Welcome to Cruise Talk the Internet's most popular discussion forum dedicated to cruising. Stop by Cruise Talk anytime to post a message or find out what your fellow passengers and industry insiders are saying about a particular ship, cruise line or destination.
>>> Reader Reviews >>> CruisePage.com Photo Gallery >>> Join Our Cruise Club.
Latest News...Princess Cruises today announced it is making a significant enhancement to the main dining options found across its fleet, designed to give guests the ultimate in flexibility and choice when it comes to their dining experience by offering three table service options – Traditional, Reservable, or Walk-in Anytime - coupled with the brand's industry...
Latest News...Carnival Cruise Line Captain Niccolo De Ranieri and his team on Mardi Gras were honored Tuesday evening by the Association for Rescue at Sea (AFRAS) for saving the lives of 16 people. De Ranieri accepted the Cruise Ship Humanitarian Assistance Award at the AFRAS annual awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., an event that recognizes heroism at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard...
Latest News...Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), the innovator in global cruise travel, today revealed fresh, new culinary and beverage experiences debuting aboard Norwegian Aqua, the Company's next evolution new build and first vessel of the expanded Prima Plus Class, setting sail in April 2025. In line with the Company's commitment to delivering the ultimate vacation experience, ...
Anyone?
As far as I know, QM2 hasn't a cargo hold.
Another had their 1968 Chevy Impala wagon shipped on the Leo Da Vinci to Italy and back for a 2 month vacation. It got a lot of stares since it was so big and vulgar. Little kids thought of it as a caravan.
Olympia had a garage for 20 cars as did Rembrandterdam. Later the areas were turned into other storage.
A few Chrysler concept cars, the Norseman in particular went down on the Andrea Doria.
To my understanding, the gas tank of the car has to be drained. Further the car is searched by hand plus bomb and drug sniffing dogs.
They are a greater terrorist threat than old ladies from Boca in wheel chairs.
quote:Originally posted by desirod7:To my understanding, the gas tank of the car has to be drained. Further the car is searched by hand plus bomb and drug sniffing dogs. They are a greater terrorist threat than old ladies from Boca in wheel chairs.
On this side of the Atlantic, this is simply impossible, David. Here in Europe we have ferries transporting 700 or 800 cars which need to be embarked in often less than an hour. There are often a few customs officers with dogs, but they can only control 10 or 20 cars at most. And unless the dog smells something, there is no search by hand. Draining car gas tank is impossible as well as it would require having gas station on the docks to resupply the disembarking cars. More over all this would be a very long operation. Can you imagine the traffic jams ?
All this would make the embakation and debarkation take days instead of only minutes.
In more recent decades, with drive-through side hatches, such as on QE2, the autos were simply driven on board, like on a ferry, and the gas tanks were not drained.
Rich
As I know QE2 is still the only ship to offer this service and now that she doesn't do T/As (regularly) the only other option is freighter - which could take weeks.
I remember when QM2 was being designed the question came up )from Sales People at a Sales Meeting - so take it for what it is worth) and the decision was made not to continue this tradition....
[ 09-30-2006: Message edited by: Jekyll ]
The questions is how competitive fast container services or even planes are in this segment - but I am still surprised that QM2 is not offering that.
When people moved overseas in the 60s etc they nearly always took their car.. does anyone these days? There are plenty of US plated vehicles around here, but that's because the US forces bring them over at no cost for their personnel on I expect US Navy ships. I doubt there would be any if they had to pay.
Pam
quote:Originally posted by Malcolm @ cruisepage:Cars have almost become 'consumables', plus car hire is now common place.
Isn’t every thing these days? Back when I studied graphic design during marketing classes we learned about the behavior of the consumer in relation to convenient, shopping and specialty goods. It looks like nowadays everything has become a convenient good, price doesn’t matter (you can get a loan for every little futility) and people don’t even consider thinking for a second before purchasing.
Nowadays you can practically lease any new brand of car on either side of the ocean. If for some reason you want your very own car with you I guess it would be better to ship your car via container in advance and fly over when it has arrived.
Onno
That reminds me of a picture taken on CRISTOFORO COLOMBO, her promenade was wide enough to have a car parked there without being an obstruction to the passengers (wonder if it got a parking ticked)
quote:Originally posted by steeplechase:I posted the question only because I have a 1969 442 Converble that I would like to tool around in Europe then maybe sell it there. I know I can freight it but a Ocean liner would add another cool story to a car.
This is precisely what I meant - one can of course buy or rent more or less ANY new car on both sides of the ocean (in the extreme case on would have to import it in advance) - but there are actually quite 'a lot' of people who have special cars - old ones, modified ones etc. - and I bet this clientel would like the idea to be on the same ship as their car.
I am surprised that Cunard came to the conclusion that it is not worth offering such a service.
I am also surprised that none of the luxury ships offeres such a service - I am not talking about hundereds of cars but just some. I know this would NOT be easy but I guess some people would like to take their car on a cruise and ARE prepared to pay for that.
This is a Mauretania Class car carrier. Seems a few may have been lost, judging by the number of tyres hanging over the side
[ 09-30-2006: Message edited by: PamM ]
Unfortunately not. We decided against a car garage for a number of reasons. It uses an awful lot of space which could be utilized for cabins. The MCA regulations are a lot tougher now and the fire suppression system would have been very expensive and complex. There are not that many people taking them anymore and it does not earn much money on QE2.
[ 09-30-2006: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]
Ultimate Bulletin BoardTM 6.1.0.3
More Vacation & Cruise Specials...