A brief Company History by Martin Cox

Union-Castle Line, famed for it’s lavender hulled liners that ran on a clockwork timetable between Southampton and South Africa, began as two separate companies: Union Line and Castle Line.

The Los Angeles Steamship Company came into being around the purchase of two ships already famous on the West Coast; the YALE and HARVARD. These two vessels were originaly built for New York-Boston service, then later operated by Admiral Line on the West Coast before World War 1. The U.S. Navy purchased them both in [...]

Memory by Diane Kolyer: SS OLYMPIA I made at least two Atlantic crossings on OLYMPIA. My memories are mainly of people I met and things that happened on the trips. I have a 1966 Greek Line sailing schedule and a Greek Line deck plan from the same vintage in front of me, and still it’s [...]

Memory written Eva Silver:  S.S. WASHINGTON 1936 Munich was the city of my birth and where we lived. The number In our family was eight: six children, two parents. The Port of Embarkation was Hamburg and we arrived there a week before the scheduled departure date because we had heard that my father was about [...]

First MaritimeMatters Sea Treks video clip by Peter Knego, posted from the MV MARINA float out ceremony at Fincantieri’s Sestri Ponente yard (ex Ansaldo — builders of MICHELANGELO, GRIPSHOLM and ANDREA DORIA) near Genoa on February 26.  See the approach to the ship and visit the mock ups of the Penthouse Suites and Veranda Staterooms [...]

February 26: An exciting day at Fincantieri’s historic Sestri Ponente shipyard (where great liners like MICHELANGELO, ANDREA DORIA and GRIPSHOLM were built) near Genoa as a select group of journalists and travel partners were led through two mock-up cabins for the newbuilding MV MARINA before being taken aboard to view the ship, which will be [...]

February 26, 2010: A steel cutting ceremony was held today for the sister ship to Oceania Cruises’ MV MARINA, for which a float out ceremony was held as the first ship enters the fitting out phase of her construction. The new ship, to be named MV RIVIERA, will be identical in nearly all aspects to [...]

February 26: The COSTA EUROPA (ex HOMERIC, WESTERDAM) was driven into a pier this morning at 4:45 AM at Sharm el-Shiek, Egypt today, killing three crew members and reportedly injuring several passengers. High winds drove the ship into the dock, holing her starboard side but now the vessel, carrying 1,437 passengers on an 18 day [...]

February 25: It was announced in France yesterday that MSC has signed on for a fifth MUSICA class ship at the same time the line is taking delivery of the fourth sister in the series, MSC MAGNIFICA, from the STX shipyard of St. Nazaire, France. The MAGNIFICA will be christened by serial MSC madrina Sophia [...]

February 23: Dubai opened a new cruise ship terminal today with the naming of the newest Costa Cruise Line ship, COSTA DELIZIOSA. The 2,800 passenger vessel (with interior design combining traditional Arabic and modern Italian styles) will operate cruises from Dubai, which has seen a massive rise in passenger numbers, from 10,000 earlier in the [...]