[Dixielandjazz] Italian Line Cruises

[Stephen G Barbone]

>  Gluetje1 at aol.com wrote (polite snip)
>
> I did my first cruise out of NYC on Italian lines in 1965.  An elegant
> experience!

Dear Ginny:

The Italian Line was indeed a magnificent endeavor. In pre WW 2 days  
they routinely sailed from NYC to Genoa and Rome and back. Taking the  
sunny southern route. The food was incredible as was the entire  
experience on ships like The Rex and The Conte de Savoia. Smaller  
ships like the Vulcania and Saturnia cruised to Bermuda and the  
Caribbean.

My dad (VP of Italian Line NYC office) took us on cruises to both  
Italy and Bermuda/Caribbean. I even got to steer the Vulcania for a  
while when I was 5 years old. <grin>

All of their major ships were sunk during WW 2. Only the Vulcania  
survived and it did some carib cruises after the war. It had been an  
italian troop carrier and had narrowly missed being torpedoed several  
times in the Med. It was too fast for the submarines. <grin>

After WW 2, they built some magnificent ships like the Leonardo Da  
Vinci but they never made any money and were heavily subsidized by the  
Italian government.

You were in good company on the Italian ships. Their passenger list  
included Cary Grant, Gary Cooper Barbara Hutton (Woolworth heiress),  
Doris Duke, the president of GM, various Kings and Queens and many  
other rich and famous folks. I got to meet some of them through Dad as  
he personally saw to the arrangements for those high profile passengers.

Jet planes soon took over just about all of the TransAtlantic travel  
and so a great era ended. But they still sailed on cruises for a while  
afterwards.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone