My definition of a dream cruise is one that you are unlikely to be able to afford, or find the time for, or perhaps it's on a ship/liner that is no longer with us? It could even be on one not built yet?

Entertainment would be musicians from the Windham Hill Record label, and some off Broadway and A'vant Garde plays at sea.
Comedians would be Robin Williams, Gilda Radnor, Jerry Seinfeld, and Fran Dresher.
I would bring along 20 of my favorite friends, 7 of my family, and my favorite 20 business associates.

[ 06-14-2001: Message edited by: desirod6 ]

Firstly I would have loved to have undertaken a transatlantic voyage, at top speed, on the Queen Mary. I'd settle for the Normandie if the QM was fully booked.

My ultimate cruise would be to Antarctica. Now I don't just want to go to the peninsular, I want to see Scott's Hut. The Marco Polo used to offer this, but the fare at 5 x a normal cruise fare, was out of my league.

Even better, a Russian Nuclear Icebreaker is going to circumnavigate Antarctica next year. The fare is about $40,000 - anyway they would not let me have all that time of work!

A Russian Icebreaker also goes to the Arctic pole too! Now that would be fun , but expensive!

My dream cruises would have been to sailed on the Queen Mary/Normandie/Empress of Britain 1930/Carmania/City of New York/Conte Biancamano - need I go on - we all seem to have a yearning to go back in time to experience the grand old liners, ofcourse we would have needed a much bigger bank balance then I think that we do need now to experience the modern ships afloat today.

Cheers
M.

Who wouldn't want to experience first-hand a voyage on the incredible Normandie?

I would also have to say that it would be a thrill to have crossed on the Olympic, or the Maurentania.

My ultimate Dream Cruise would be a world cruise aboard the new QM2!!

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Originally posted by Barryboat:
Actually I wouldn't mind taking a spin across the galaxy on the starship Enterprise NCC-1701D.

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Trust Barryboat to move the goal posts by picking the ultimate ship, be it a star-ship!

While I really like many of the ships today, the cruise product is becoming more and more homogenized so my dream cruise would have to be an Atlantic crossing in the early 50's on the Queen Mary.

I actually did cross on the Constitution in 1959 when I was one but don't remember much about that particular cruise.

I think that time period would have provided the right combination of comfort and convenience. Leaving from New York city would have been grand and a trip through Europe at the time would have been fascinating.

This is a clear endorsement that they should put some engines back in her and get her sailing across the Atlantic, where she belongs!

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Originally posted by Malcolm:
Several of us have now mentioned the Queen Mary as our ship of dreams.

This is a clear endorsement that they should put some engines back in her and get her sailing across the Atlantic, where she belongs!

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Malcolm,

With all the misguided efforts of trying to turn the QM into something she is not has resulted in gutting her lower decks to be museum that never occurred. Her bulkheads and structure have been weakened and concrete had to be poured into her hull since removing the boilers made her top heavy.

She is not sea worthy even for a tow.

SOLAS would require removing her solid hardwood interiors,[only 1/8" thk veneer is allowed] her stair towers do not go from top to bottom; another future SOLAS requirement. Restoration and replication of her 1930's furnishings is the easy part: huge economy of scale.

Turning the France into a warm weather ship has emasculated most of her charm: mostly from bad interior design, and the 2 extra decks.

To make QM suitable for a 21 century cruise passenger, most of her charm would have to be eliminated.

Rembrandt, currently SOLAS compliant, famous, and ready to cruise has no takers so far.

So it is unlikely for investers to re-comission a 70yo ship nor the SSUS for that matter.

Most people do not have time for an X-lantic crossing.

Leave QM in Long Beach, restore her old furnishings and leverage her as a museum and hotel for the current and future generations to enjoy, even if only a 2 hour tour.

PS: If Carnival builds a cruise terminal there, passengers can see by comparison how ugly the modern cruise ships are now.

Passengers who fly in to LA can overnight on QM, walk to the modern gambling scow they will embark on for their cruise.

I did call this thread 'Dream' cruise! Any more CruiseTalkers out there with dreams?

"With all the misguided efforts of trying to turn the QM into something she is not has resulted in gutting her lower decks to be museum that never occurred."

Actually there was a museum in the gutted areas of the Queen Mary at one time, but it was removed for some reason. It was a (Jacque Coustu)sp? museum that even had a tank with real live sharks.

Desirod is correct unfortunately....the Queen Mary has been so structurally modified, that she is no longer considered a ship, rather...she is considered a building. There would have to be some pretty dramatic structural work done to the ship to even make her ocean-worthy for a tow. Japan had made bids to purchase the Queen Mary several years ago. They wanted to tow the Queen Mary to Japan. I think that plan was axed, because of the potentially risky trans-pacific tow.

1. A 1949 westbound crossing of the General W.G. Haan. After WWII, one of the tasks given to this former troopship was the ferrying of “Displaced Persons” emigrating to the United States. My parents and elder brother, then only three, sailed from Germany to New York on this ship in the fall of 1949. I would like to book passage on that crossing, though I would prefer that this be a working holiday, and therefore ask that I be allowed to sign on as a mess steward.

2. A long and leisurely Southern Mediterranean cruise aboard Stella Polaris during her early Bergen Line days. Perhaps lines like Seabourn or Silverseas offer something similar today, but I would willingly trade the modern luxuries offered by those fleets for the quiet luxury of expansive teak decks, carved wood and etched glass interiors, and, above all, that special enjoyment of sailing in a ship that looks like a ship.

3. A QE2 World Cruise. I still maintain hope that my wife and I will be able to enjoy such a cruise before SOLAS or economics retire our favorite living ocean liner, but, since this is a dream cruise, I will book passage in the Midships Suite on a World Cruise departing not in the traditional mid-winter, but in the spring, allowing QE2 to travel up the west coast of North America, cruise the Inside Passage and call at Alaska and the Aleutians before descending to call at a handful of Japanese ports including at least one port in Hokkaido, then Yokohama, Shimizu, and Nagoya.

pak

2....Kapitan Klebnikov - 2 months in the Canadian Arctic - the Northwest Passage.

3....Kapitan Dranitsyn around the Antarctic, 12,000 miles, 67 days.

I wonder if Antarctica will ever become as popular as Alaska? A few more ships visiting that area would certainly increase competition, and reduce fares*. I'd love to go.