Whatever Became of the Big Red Boat?

BEYONDSHTPS.COI AUGUSI2M9 WHATEVERBECAME OF THE BIG REDBOAT? THESTORY OF SS OCEANIC by RlchordH. Wogner he useftrl lif€ ofa ship is freque ly longer ChaplerI OceanicThe Liner TurnedCruise Ship than the time the general cruising public regardslhe ship as a viable option for their A, ceanic was built bv Cantieri Riuniti vacation.At somepoint, the ship no lorgerhas the f fa.tt'aa.iatico in Monfalconeltaly. She amenitiesand conveniences that the publicexpect Vwas ro be HomeLines first Dumos€built to find andit is no longercompetitive with thefiIst shipand was conceived of asperforming a dual- rankof cruiseships. Themajor lines then usually role of Eansadanticcrossings between Italy and sellthe ship to anentity that provides cruis€s in the Canadain thesummer and cruises from New Yor* sccoDdarymarket either at bargainrates or sorne- to the Caribb€anand Bshsmasin the winter. whereoutside of the UnitedStates. At the endof However,by the time the ship enlereds€rvice in the ship's careerin the secondarymarket, she 1965,jet lavel h8dt€trder€d the trsnsstlantic serv- eithcr goes to the bre€k€rsor emborksor yet ice no longerviable. ConsequendnHome Lines another,offen unique career,for the time that deaidedto useh€r primadly as a cruis€ship s€trd- remainsto her. ing h€r on less than a handful of transatlantic Oceanic,popularly known as The Big Red crossingswhile she belongedto them. Indee4 Boatfor partofhcr aarEer,provides a classicillus- Home Lines even markeledthe ship somewhat trationof the lifecycleofa passengership. Her disingenuouslyas "the largestship everdesigned careercan b€ divid€dinto neatchapters. She has for yearround cruises." provetrto be quite rcsilient and has succeeded Thedfp hadseveral features that made her quite well in each chapter. Rccendy,sbe has a goodcruise ship. First, shehad a largeswim- embarkedon y€t anotherahepter but theeffects of ming pool areawith two adjoiningpools of 360 timemay be closingin on her. squre feet each. This areawas covcredby a rctactableglass roof known as the Magradome, which could b€ closeddudng sailingsftom New York and openedonce lhe ship rcachedwamer waters.It could also be closed on those days when it rained or when the weatheroutside became too hot. In addition. her steamturbine engines could drive the ship through the water at speedsup to 27.25knots. This is muchlaster thanmost cruise ships and could be usedto takethe shipfrom the cold to the sunnysouth quickly. Like later cruise ships. the lifeboatswere arrayedcloser lo the waterlinerather than on the top of the shipas hadbeen done in the past. Amongstother things,this reduced the clutter on the open decks. making them more passenger oceunh u! Thc Big Red Bodl fiiendly. Also.Oceanic was l'ully air-conditioned. somethingmany older transatlanticliners were not. As Horne Lines' advertisingindicated, with vacationsto the nearby theme parks in Oceanicwas a largeship for her day at 39,241 Orlando.Furthermore, research showed that many grossregistered tons. While shecould acooDrmo- of the peoplewho took shortcruises from Miami date up to 1.600 passengersin her two-class andFort Lauderdale lived in CentralFlorida, These transatlanticliner configuration.her capacitywas peoplewould not have to travela coupleof hundred reducedto 1.200in hersingle class cruising con- miles to get to cruises that sailed fiom Port figuration. Shehad sleek,elegant lines with a Canaveral. lengthof 722feet and a beamof97 feet. At the time.none of the maiorcruise lines OceanicJid verywell in herrole as a cruise weresailing from PortCanaveral but it would not ship. ller interior was elegantbut she had the takethem long to do so if Premier'sstrategy proved amcnitiesthat the cruisingpublic expected in the successful.Accordingly, Premier sought ways to mid-20thCentury. Sherepodedly operated con- differentiateitself from the other lines. First. it sistentlyat 95 percentcapacity doing seven-day negotiatedan ageemenlwith Disneyto become cruises fiom New York to the Bahamasand "The official CruiseLine of Walt DisneyWorld" extendedCaribbean cruises in thewinter. andto havecostuned Disney characters onboard to By theearly 1980s.however. Oceanic was mix witlr the passengem.Seco[d, it madeits fleet no longera first tier ship. ln 1982,Oceanic lost of secondhand ships look uniqueand f'un by paint- her positionas flagshipof the HomeLines when ing their hulls deepred. Accordingly,they were the line took deliveryof the Atlantic. It hadalso marketed.in a mannerdesigned to appealto young placedan orderfor anothernew shipthat was slat- I'amilies.as the Big RedBoats. ed for delivery in 1985,which would tale up Oceanicwas the secondship purchasedby Oceanic'sitineraries. Accordingly. alier 20 years Premier. After an extensiverefit- she entercdserv- ofse ice.Oceanic was sold to PremierCruises in ice fo. Premier in 1985 renamed "Star/ship 1985. Oceanic." However. she was marketedunder the name"Big Red Boat." Her scheduletook her on ChapterII TheBig Red Boat three and fourday cruisesfrom Pon Canaveralto the Bahamas. remierCruises was lbunded in 1983with the During the refit, much of the interiorwas hans- aim of providingshort three and tbur-day formed fiom oceanliner elegantto more of a mass cruisesliom Port Canaveral.Florida to the marketstyle. Thisengendered much criticism from Bahamas. The idea was that sailing liom Pon oceanliner enthusiasts but for manypeople the Big Canaveralwould allow the line lo packagecruises RedBoat was a pleasingintroductian to oceantrav- BEYONDSHIPS.COM/AUGUSI 2OO9 Oceoni! dt thc Peo.e Botlt it1N.\'lbtk. A rcpoir boat is abngside in.tpectinga crack el. Bahamas. Thesuccess of theBig RedBoat did indeed lead the major cruise lines to position shipsto Port ChapterIII Back To The Old llorkl Canaveral. Moreover, it led Disney to decide to enterthe cruis€ industry itselfand in 1993,it termi- fnhe demiseof Premierwas coincident with the nated its relationshipwilh Premier. Howevcr. I stanofa changein aftitudein Euope toward Premier respondedby negotiating an agreement I cruising. Until then, cruisinghad been with WamerBrothers under which Bugs Bunny and thought of by many Euopeans as expensiveand ths Looney Tune chancters took the place of elitist - - something for royalty and film stars. Mickey Mouseonboard the Big Red Boat. However,as in America in the 1970s,people were At the same time, Premier branchedout beginning to see cruising as an economicalvaca- acquiring more second-handships and positioning tion altemative.Seeing this trend,Pullmantur SA, thgm in other markets in America and Europe. the largest tavel company in Spaiq chartered a Theseships were given a bluehulland sailed under cruise ship fiom Premier in the late 1990s and their own names.As a result,Oceanic was the only began to offer cruises. This venture proved strc- shipleft followingthe originalconcept. cessfuland it decidedto puchase its own ship. By the tum of the Millennium, it appeared The first ship Pullmantur purchasedwas that Premierhad over extend€ditself and manage- Big Red Boat I. Accordingly, the ship was brought ment decidedto get back toward the original con- to Cadiz, Spain for a major refit, which included a cept. Oceanic was officially remmed "Big Red new paint job. In May 2001, she entercd service Boat I". In addition, its fleetmatesincluding the underher original name doing Meditenanean cruis- former Rotterdam(1959) were given red hulls and es for the Spanish-sp€akingmarket. werc given the name "Big Red Boat " followed by Oceaniconce again developeda loyal fol- a Romannumeral. However,it was all too late and lowing. In response,Pullantu. continually rgfir- Prcmierwent bankruptin September2000. bishedthe ship. This included removing flamrna- This left the 35 year-old Big Red Boar I ble materialsso that the ship would be able to meet seized by the authorities in Freeport in the the internationalSafety Of Life At Sea(SOLOAS) BEYONDSHIPS.COM/AUGUST2OO9 3 rcgulationsthat go into etrectin 2010. leaving lceland. Itr 2006,Pullmartu wasacquired by Royal The CoastGuard abo identified l6 other Caribb€anCruises Ltd, the parent companyof safetydiscrcpancies. Consequently, on 27 June, Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean the Coast Guard detainedthe ship. The Coast Intemational.Royal Caribbean decided to upgrade Guard'saction meant that Oceanic had to dis- the Pullmantufle€t by bringingin someships that embark her passengerswho rrere put up at had servedin the RCI and Celebrityfleets but hotelsin Adantic City, New Jersey. whichwere still morere{ed thansome ofthe exist- A team of divers hircd by PeaceBoat ing Pullamnturfleet. As a result, following the patchedthe crack in the hull with epoxy, which traNfer of Sovereignof the Seasto Pullmantur, enabledOceanic to travel acrossthe harbor to a Oceanicleft Pullmantur'sservice in early2009. dry dock at Bayotrne,New Jersey. There, p€r- manentreDairs werc madeto Oceanic'shull and ChaDrerIY ThePeace Boat the ship \xas authodzedto sail on 2 July 2009. n April 2009, Oceanic vras charteredby The PeaceBoat, a Japaneseorganization that s€€ks to promotep€ace, human rights and respectfor the environment. The organizationcaries out its activities through voyageson chartetedpassenger ships, Peopleinterested in thesevoyages book and pay fares much like I traditional cluise. Activities for passengersonboard include lecturesand educa- tion programsas well as use of the ship'sfacilities and amenities. While rctaining her own name,Oceanic has "PeaceBoat" paintedin larye letterson her sid€ and has the PeaceBoat logo on her funnel. Inside she looks much like she did

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