Cruise Talk: Tribute One of SS NORWAY

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»	Cruise Talk » Ocean Liners and Classic Cruise Ships » Tribute One of SS NORWAY

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Topic: Tribute One of SS NORWAY

DAMBROSI2
First Class Passenger
Member # 35998

posted 08-18-2010 02:43 PM

I just finished this today, I've got another one in the works. Please tell me what you think, thank you for your input.

I will be hanging this across from my bathroom or just opposite of my bed.

Posts: 687 | From: Olney, IL, Move to FL 02/2015, Sailed SS NORWAY 3 xs. /May '99 Orig. Reg. | Registered: Aug 2010 | IP: Logged

dmwnc1
Cruise Director
Member # 3785

posted 08-18-2010 02:52 PM

Gotta love it! A job well done, I would be very proud of it too!!!

Posts: 5650 | From: Clarksburg WV | Registered: Apr 2003 | IP: Logged

eroller
First Class Passenger
Member # 1649

posted 08-18-2010 04:18 PM

I love it!!!

I recognize one of the postcards and the baggage tag with the big "A" on it as being from NORWAY's first season.

Just great memories of such a fantastic ship! I wish I was walking through her corridors right now.

Ernie

Posts: 7046 | From: Miami, Florida USA | Registered: Oct 2000 | IP: Logged

Thad
First Class Passenger
Member # 1224

posted 08-18-2010 04:28 PM

Lovely Deb.

Yes this card is from her first season, you can tell it is a retouched image of the France.

Posts: 1967 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Apr 2000 | IP: Logged

miamicruiser
First Class Passenger
Member # 4413

posted 08-18-2010 08:06 PM

Not so very long ago the ss Norway and the QE2 (and the original Queen Mary) dwarfed every other cruise ship afloat. It was hard to imagine a bigger cruise ship ever being built and that of course was part of their great appeal. Now if they were still in service they very well might be the smallest docked in their home ports of Miami, Southampton, or New York. Who could have imagined how much the cruise industry would grow and how big the new ships would be? Both QE2 and ss Norway were great trendsetters and most certainly made a huge impact and helped grow this industry to where it is today. They will be remembered forever, even if they now would be the ones dwarfed by the new armada of giants.

Posts: 54 | From: miami | Registered: Jan 2004 | IP: Logged

DAMBROSI2
First Class Passenger
Member # 35998

posted 08-18-2010 09:27 PM

Thank you so much for you input, I wasn't quite so sure how old the A luggage tag was, it's in mint condition. The larger NORWAY card that Ernie was talking about was my first card from NCL. And yes, I am very proud of how well it came out. I had to use doublebacked tape to get it to stick to the towel. I would never had used the towel and was hoping this would work out and it did.

I'll be working on the second towel in a couple of days. I'm getting over one of my migraine headaches.

Posts: 687 | From: Olney, IL, Move to FL 02/2015, Sailed SS NORWAY 3 xs. /May '99 Orig. Reg. | Registered: Aug 2010 | IP: Logged

eroller
First Class Passenger
Member # 1649

posted 08-18-2010 09:47 PM

quote:
Originally posted by DAMBROSI2:
Thank you so much for you input, I wasn't quite so sure how old the A luggage tag was, it's in mint condition.

Yes, it is vintage 1980! I still have my original ticket packet from our cruise on NORWAY in July 1980. As you may recall, NORWAY was so large (in her day) that she embarked from Pier 1 and Pier 2 in Miami. If your baggage tags and ticket jacket were aqua in color, you resided in the forward section of the ship and embarked from Pier 1. If you had salmon (pink) color tags you were in the aft section of the ship and embarked from Pier 2. Even the carpet colors on the ship let you know if you were forward or aft.

WOW I loved NORWAY! I had my 5th cruise booked on her but never made it because of the accident. Although she became the bargain basement of cruising in her latter years, I still loved being onboard her.

My best memories are from July 1980. She was the
"Oasis of the Seas" of her day, with shows like Hello Dolly and Sea Legs, and name entertainers like Diahann Carroll. Her disco (Dazzles) was legendary and I loved the elegance of Checkers Cabaret. NORWAY even had a marching band that played during sail-away and who can forget the weekly "Norway Olympics". It didn't matter she only sailed to a couple ports in 7-days, NORWAY *was* the destination just like OASIS is today.

Ernie

[ 08-18-2010: Message edited by: eroller ]

Posts: 7046 | From: Miami, Florida USA | Registered: Oct 2000 | IP: Logged

NAL
First Class Passenger
Member # 1102

posted 08-18-2010 09:50 PM

Nice work, Deb! You will have many hours of pleasure & a great smile on your face each time you look at it. Enjoy!

Posts: 2243 | From: Watsontown, PA | Registered: Feb 2000 | IP: Logged

miamicruiser
First Class Passenger
Member # 4413

posted 08-19-2010 02:05 AM

You're right Ernie, she was the Oasis of the Seas of her day, only better I think because of her storied past. After talking my older brother into going on our first-ever cruise we visited a local Travel Agency in Sept. of 1980 to book a cabin on the ss Norway but we had to wait until March 8, 1981 to sail because the ship was sold out for the next 6 months. The anticipation nearly killed me! My cabin was on Atlantic Deck, A052 (something I haven't forgotten in all these years) and my dining room was the Windward, the original first class dining room. Phyllis Diller was the headline entertainer on our cruise, along with the Broadway show "Hello Dolly" and the Sea Legs Revue. Being just 17 years old and on my first vacation without my parents was just amazing! To me the ship was like spending a week in a big city, like New York or Chicago, only better. I was in "A Club Called Dazzles" every night until 2 or 3 am dancing which was something I never was able to do at home! When I got too warm I'd go up the spiral staircase that led from the disco up to the Pool Deck and then head up top to the Sun Deck and stare at the funnels that were lit up with the white smoke coming out of her fins. Between them her name was spelled out in those huge yellow neon letters for all the world to see. I remember around midnight on that first night at sea the Emerald Seas, the Sunward II, and then the Flavia passed us one after the other all in a row as they were heading back to Miami from the Bahamas for their Monday morning arrivals. As each one passed they would turn on their funnel lights and flash them on and off three times as a greeting and the Norway would respond in the same way. The only difference was they then turned their funnel lights back off and the Norway's funnels remained lit up as before. She seemed to be the only cruise ship I saw that week that kept her funnels lit up all night long. It seemed fitting to me as she was after all the biggest, most fantastic cruise ship in the world so why night light her up! I think now all the ships keep their funnels lit up at night but back in 1981 that was not the case for some reason. And like you Ernie I still have my ticket packet, my baggage tags, the large in-cabin folder with everything you can imagine in it, a blue plastic shopping bag that was the exact color of the hull, postcards, the daily program sheets and even several dark blue tee shirts I purchased onboard with the ss Norway name on the front in her logo font with the little flag of Norway inside the 'O" of her name. I even have my original brochure the Travel Agent gave me with a watercolor painting of the ss Norway that opens up to about 3 feet long with the headline stating "ss Norway The Biggest Week In The World". It's funny but I still remember the first names of friends I made onboard. Actually I still remember nearly everything about that wonderful cruise even after sailing perhaps 30 or more cruises since then on a variety of ships and lines. But not one of them though seems to holds the memories like I have of that ss Norway cruise. After moving to Miami in 1986 and seeing her docked here every weekend for so many years it's just sad now to drive down the causeway on a Saturday or Sunday and not see her there. She was like an old best friend that is now gone and never to be replaced. So Dambrosi2 and Ernie I just want to thank you both for bringing back some good memories. I'm sure your framed tribute to the beautiful ss Norway will surely bring you smiles as it has me tonight.

Posts: 54 | From: miami | Registered: Jan 2004 | IP: Logged

DAMBROSI2
First Class Passenger
Member # 35998

posted 08-19-2010 11:02 AM

All of you gave me a reason to just gush like an oil well. Thank you so much. And yes Ernie, we had the pleasure to sail her 3 times, we were supposed to sail her again before my husband passed away in Feb. '06. We were scheduled for a Nov. 8, 2003 sailing and like you...missed out on the trip

But yes, I will enjoy this nice collage. Plus you are right; she was the OASIS OF THE SEAS of her day and what a pleasure to sail on a true ship (my IMHO). Just wait until all of you see the second one when it's finished, it's going to look as John Denver would say: "Far out!!!!!!"

Posts: 687 | From: Olney, IL, Move to FL 02/2015, Sailed SS NORWAY 3 xs. /May '99 Orig. Reg. | Registered: Aug 2010 | IP: Logged

eroller
First Class Passenger
Member # 1649

posted 08-19-2010 01:26 PM

quote:
Originally posted by miamicruiser:
I'm sure your framed tribute to the beautiful ss Norway will surely bring you smiles as it has me tonight.

Your memories brought back so many of my own. I can still feel the excitement riding on the bus from MIA to the port, and seeing the incredible NORWAY funnels for the first time. I had waited a year to sail on her and had studied everything I could find on her and FRANCE. I must have looked at the ticket packet ten times a day from the minute it arrived!

I wish I could recreate that type of excitement today. It just doesn't exist in the same way. Partly because of age, and partly because ships just don't evoke the same emotions like NORWAY did.

Ernie

Posts: 7046 | From: Miami, Florida USA | Registered: Oct 2000 | IP: Logged

nycruiser
First Class Passenger
Member # 960

posted 08-19-2010 01:40 PM

Nicely Done!I have that Norway gold postcard. Wish I had a chance to sail her.

Posts: 665 | From: Westchester County, NY | Registered: Dec 1999 | IP: Logged

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