Italians to rio

[Doc Vernon]

Giulio Cesare arriving Buenos Aires 1973.jpg

Thu Jun 16th Civitavecchia (for Rome, Italy): With the exception of the likes of St Peter's and the Vatican itself, I've never been the greatest fan of Rome. Traffic, huge summertime crowds and, for me, lacking the general ease that, say, London or Paris has. Amidst three or four earlier visits (the first back in 1973), the place never quite fully grabbed me. I love Italy and the Italians and, of course, Italian cooking. Venice, Florence and even Genoa, and throw in Sorrento, Amalfi, Portofino & Capri, are much more appealing to me. Consequently, there is for me no ride into Rome today – and instead another day onboard the very, very comfortable and cozy Queen Victoria.



Big ship, little ship! The massive Harmony of the Seas docked just across from us this morning. Belonging to Royal Caribbean, the 227,000-ton ship (the Queen Victoria is 90,000 tons by comparison) is just a few weeks' old. It is now the largest liner yet built. She carries 6,600 passengers at full load & soars up 17 decks, and is currently doing summer season 7-night western Med cruises out of Barcelona. The 1,198-ft long ship relocates to Florida-Caribbean service this fall. Big, impressive, even bulky at some angles, but an interesting sight and interesting ship for sure!


And by the way, she smoothly glided into port in full reverse, with not a tug in sight, and then, shifting her thrusters, positioned herself against a long pier. Other cruise liners, the Queen Victoria, P&O's Ventura and the Italian MSC Armonia, each seemed rather diminished in the presence of the towering Harmony of the Seas.



Those great Italian liners! Being in Italian waters congers up recollections of the great Italian Line, revived after the Second World War and continuing in the passenger ship business until 1977. Some memorable ships include the restored Saturnia & Vulcania, two flat-stack motor ships that, as I recall, had very period, very dark & very cramped passenger quarters (for some 1,400 passengers each) and which traded on a very extensive mid Atlantic service: Trieste, Venice, Patras, Palermo, Messina, Naples, Barcelona, Gibraltar, Lisbon & Ponta Delgada over to Halifax and New York. Going eastward, they skipped Halifax and instead called at Boston for extra passengers. Then there were the handsome, all-white sisters Conte Biancamano & Conte Grande. They lost their hyper-Italian decor of the Twenties and were restyled extensively in the late Forties as very contemporary, even modern ships. After the Second World War came a very handsome series of brand new liners: the Augustus & Giulio Cesare of 1951-52, then the Andrea Doria & Cristoforo Colombo of 1952-54 and finally the superb Leonardo da Vinci of 1960. The Italian Line fleet was all but completed by 1965 with the first appearances of the Michelangelo & Raffaello. The big Atlantic liners were generally used on what was dubbed the "express service" – Naples, Genoa, Cannes & Gibraltar to New York. The passenger lists were still very varied: Kim Novak, Gloria Swanson, Loretta Young and even the widowed Duchess of Windsor, the King of Morocco and of course small armies of hierarchy from the Catholic Church. The cardinals even brought their personal chefs among their entourages and all while the Company thoughtfully flew their princely pennants from the ship's main mast. Lowly priests and nuns went below deck, in tourist class, along with the last waves of westbound Italian immigrants heading to North & South American shores. New lives and better opportunity beckoned for most of them. Until 1964, Italian liners were positioned at the bottom end of Manhattan's Luxury Liner Row, at Pier 84, at the foot of West 44th Street. Their ships often featured in the great "stack ups" of liners at New York in those days but later moved to Pier 90, at 50th Street, which had just been vacated by Cunard. All of these Italian ships were very modern, class-divided liners highlighted for me by their tiered, aft lido decks with pools, umbrellas & reclining chairs. The Italian Line also had a great style: Italian crews, Italian cooking and heaps of Italian charm.



Fri Jun 17th Livorno (for Florence, Italy): Blue skies! The rain showers of Cannes & Civitavecchia have drifted south and today we are back to magical Mediterranean weather: great strips of cotton-like clouds set against dusty blue sky.



Cunard tales: Begun in 1975, the QE2's world cruises were legendary & given to much lore and anecdotes. For example, one lady brought along several trunks for the 95-night voyage. But one of the trunks was filled with one of her favorite foods: Her preferred brand of Boston Baked Beans!



Trials: Queen Mary 2 has all but completed her refit at Hamburg, left dry dock today and then off to the North Sea for trials. Great success but then a blackout & the ship stopped at sea. She leaves Hamburg with passengers on Tuesday. We join her next Thursday afternoon in Southampton for an 8-day crossing to New York.



Another book contract: Confirmation today for yet another book (for 2017/18), this one called The White Empresses & Canadian Pacific Liners of the 1920s & '30s. A highlight will be to include one of my favorite liners of the Thirties, the splendid, three-funnel Empress of Britain.



Sat Jun 18th at sea in the Mediterranean: Dark clouds: Short but fierce thunderstorm at lunchtime – pounding rain, lightning & even hail. "Clear the open decks" was the order from the bridge.



From Harrogate in Yorkshire, Nora crossed to New York on the original Queen Elizabeth over fifty years ago, in 1965. She had two distinct recollections. "Sunday church services were held in the big lounge. I remember the commodore or the captain conducted. All the chairs were specially rearranged, all very neatly, like pews. It seemed religious, like church. The mood was quiet as well. Young girls from the purser's office marched in and served as usherettes. It was always an interdenominational service, using the Book of Common Prayer, which dated back to the 1660s. It was an old service, all very Church of England. During the service, they would also pass the brass plate. The collection benefited the seamen's fund as I recall."



Nora also recalled, "In the gift shop, you could buy a little Queen Elizabeth sailor doll. Outfitted in blue & white, I bought one. And I kept it for years!"



Gorgeous dinner: We dined tonight in The Verandah, the ship's grill room. Four course dinner that was just superb: Love Letters (homemade potato filled pasta pockets), Garlic Tiger Prawns (presented on a bed of mushroom risotto), Boeuf aux Poivre Vert (grilled fillet steak with green peppercorn sauce) and finished off with Chocolate Fallen Cake with orange ice cream. Balanced with a fine Portugese wine and all delivered by the most perfect service (maitre d' from Bulgaria, waiter from Bosnia & wine steward from India). Afterward, a grand production show (lots of singing & dancing, laser lights, feathers & of course steam) in the Royal Court Theater. Then 1920s Night in the Queen Room and lots of flapper era, stylized attire. We could have been on the Berengaria or Aquitania, sailing trans-Atlantic in, say, 1925.











​Photo: ​Being in the Mediterranean makes me think of some of the great Italan liners, such as the Giulio Cesare, built in 1951 and used on the South Atlantic run to Rio, Santos, Montevideo & Buenos Aires from Naples, Genoa, Cannes, Barcelona & Lisbon.