Throughout much of the 20th century, giants plied the waters of the north Atlantic, bringing immigrants to the New World and ferrying wealthier passengers between New York (and other eastern ports) and Europe. A handful of these great liners still exist, while most are memories, found only in old photos or in fancy restaurants that salvaged a portion of a great ship’s interiors. Below are some of the greatest in terms of length of service, luxuriousness, reputation and overall amenities. Most of these at one time held the Blue Riband, a coveted prize given for the fastest Atlantic crossing.
Please note: There is a huge difference between an Atlantic liner and a cruise ship. The latter are made for calm seas and pure entertainment. The former were made to tackle rough north Atlantic weather and purpose-built to carry ocean-going passengers. For more information, read Thomas Maxtone-Graham’s magnificent “The Only Way to Cross.” Also note that the years correspond to launch date, not service-entry date. For example, Queen Mary went down the quays in 1934 but didn’t enter service until two years later.
For almost 30 years, it seemed as if the Queen Elizabeth 2 was to be the only thread to the bygone era of the superliners, but the QE2’s continual transatlantic and cruising success convinced Cunard to build another one. Queen Mary 2 holds the record as the largest Atlantic superliner ever built (although one Caribbean cruise ship, the Freedom of the Seas, is bigger, and the first Queen Mary actually weighed more). QM2 looks like a cross between an Atlantic liner and a cruise ship, but she was built primarily for Atlantic crossings in mind, even though she can—and does—go practically to any sea in the world. Hey, if you have about $2,000 (about 1,000 pounds), you can hitch a ride on the QM2 and check it out for yourself. (And if you’re wondering why QM2 is #10 instead of #1, it’s because she hasn’t been around that long.)
The pride of the post-WWI Italian fleet, the Rex and her sister ship, the Conte de Savoia, were Italy’s answer to Germany’s new greyhounds. (See #6.) After an embarrassing start, Rex would capture the Blue Riband in 1933 and hold it for two years. She is remembered today for a famous “interception” in 1938 by American YB-17 bombers while the liner was still far out to sea. The Italians laid her up during the war, but the Allies sank her in September 1944 to keep the Germans from using her to block the harbor at Trieste.
One of the most famous of the last great Atlantic superliners, The France was her namesake country’s flagship for almost 15 years. She was literally the pride of France, and the nation mourned when she was laid up in 1974. She was then sold to Norwegian Cruise Line and renamed the Norway, under which she sailed from 1980 until about 2001. As Norway, she experienced many troubles, but managed to remain popular on the Caribbean circuit. She was then sold and resold with designs for either refitting or scrapping, but the liner was laid up today over environmental concerns. She was finally scrapped in 2008.
The first Queen Mary was designed to recapture British glory on the seas, and also replace the aged Mauritania and Aquitania. While very traditional in her appointments, she was more popular than the more-modern looking Normandie. Like her sister ship (loosely defined) the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mary was a highly sought prize by German U-Boats in WWII. They never caught either. In the post-war years, the two Cunard queens ruled the seas as originally designed. Today, the Queen Mary is gutted and laid up in Long Beach, Calif., as a hotel and tourist attraction, while her sister ship was burned to a hulk in the 1970s during an attempt to make her a floating university.
After losing her pre-WWI fleet of liner giants to war reparations, Germany again reclaimed a prized place on the seas with the Bremen and her sister ship, the Europa. This modern ship started the “express liner” craze of the 1930s, where ships were sleek, fast, luxurious, “wet” (Prohibition made European ships more popular over the “dry” American ships) and modern in all details. Bremen was a highly popular ship, but like most liners, the next war ended her career. The German military turned the Bremen into a barracks until she was burned and gutted in 1941, a victim of arson. She was scrapped in 1946.
Along with her sister ship, the ill-fated Lusitania, the Mauretania was the first Atlantic Ocean greyhound. Steam turbines powered this mighty and luxurious ship, and she remained a favorite for three decades. Mauretania held the Blue Riband for 20 years before the Breman took it away. She was scrapped in 1935, over protests from ship aficionados, including Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Near the beginning of the blockbuster movie Titanic you’ll hear the insufferable Cal say, dripping upper-crust snobbery, that Titanic is “over a hundred feet longer than the Mauritania and far more luxurious.”)
If you have ever seen old posters of 1930s-era travel, you might have seen ads of a looming Normandie profiled head-on with her sleek, clipper-like bow. She was ultra-modern, with a steam turbo-electric power-plant, a clean upper deck and luxurious appointments throughout. Yet the celebrated ocean liner struggled to consistently make a profit during the 1930s. When war began anew in 1939, Normandie wound up in New York, and stayed there after the fall of France. (A great picture taken in 1940 shows the Normandie, the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth berthed side by side in New York for the first and only time.) U.S. officials seized her after American entry into the war and renamed her USS Lafayette. But she never sailed again. She caught fire in early 1942 during her refitting, and the lopsided nature of the firefighting efforts caused her to capsize. Despite an expensive salvage operation, she was scrapped in 1946.
So fast that her top speed was a state secret, this last of the old greyhounds is still around today, slowly rusting at a Philadelphia pier. She was built with both passenger service and military use in mind—many liners scrapped in the mid-1930s would be missed a few years later when WWII began—hence the secrecy about her true speed. In the 1960s, all of the ocean-going palaces fell on hard times as the speed of the jumbo jet replaced the comfort and leisurely travel of the ocean liner. SS United States still holds the westbound Blue Riband, and awaits her ultimate fate after being purchased in 2004 by the Norwegian Cruise Line.
The glorious Olympic far outlasted her sisters, the infamous Titanic and the unfortunate Britannic (the later never entered passenger service and was sunk by a German mine off Greece while serving as a hospital ship). She was nicknamed Old Reliable, and remained in continuous service (except for brief periods) from 1911 until 1935. She was notorious for striking other ships, but one occasion was actually deliberate. Under British law, she was designated an auxiliary cruiser, and in 1918, when crew spotted U-103, Olympic turned and rammed the submarine, causing the Germans to scuttle the boat. She retained her popularity well after the war, despite her age. She was laid up in the mid-1930s and scrapped in 1937.
At the twilight of the golden age of Atlantic steamers came the QE2, launched upon the retirement of the first Mary and her sister ship. From the late 1960s until 2004, the QE2 was the only way to cross in luxury (aside from the Norway, before she became a cruise ship). She sailed more than just the Atlantic, though, and came to port in Sydney, Australia, among other places. This gorgeous superliner finally retired in 2008, and will soon become a floating hotel in Dubai.
Notable omissions: Majestic (ex-Bismarck), Aquitania, Berengaria (ex-Imperator), Nieuw Amsterdam and the Kungsholm/Sea Princess/Victoria/Mona Lisa.
Contributor: STL Mo
Love the debate on who is or not keeping on topic. Funny stuff.
Gonna love this then. I have a disorder…Megalophobia. This is the fear of large things. Including animals. So when I went to this list, I knew some pictures would scare the hell out of me. Namely number 10. The others I can’t quite get a reference on size but #10 I can.
Ok…you all can laugh…I know it’s a funny phobia. I am laughed at by my family all the time. Some send me photos or videos just to scare me.
oouchan, what size do things scare you? Is your “big” the same in every case? I know someone who is afraid of bars like railings and their shadows. It is not nice to taunt you with it though.
Yeah…my family isn’t very nice. Large as an elephant…strange I can get next to one if I am above it. For example, I can be in a building looking down but can’t stand next to one and look up. The worst ‘attack’ I ever had was when I went to the Norfolk Naval Base. They were fixing a Aircraft Carrier’s propeller…I fainted.
So when I won a trip to go on a cruise last year…guess who didn’t go? I couldn’t even get close to the boat…even heavily drugged. I do like ships/boats and would love to go on one…just can’t get close enough to do so…sad.
Quadrain,
“… the respect of my dear friends on List universe.”
Not that I doubt for an instant you have plenty, Quadrain, but it would be so interesting to know if we share any of those “dear friends”, and how many are different from mine. I’m sure you wouldn’t mind naming half a dozen, or a dozen, or perhaps even more you have interacted with to that extent, so we can all see.
Just for parity, and to show there is no ill-feeling, I’ll list some of mine whom I hope have respect for me, although in truth I put affection way above respect. Well, there’s dear Cyn, the site administrator. One of yours too? I recently had a serious trollz problem in another topic and called for moral support. Who came in with caring, concerned comments? Let me recall now. segue, of course, plus Another Dude, Biscuit, Blogball, Blue, BooRadley, gabi319, josh, lo, Maggot, Mortivore & Spange.
To those I will add as regulars, often in other threads and occasionally at other times: archangel, astraya, bucslim, Crimanon, cymraegbachgen87, kiwiboi, Maggot, Matt Howard, Mom424, Randall, ringtailroxy, SlickWilly, Vera Lynn,: also bigski & Dr Lecter (both after short initial misunderstandings).
It wouldn’t be fair to put oouchan on the line here, considering: but MY feelings are by all means warm and friendly.
I should point out that I have had long or long enough and friendly or sometimes short, humorous exchanges or leg-pulls with all these folks. But not only that, friendly disagreements from time to time as well. They all know who I am and I hope they won’t object to being mentioned in this context, let alone feel embarrassed. Because I certainly regard THEM as dear friends.
Now I’m actually getting just a tad worried. Perhaps some mentioned above will wish I’d left them out, and others will be relieved I didn’t include them. Notwithstanding, I should hate any other LV friends to feel I had passed them over. So let’s say this list is simply intended as representative, not comprehensive.
Your turn.
BTW. Quadrain, why didn’t you choose ‘Braggadocio’ as your LV aka? It sums you up so well in a single word.
Rina, (116),
“You guys are way too funny. Having the last word in an argument doesn’t necessarily make you the victor. Its keeping your dignity and other peoples respect that puts you in first place.”
That’s a fair comment, and deserves a fair response. Unlike Quatrain, who KNOWS he is above your amused contempt by Divine Right, I’m perfectly well aware I’m included within it.
Speaking for myself, and myself only, then:
Point One. I’m not interested in the last word per se, although I’m sure Quadrain doesn’t believe that! If I should die suddenly, or the topic thread is cut by the administrators short of my comment, or I should have the luck to be granted funds for a very prolonged field trip somewhere away from the p.c., too bad. Besides, I’m just as liable to get bored eventually and not care what goes on here anymore; or the quality of posts themselves may not warrant further comment in my opinion.
Point the second. There are two aspects to this for me. One matters, the other doesn’t. The one that matters is a gross and personal insult to a dear, longstanding LV friend of mine, segue, as follows:
“Segue, are you besmirching the name of your good mother on the net?
“Surely you would have gleaned from your years some experience of relationships.
If you were left alone on a cruise ship with a crew of sailors you would eventually succumb to temptation, even moms need a shag you know.”
That disgusting, insensitive trivialisation was aimed at someone who, as a very young, vulnerable child without home roots, had traumatically witnessed her mother betraying her beloved father, who, as I recall, was fighting in the war. Perhaps you might care to wonder why Quadrain chose to say that publicly rather than disagreeing internally, but keeping discreetly quiet. I have my own theory. Had that happened to me as small boy, it would certainly have traumatised me, I know. Even so, segue kept her cool and tried to explain calmly. To no avail. Knowing also that segue has a serious, chronic physical health problem which can affect her psyche, I came to her support. I presume you would also back up a good friend in similar circs? Again to no avail. I merely attracted more abuse. So long as segue contiunues to be insulted, as she is, or my role defending her is questioned, as it has been recently, I shall feel free to comment, explain or counter-attack. Only silence, incoherence or an apology from my opponent(s) here will end that. I don’t consider such a cause undignified or unworthy of respect. Tough if others do.
Now the other aspect. Quadrain himself has described this as a “battle of wits”. It is also that. Winning it hardly matters, though would be nice. Losing it would hurt the ego, but would be far from the end of the world. Competitors don’t play any game to lose. Apart from segue’s honour, there is nothing in this schemozzle I take seriously, Not like other topics, where I am supporting some central pillar of my philosophy or life view. So dignity doesn’t count. If it’s appropriate to play the buffoon in any LV topic, I’m happy to play the buffoon. It’s one way to keep onlookers amused, which should be borne in mind.
So there you have it. I still feel the need to stand by segue, and I’m still squeezing a bit of amusement out of the so-called battle of wits.
Always remember, it’s our opponents who are constantly asking to keep the thread ‘pure’, but they cannot hold back from keeping the ‘p ollution’ going themselves. Quadrain even expects site admin. to eliminate his own irrelevances. No comment!
Nothing in all this goes contrary to spirit of LV, even if it slightly challenges the letter. I live by Cyn, not the strict written rules here anyway! However, there are people in this thread who don’t even seem to know those, so watch this space.
As for passing LV onlookers. If they find this exchange not to their liking, they are free to avoid it and go somewhere else in LV. If it amuses them, in the way similar spats involving Randall do, they will hang in and perhaps hope for more. It’s as simple as that, Rina.
segue, (125)
“You know what they say about boys with big toys, don’t you?”
Big rigs somewhere else, wasn’t it?
Not the way I heard it, Anon.
Boys with Big Toys (Big Trucks, Big Boats, Big Engines in their Sports Cars), are making up for a lack in their own rigs.
Anon,
I didn’t get your comment about putting me on the line (123)? Sorry…too little sleep. I need to read LV to keep me going!
I find it sad when someone makes a personal comment like segue did and it comes under fire. Although my phobia is funny (I don’t like seeing the pictures or videos that are sent to me) my family won’t stop. It’s hard enough just thinking about it. So I guess I understand a little…sorry segue!
Thank you, oouchan. You’re not to blame, but I do appreciate the thought.
Too bad your family isn’t more thoughtful of you.
Thanks, segue!
120, 122. oouchan
My cousin’s got a thing I guess sort of like yours…fear of large animals (elephants down to horses). She’s been helping me accomplish lots of the stuff on my to do list (simply a list of places to see and things to do while I’m in the area), one of which includes riding a horse. I’ve never forced her to try out any of these things with me, but I regret mentioning this particular one because ‘she believes she’s adventurous so she wants to, but it’s horses so she’s terrified, but she believes she’s adventurous so she wants to…” a vicious cycle I regret ever starting…
Said cousin has no issues with inorganic big stuff. She’s going on a cruise in two months. Are there two separate aspects of megalophobia? At least I hope she isn’t scared of boats and such seeing as her dad was in the Navy and she grew up familiar with Norfolk Naval Base and seeing as she’s spending a pretty penny on this cruise trip.
Anon -
‘I live by Cyn’
O RLY?
I found out the megalophobia does have 2 aspects…animate and inanimate objects. I have both. If she has been around the Norfolk Naval Base, then she should have no issues as there were ships everywhere and not one was small!
Funny to note that one of my favorite shows to watch (when it was on) was The Deadliest Catch…all about Alaskan crab fishing. They got some big boats but I didn’t have an issue with seeing this show…except one episode when there was a storm and the coast card brought in a capsized cargo ship. It was twice the size of a cruise ship and took up the entire bay. Almost wet myself….
Finally read this list…oh my goodness where have I been while this soap opera was playing?! And as for Anon (123)…yay I’ve been upgraded to an LV Regular! I’m glad to know the remnants of my insomnia plus Listverse are stirred to create a wonderful martini as the LV Regular, haha. As for Segue and Anon…seems like all is under control, but if there is need for a tag team, I am always willing to jump in the ring. I’ve seen quite a few contradictory statements on Quadrain’s moral indignities and (dare I say) character just from the words he posted. Simply part and parcel to my lingual superpowers and ability to think quite dilinearly.
But back to topic at hand. I think it’s pretentious…and megaloist. Why is it that only ocean liners can be great?! I happen to think kayaks can be great in addition to small and cute. In fact, I will set out now to jump the pond in my cousin’s exboyfriend’s kayak to set out to become the 11th great Atlantic ocean liner.
oh and:
16. karolina – “No matter how unsinkable the boat is, I am not getting on. I think I was traumatized by Titanic…”
Titanic the ship or the more? Don’t worry, because unlike Rose, I’m sure you’ll “never let go”…Cheap joke, but couldn’t help myself. apologies.
Can’t find the post but someone pro-Titanic talked about how it should be included because it was human error that made it tragic:
If the SHIP was touted as “THE UNSINKABLE” and it sank, then obviously….work this problem out with me, people… it’s. not. so. great.
*Titanic the ship or the movie?
Question… Do you need more than one person on craft to be a liner? If so I can ask my cousin’s exboyfriend’s older brother if I can borrow the tandem kayak and bring along another person. …preferably someone who can kayak seeing as I have never been in one before…
Anon, you certainly put your whole self into your posts!
But,you have no real awareness of why i talk as i do, have you?
You think i am mindlessly picking on people with the aim of humiliating them or one upping them over some admission that should be nobody’s business to criticize. Sorry, i am far more complicated than that, and i say this with no want to look clever, but i like to stir people up to expressing themselves. I seem to have done this here, and it makes for interesting reading. I may not please everyone with my ways, but i always get a reaction, i just hope people are not truly offended.
Lets be honest, describing someone as two fish heads in a bucket could only be in jest!
Saying that, i do think that Segue should not dwell on her past and let it be an obstacle to the future. So not all that i say is meant to inflame.
oouchan, I hope that your condition is a manageable one, life is difficult enough, having control of your life is all that really matters, i hope you can take control of yours. Even so you do seem very upbeat about it, keep the faith in yourself and be strong.
Sorry Anon but I can’t help myself… just a quick interruption and then I’ll be gone faster than a streaker at the Wimbledon Open.
137. Quadrain:
“You think I AM MINDLESSLY PICKING ON PEOPLE with the aim of humiliating them…i am far more complicated than that” (last sentence is pure egocentric behavior. not necessarily part of my issue but adds background character)
“i like to stir people up to expressing themselves. I seem to have done this here, and IT MAKES FOR INTERESTING READING.”
I added a bit more to add context but capitalized the true essence of what was said. It’s really not that complicated when you thin down the babble. How does this not sound like mindlessly picking on people? I’ve seen the hypocrisies of your statements as an viewer reading the whole argument for the first time and even I can see the bored conceit and the unnecessary taunting. As someone who thinks of this as a game (since you had the gall to tell Rina you are the “victor” you do think of this as a game), I worry for the state of these ex-drug addicts that you are helping (not criticizing the humanitarian act but the possible execution of said act). Given that you play mind games with faceless, fairly anonymous people with as much tenacity as any bloodhound, how do you handle the fragile psyches of those who are trying to bring themselves up from rock bottom? With far more tact than you have shown here, one can hope…
That’s just a trailer to the movie of hypocritical material you’ve given me in these past posts. I suggest you man up and give apologies where apologies are due. Then you attempt to salvage whatever dignity you have left as we try to regain probably not respect but at the very least some courtesy to you as a comment list contributor. I’m hoping that the past post describing your m.o. as well as explaining what was said in jest is the beginning of a full retraction to the hateful things you said to segue without including your moral indignities regarding her situation or the fact she said it where she feels she is among friends.
Anon, you’re tagged back in! *streaker out*
gabi319, looks like you have been beaten around the neck and head with the daft stick as well.
Where have i said hateful things? Who do i hate? Certainly not Segue or Anon, Segue it would appear to me is a kind but fragile type and Anon has given me some crap about my silly comments purely in support of Segue. Can you see that to be wantonly unkind to them without really knowing them would be an awful thing to do, but hey, you have done it, with your criticism of the way i treat my clients. I work with vulnerable people that have horrendous life stories, far exceeding your range of experience, how you could assume that i do it poorly i can’t imagine, you couldn’t do it, it would scare the hell out of you. I do know that i would be the first in the queue should anyone need any help in the real world, but i am not so sure about you.
How serious are you going to take my statement that i am “the victor?” And “destined to be so!” Come on! “My dear friends on the LV” Do i have any? You really thought i was being serious there?
I engendered a conversation, people do that, unless you are particularly annoyed at people being themselves you had better get used to it happening, how old are you, 14?
If you want i will apologise to Segue, Sorry Segue, not to Anon because we met on equal terms and Anon gave as good as he got, no hard feelings.
However gobby319, i think you have just managed to have a free pop at someone, i am unfettered by it, i do it myself but i am stupid, what is your excuse?
Okay, I’m going to try to comment without sticking my nose into other peoples business again. I tried yesterday, but got caught up in the argument. Sorry if I offended anyone. Am I reading this list correctly? Is it only the Queen Mary II thats still in use? Its sad. I think Ocean Liners are very romantic and kinda hoped my third husband would take me on our honeymoon on one.
Hateful things said? Upon reading about what must have been a very confusing and potentially traumatic time in her youth, your answer was: “even moms need a shag you know”
On her seeking professional help: “You should know that talking to Psychologists about what your parents have created in you is such crap in this day and age”
These are simply from the first two posts. But you don’t really *****yze what you think before you express it, so I suppose it’s a wasted effort to ask for more thought behind your words and jests. Anon’s a big boy and prone to witty sarcastic phrases so what he’s said and what you’ve said in turn can be hashed out by the two of you but seeing as you decided to take a preemptive attack on someone who wasn’t even talking to you, someone who was kind enough to give some good advice about a career field to me, whom she didn’t know and was helping simply because she is a helpful person, I took a vested interest in that aspect. Granted she still seems be her normal pleasant self and unfazed by you but I’ve never been one to sit idly by and watch a cyberbully or a bully in real life take advantage of another person. THAT is my excuse while you said stupidity is yours.
I never judged your work as I have never seen you work in action. I am happy that you take far more consideration to those you work with than you do with strangers. What I did was PREjudge you solely based on the abysmal character you exude on this comment list. Call me prejudiced…go ahead and I’ll freely admit it as everyone is prejudiced to a degree and I am no different. First impressions do make a big difference and yours was not a good one.
What I will apologize to you for is not taking the likening of two very kind LV people such as Anon and segue to “fish heads in a bucket.” But seeing as I graduated from a college that was last in national news for the murder of a girl via decapitation and the fact that I was living in that area to witness first hand far greater, far more personal tragedies, memories that continue to be an ever-present companion to me two years later, I suppose my views on dismemberment have ruined my sense of humor in regard to visual allegories about people being fish heads in a slop bucket. For that, you have my sincere apologies for being too daft to see the jest.
Aside from that, we have nothing else to discuss. Vent your spleen and continue taking potshots at me if you want but since I’ve said my piece, you aren’t worth the time of day anymore and I will most likely not respond. Best of luck with your continued humanitarian efforts and I hope you eventually show that you have a good side online as well.
To everyone else…sorry this post is such a downer. I really am far more upbeat than this.
Anon, segue…see you on some other list, some other time.
139. Quadrain: I believe your apology is as truthful as the facts of your being a jester.
Segue, it is not nice to take advantage of someone because they are being gracious.
141 gabi319
“What I will apologize to you for is not taking the likening of two very kind LV people such as Anon and segue to “fish heads in a bucket.” But seeing as I graduated from a college that was last in national news for the murder of a girl via decapitation and the fact that I was living in that area to witness first hand far greater, far more personal tragedies, memories that continue to be an ever-present companion to me two years later, I suppose my views on dismemberment have ruined my sense of humor in regard to visual allegories about people being fish heads in a slop bucket. For that, you have my sincere apologies for being too daft to see the jest.”
What the hell are you talking about???
Did i sleep in last year? Have i missed something? Has the subject now changed to decapitation?
10 Decapitations I Have Admired by Gabi319
I love this bit:
“in regard to visual allegories about people being fish heads in a slop bucket.”
Brilliant, the first and only time that phrase will ever be used, you couldn’t make this stuff up!
Now i know you are a looney!
Quadrain.
No wonder you hold the view of Psychologists as people who deal out crap. I start to hate dentists when my teeth begin to ache. Sorry, but never mind about helping others. You need help yourself, mate. It shouts out through your posts, from beginning to end. You’re full of unquenchable bile towards people who have perfectly normal interactions everywhere else on LV. Whatever your previous problems, there’s some deep anger left in you you haven’t purged yet.
It’s *****ing the rest of us off and not doing you any favours. Address it.
Rina, (140),
Your comment understood, appreciated and accepted. As a participant in the off-yopic, sorry you were drawn in uneccesarily.
Meaning: “I myself as a participant am sorry …”
oouchan, (129),
“Anon,
I didn’t get your comment about putting me on the line (123)?”
Sorry. The idea wasn’t easy to put across, and I didn’t!
What I was getting at was that I would have liked to add you to my set of LV friends (and hope that wasn’t presumptive). But it seemed unfair and embarrassing for you under the circs considering you were in the middle of a neutral exchange with Quadrain. I didn’t want you to feel you’d been drawn into the spat, or that I was using you against him, or indeed any other partisan pressure. That’s all.
Check: presumptuous.
Anon: I would be happy to be your friend! (although…gotta warn you that I very odd)
As for Quadrain, I was and still trying to be diplomatic…considering I really feel sad for segue and the comments that were made. However, I guess segue is very lucky to have a knight in shining armor like you.
Thanks!
Anon- Just skimming about and ran into above spat. Give um hell. Also your cyberstalker,tell him to look me up too. I would love to meet him.
bigski,
Thanks.
You’re a bit of a knight in shining armour yerself.
Th.Fu. we got over that trivial initial misunderstanding.
Long live the Special Relationship . Yay!
How’s the goat these days?
oouchan, (150),
Thanks too. Friends are always friends until they prove otherwise. Nothing else matters. You should even bear that in mind with anyone else you’re exchanging with in this thread. There’s no need to take sides.
Actually, segue is far luckier to have a healthy, robust mental outlook on life than to have me around. I’d have been a lot more concerned otherwise.
Anon- For a goat that thinks he`s a dog he`s super.
wow, what has been going on over here?
and who is this “Quadrain?” i’ve not seen his (her?) comments on other lists, but as he seems to spout self-important and ignorant drivel i suppose it’s not a great loss to LV.
whatever, i put my chips down with segue and anon’s, they have good judgement when it comes to character.
This is an experience for me as a newbie here. My Grandfather was a Stoker on the original Queen Mary, he was a real enthusiast of cruise liners in his retirement and made some large models of some of the more famous ones and had quite a few holidays on them until we lost my Nan. I remember going to Southampton to meet him when he was coming on leave and watching the QM docking, i had never seen anything so big.
What i am unclear about is why this site appears to be full of arguments that don’t seem to fit in with the subjects, i found it from stumble and i wondered what i had stumbled on. I used to be on the answerbank but people used to bully others on there, i suppose you have to be in an established gang to survive.
156. Remarkable-
generally speaking, this is a civil site with a fairly high level of discourse, and jokes aplenty -high and low.
you just “stumbled” into a thread where a personal attack roused some people to the defense of a regular. it’s not always such a personal argument, however it’s very common for comment discussions to go on lengthy tangents due to the fact that many people here have quick minds and love to debate. you don’t need a “gang” to comment here, but if you say something totally illogical or pointlessly cruel expect to get taken to the mat.
if this sounds good to you, welcome, welcome. browse a few more lists before giving up on the site
156 Remarkable
You are taking your life in your hands here, this is the holier than thou community website. All the saints gather here on their days off to talk such utter detritus like you have never known, it really is laughable and they go on for ages about stuff you don’t want to hear.
Best of luck with them all, and they are a bunch of bullies.
Remarkable-
p.s. this appears to be the only list quadrain has every commented on here, and he picked on someone and then he had a bad time -so feel free to ignore him
Remarkable, (156),
From post 54 on, Quadrain thought he had lit upon a couple of newbie waifs and strays to LV he could amuse himself by playing snide games with. Early on he ignored our careful, temperate explanations, as as well as any later attempts to throw a potential olive branch (such as my stated admiration for his claimed social work). For a long while segue and I were isolated, while he also had bullying support from fellow Big Liner enthusiasts. He revelled in using that to boast how he was king of the castle and we were dirty rascals. (The reference to games small children play is appropriate.) He enjoyed putting us down in posts to third parties, as per his latest to you, and as I am unashamedly doing to him here. That went on to post 119, when he crowed that Rina had supported him as the ‘victor’ (Rina in fact supported no one). He made a bad error of judgement there which rapidly put the situation into reverse gear. He then discovered he was playing with big people who were not vulnerable victims, but knew their way around LV thoroughly and had the “dear LV friends” he himself had claimed but has not named, as invited.
Now his inflated ego is feeling very bruised and resentful, so of course he’s resorting to those typical ploys of a bully brought to account, including labelling as bullies those who have called him out.
According to him now: It was all intended as a joke, even the things he said against segue, and we couldn’t see that or take it. Other people (Anon) heaped crap on him, so his reaction was fairly defensive. He was only being perfectly reasonable and objectively seeking out an interesting reaction from us. He says he has apologised gracefully, and we are rudely not accepting that. (Apology? See how he still accused me of heaping crap and not living in his ‘real’ world.) Finally that we regulars in LV are a gang of colluding bullies: pot calling kettle black. In other words he has turned almost overnight from the strutting braggart to the whining misunderstood victim.
Well, Remarkable, put his accusation about us to the test. We invite you to dip in at random to a variety of LV topics and judge for yourself. Every now and then you will find the odd extremist or misfit who has come to our forums to throw their weight around or post irrationally or insultingly will be taken to task by numbers of us collectively. But that isn’t the general current at all. Even when we debate hotly, we almost invariably maintain respect for one another as people. As a final disqualifier of Quadrain’s claim, both lo and gabi above are relatively recent newcomers themselves. Don’t be fooled. Quadrain just wants to take you down with him to spite us.
Welcome.
Remarkable-
it’s true, i’m a bit of a noob! i’d make a blush smilely, but i don’t know how.!
most people are nice here. really.
156. Remarkable
“My Grandfather was a Stoker on the original Queen Mary, he was a real enthusiast of cruise liners in his retirement and made some large models of some of the more famous ones.”
That’s a fascinating piece of history. I’ve never had the luck to seen a Big ‘Un ‘live’ myself, just on newsreels and such, plus the quite realistic effects of modern films such as ‘Titanic’. But I do remember even a very old film (like me!) called, I think, ?San Demetrio. London’. It was about an oil tanker that had been torpedoed in WW2 and broken in half, and how the surviving crew brought one of the halves home to dock. As a kid I not only found it very moving, but was impressed by the B&W technical effects. They were probably all shot in a studio tank and would look very tame by today’s standards!
From my post 92: “Ocean liners? O.K our family next-door-neighbour in England was a registrar at Guys Hospital, I think, well a big noise, anyway. His hobby was carving perfect-scale and detailed liners and warships out of out of solid wood (no plastic back then). I’d guess they were about a metre or slightly more long. They were hollowed out and with electric motors, but I’m pretty sure they never hit the slipway. He was too scared of the risk in water. Wonderful. I remember the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary, which were the two latest British liners at the time.”
So we share childhood memories of model liners!
To be honest LVers, i have encountered all this before. I have read through a lot of the comments on here and it does make for tedious reading. I think all members the site are entitled to their opinion and no one on either side of this squabble should be trying to persuade me, who is familiar with nobody on here at all, that somebody should be ignored or respected.
It does look to me that “Quadrain” is some clown that seeks to wind people up unnecessarily, and every one else is being a bunch of miseries.
Some folks seem to be enjoying it all the effort they put into it, but what of the cruise liners?
Remarkable, 163: I crossed the Pacific twice by Ocean Liner, of which I had hoped to share my many memories with the group. Too bad that hope was crushed by “Quadrain” and his games of power and nastiness.
I am well known on LV, I have been a regular for about a year. At no time have I come across an adult with an attitude problem anything close to Quadrain’s.
We are, for the most part, a group of highly intelligent people; working scientist, professors, artists…people who actively make a difference to the world every day.
One thing we are not is a group of whining bullies.
Remarkable, (163),
Apparently my (hopefully) friendly and on-topic contact-post 162 to you was a sheer waste. That ‘All the thanks you get’ feeling is coming over me.
Misery? You reckon playing Aunt Sally for LVopath Quadrain should make me come out doubled up with laughter? Sorry to disoblige. Try me in other topics. BTW, some critics in this thread read my attempts to lighten up as adolescent rubbish. Can’t win, can I?
This particular misery guts and I’m sure lo, another, felt we were giving you a neutral and upbeat ‘Welcome’ on the doormat. Not so then?
Here is your original post:
“What i am UNCLEAR about is why this site appears to be full of arguments that don’t seem to fit in with the subjects, i found it from stumble and i WONDERED what i had stumbled on. I used to be on the answerbank but people used to bully others on there, i SUPPOSE you have to be in an established gang to survive.” (My caps)
Was that, above all those words in caps, inviting an explanation of the situation or wasn’t it? In my book (and others’) it clearly was. Some in your shoes might have responded, “Thank you for taking so much time and care replying at some length to a complete stranger, with no benefit for yourselves.”
Sorry we spoke.
You are certainly still welcome, but our friendliness and respect invites friendliness and respect in return, not contempt and insults.
Odd how this is the only list where people complain about getting off topic. I mean I’ve been spending the past couple days learning about English History on a science list and no problems there.
Aforementioned cousin still hasn’t purchased a cruise ticket even though she plans on going. Any suggestions on which cruise line is best? I doubt a trans-Atlantic trip is what she’s looking for but who knows…If she’s got a long enough vacation from work, she could be persuaded….
gabi319, does she have a destination in mind? I know one of the best (per everyone who has gone on one) is the Alaskan cruise. Very beautiful. Saw some pictures, sans boat. Unfortunately, they took pictures of some humpbacks…they scare me too.
I also heard that Disney Cruise line is fun. Great place to take kids if she has them. (this is the one I want to try the most. I am a die-hard Disney fan. Go every year to Disneyland in CA…sometimes twice. Sad that I can’t do it.)
Touching a whale (A southern right in my case, cow with calf) from a small boat is one of the most magical moments I have ever experienced. On the Atlantic coast of Argentina.
Advice. Don’t take a cruise down Antarctica way. Passenger sightseeing vessels are foundering faster there than pints of beer go down on a hot day. Experts say it’s due to all the loose break-up ice resulting from *(non-existent) climate change.
*Added as a tip of the hat to the large number in LV who know that climate change aka global warming is only an invention of Al Gore!
gabi319 166.
“Odd how this is the only list where people complain about getting off topic.”
Not strictly the ONLY one. But it is the most unanimous, persistent and fanatical I’ve come across. You’d imagine Big Liner Worship might be a religion, with the rest of us standing accused of farting in church.
Early on I likened LV as a whole – the site – to a cross between a pub discussion and a university debating society. I haven’t changed my view. Earlier still, I learned that there were great people here, and my aim rapidly became to interact with them positively in any way, every bit as much as ‘sticking to the subject’. Not, it seems, a philosophy shaed by the ‘true believers’ of this topic. Several of them appear to have their Big Liners stuck up their arses!
167. oouchan
It may sound odd, but our cableman went on a cruise to Alaska. I would normally say he told me because I’m naturally friendly with strangers but seeing as Anon and his dirty mind frequent this list, I will simply say I enjoy talking to people about all sorts of topics. He [cableman] said he loved the cruise and his group even mined close to $700 in one of the activities. The cruise company tries hard to show off as much of Alaska’s natural beauty but Cableman couldn’t help but see that massive pipeline that takes up Alaskan oil and processes it to send to Japan.
I think she’s aiming around the Caribbean. I was supposed to go with her but she wants to go end of May and with summerfests and summertheatres finally beginning to hire, there’s a strong likelihood I’m moving away again around her cruise date.
169. Anon – “Big Liners stuck up their arses!”
first Cym with the pineapple and ass issues and now you with the liners and arses…. there’s something weird going on today…
165 Anon,
You really are a whinger, and quite rude, you demand attention and respect. Shocking how you have decided to have a go at me, and i have no one to support me.
Still if it makes you feel better, if it makes you feel superior as you are obviously one of the faces on this site so be it, i only wanted to talk about my granddad. I can see how you obvious upset Quadrain, you always get bullies especially where they can hide in anonymity.
That’s where your name comes from, short for anonymous bully!
Anon, leave remarkable alone, you are trying to make your self look good by making some one look bad.
You can tell us about your granddad if you want to RM. Some of us will have the decency to take interest in what you say and not just squabble and criticize.
Quadrain and Remarkable,
Thanks.
Quadrain.
“Anon, leave remarkable alone.”
Oh, you mean like you left segue alone, you despicable, contemptible, games-playing piece of metaphorical *****.
Ah, but there too speaks a hypocritical master of knowing how to (try to) make himself look the most decent, reasonable and thoughtful human being in the world by brown-nosing newcomers such as Remarkable and Rina.
Remarkable,
“… every one else is being a bunch of miseries”
And of course, that from someone who hasn’t been here five minutes to strangers (to you) who support the site and actually welcomed you in isn’t “quite rude” is it? Oh no.
“i only wanted to talk about my granddad.”
Yes, and I was the ONLY ONE who responded to you directly, positively and kindly about that, which you proceeded not only to ignore completely, but responded to me by throwing insults in my face. Proof? Here’s what I`posted, in case you’ve forgotten:
“162. Anon – March 4th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
156. Remarkable
“My Grandfather was a Stoker on the original Queen Mary, he was a real enthusiast of cruise liners in his retirement and made some large models of some of the more famous ones.”
That’s a fascinating piece of history. I’ve never had the luck to seen a Big ‘Un ‘live’ myself, just on newsreels and such, plus the quite realistic effects of modern films such as ‘Titanic’. But I do remember even a very old film (like me!) called, I think, ‘San Demetrio. London’. It was about an oil tanker that had been torpedoed in WW2 and broken in half, and how the surviving crew brought one of the halves home to dock. As a kid I not only found it very moving, but was impressed by the B&W technical effects. They were probably all shot in a studio tank and would look very tame by today’s standards!
From my post 92: “Ocean liners? O.K our family next-door-neighbour in England was a registrar at Guys Hospital, I think, well a big noise, anyway. His hobby was carving perfect-scale and detailed liners and warships out of out of solid wood (no plastic back then). I’d guess they were about a metre or slightly more long. They were hollowed out and with electric motors, but I’m pretty sure they never hit the slipway. He was too scared of the risk in water. Wonderful. I remember the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary, which were the two latest British liners at the time.”
So we share childhood memories of model liners!”
Full of insult and bullying, eh? Still so sure of that? We might have taken it from there. The choice was yours and you tore it up and threw it down in front of me like a rude and petulant child.
Your true names and details posted up here, please, Remarkable and Quadrain, if LV anonymity is cowardice. Of course that might get you a lot of unpleasant electronic and regular posts and perhaps even worrying home visits you don’t want. (Not from me, I hasten to add. This is wasting more than enough of my time.) So I’d think carefully before you make that decision.
Finally. I’ve made various points that neither of you has had the civilised decency to address. I won’t say what your posts tell us about you both. Taken in conjunction with your earlier posts they spèak for themselves. I have made conciliatory gestures to you both which have been ignored and never been reciprocated. What ye sow so shall ye reap.
My patience is done with the endless negative crap of this rotten thread for once and for all. I thought liners emptied crap into the sea. Say whatever you will from now on, you can have fun without me. YOu’d feel so honoured to see a list of those in LV on the other side of my fence, whose intelligent and well-loved ranks you have chosen to join. You flotsam and jetsam have clearly formed a mutual admiration society and are truly worthy of one another.
Cyn,
Considering my patience here has been as tried as that of the proverbial Job, please note that not once have I called on you to put me into serious moderation. Hahaha.
And only once, first sentence, last comment, have I broken my all-out ad hominem restraint rule. Sorry, but I considered it thoroughly justified and long overdue.
Hey, fellow passing LV generalists!
Aren’t you wondering what’s with these Big Boater types? They seem to be an intense breed apart which takes uncompromising umbrage at anyone who deflects them a few degrees off course, or who isn’t one of their own. For aggregate hefty hostility, this licks almost any other thread I’ve been on in LV except those with any smidgeon of religion or ‘gaiety’. And I’ve been on quite a few and met the occasional trollz or weirdo in several.
When you first came to LV, did you feel free to criticize the way long-established posters here behave? How the site functions or misfunctions? Well, I’ve seen a fair bit of life and accumulated a modest amount of superficial knowledge on all manner of subjects, and a bit in-depth on one or two. I also know SFA about many other topics, so refrain from commenting about them, unless to make a relevant flippant joke. I recognise there are numbers of wise and knowledgeable authorities and experts here from whom I may continue to learn. I wouldn’t dream of throwing my weight around against staunch members of this site as whole, or of insulting or taking on anyone in particular, unless they kicked me or a friend first. That’s now. When I first started I felt even more diffident and respectful towards the group. However, I notice there are plenty of shiny neophytes who don’t share my reserve, including text-typing kids.
I’ve seen how Randall can attract a pack of yapping, snarling, snapping mongrels round his heels, simply because he is intellectually competent at deflating obnoxious, inaccurate pretentious, disrespectful and often rude incoming posters, who usually totally fail to address his reasonable arguments, as here. He too gets labelled a ‘bully’. Of course, when it comes to handling the ungodly, I’m on the ground floor besides The Master!
And yes. I feel sorry for the poor author of the list too. Unless he or she is made of the same stuff, that is. Torpedoed mainly by the lack of ‘*****’ comment-restraint and social skills, not to say a common or garden laid-back sense of humour, in the faithful.
Next time I see an image or model of a Big Boat, I think I’ll feel strongly inclined to mal de mar (commonly known as puke, or baptising the porcelain).
Thank Davy Jones for bigski (not bigboatski – hahaha), the only nice naughty-cool I myself have encountered here. A real refreshing sea breeze.
168. Anon, “Touching a whale (A southern right in my case, cow with calf) from a small boat is one of the most magical moments I have ever experienced.”
…and that would be my biggest nightmare. I have nothing against whales (or ships). I think that I would love to know what it felt like. I went to Sea World with my family…I still twitch when someone mentions that place but it was fun. …so what did it feel like?
171. Remarkable, It’s funny..you mentioned getting off topic but it didn’t stop you either, now did it? I cam see what Anon and others were trying to do by making you feel welcome. I got the same warm reception from Anon, Randall, Jaime, segue and others. I would have said thank you. I’ll leave it at that.
Also, for those who have been on these boats/ships…what does it feel like? Can you feel the boat move? Has anyone exprienced a heavy storm? (sorry if someone posted that before. I lost track a bit)
170. gabi319, ok…warmer climate. Cancun, Mexico. My company routinely sends our highest sales groups on this cruise (the one I won but couldn’t go on). Everyone has enjoyed it. It’s also cheaper and not as packed, yet you still get that feel….I have been there but I flew. (In case you are wondering, I had to wear a blindfold to board the plane. I was ok once I was on it…and I really didn’t see any as I was going into the airport. Lucky me.)
177. oouchan
Valium or some other kind of benzodiazepine wouldn’t have helped? Well thinking about it more, I suppose medication and changing cabin pressure don’t mix… I would be terrified of using a blindfold. But I guess that’s just me. I was born with sensorineural hearing loss in my right ear so I am much visually reliant. Using a blindfold to deal with phobias sound scary to me!
175. Anon – “uncompromising umbrage at anyone who deflects them a few degrees off course”
I think you’ve found the crux of the problem. A few degrees off course is the difference between arriving in the Bahamas and arriving in Antarctica (perhaps not that extreme. How would I know when the most I’ve done on is paddleboat). Naturally, a list regarding ships is likely to bring out such exacting natures.
178. gabi319, actually when I tried to visit a boat yard in CA to see if I could go on the cruise I was on valium. I passed out. I couldn’t wrap my tiny brain around it. I also have hearing loss (due to the worst job I have ever had) and so when I was blindfolded, it didn’t make a difference. In fact, I think it helped me. I relied on touch and that got me through it. Thanks for the thought. Hope your cousin has a marvelous time no matter what she chooses.
#176 oouchan- Iv`e on several different Aircraft carriers being a U.S Navy veteran (75-79). While aboard the U.S.S Eiesenhower we hit a big storm in the Pacific ocean. Depending on your definition of smooth sailing it wasn`t to bad but, the number of big badass Marines puking off the starboard elevator didn`t think so.
Anon- Thanks for the kind words. Also I seen a English term the other day and I want to use it on my dad. Bobs your uncle. How can I use that in a sentence ? I like to freak out ole pop every once in a while.(Keep him on his toes)