 1959:[i] I'd love to meet the mind that could conclude that a business that had lost 70 percent of it's customers in just five years was doing well. That's an optimist!
They hadn't lost 70% of their business. They had lost 70% of their market share. But the market had grown, so actual losses were substantially less. Still, the writing was on the wall, as it had been since 1958 when, for the first time, more people crossed the North Atlantic by air than by sea. The shipping companies were blinded by the fact that 1958 was a record year for them as well.
Brian
quote: They hadn't lost 70% of their business. They had lost 70% of their market share...
Yes, I misspoke. Indeed people were traveling to Europe more than ever before, so the market was most definitely up! They just weren't doing it by ship. Is there any resource on the internet that shows the actual numbers carried by ships and planes during the fifties? It would be very interesting to see the actual figures.
[ 01-12-2007: Message edited by: Rotterdam 1959 ]
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