Transatlantic Travel News

Three of the world’s largest and grandest ocean liners - the Queen Mary 2, the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Victoria  - paid a historic visit to salute the city of Liverpool, the original home of their owners, cruise-line company Cunard, which this year celebrates its 175th anniversary. Over a million people gathered to watch the massive ‘Three Queens’ as they returned to the birthplace of the Cunard dynasty, which revolutionised transatlantic travel in the 19th century. Founded in Liverpool in 1840 by Samuel Cunard, a Canadian businessman who won the first British steamship contract to deliver mail across the Atlantic, the company then started to welcome passengers and grew rapidly. Within 30 years, it was employing some 11,500 people and had amassed a fleet of 46 ships.

Once queen of the express liners, and the fastest, safest and biggest passenger liner in history, the SS United States today quietly awaits rescue from a pending cruise to the scrapyard. The Big Ship the Big U, the one that didn’t sink. The S.S. She is waiting for a rescue that may never come from an appointment with the scrap yard looming large on her summer schedule. And that would be a shame according to her many supporters, not the least of which was the late newsman and sailor, Walter Cronkite.

Celebrity Cruises' Constellation, the fourth in the top-rated premium cruise line's Millennium-class fleet, yesterday set sail from Barcelona, Spain, on her maiden voyage. The new vessel brings the Celebrity fleet total to nine ships, with more than 16,000 berths. "Constellation completes Celebrity's series of sleek Millennium-class vessels designed to provide our guests with extraordinary vacation experiences," said Celebrity Cruises President Jack Williams. liners. France, one of the most revolutionary vessels of the 1920s. with unparalleled service and cuisine," said Williams.

Reston, Virginia based company, Rock Creek Productions, Inc. is producing a historical documentary entitled The Big U. The film focuses on the life and times of the superliner SS United States and her Philadelphia born designer, William Francis Gibbs. The SS United States has been on the National Register for Historic Places since 1999. The filmmakers are aiming for a 2008 national release on PBS. “I sailed on the ship when I was a little boy, and it’s remained in the back of my mind all these years. I’ve learned what an instrumental figure Gibbs was in the success of our nation’s navy fleets at a time when the United States ruled the oceans. Now it’s time for America to hear and learn about these forgotten icons,” stated Rock Creek’s Vice President and Producer/Director Tim Phillips.