So....whatever happened to the Big Red Boat?

[BigRed1]

SS Oceanic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Oceanic_(1965)

Thank you!

 

["Cinder" Ella's Mom]

We sailed 3 times, twice on Majestic and once on the Royale.. We did stop at a private island, but I think it was called Salt Cay. We went to The Abacos Islands, as I recall. It was so long ago.

 

[Phantomzkb]

Oops my bad memory, lol

Yes that is the one, sad to see though.

 

[dclcruiser88]

Oops my bad memory, lol

Yes that is the one, sad to see though.

It is a sad sight to see any ship broken up in that state
There is something about ships that make me love them so much. More than my truck. But I can't quite put my finger on why?

 

[mmouse37]

This is the same island as Castaway Cay, Disney purchased it in 1996 and reno'd it. I knew of the name change but did not know that premier cruises stopped at it.

As mentioned....Big Red Boat did NOT stop at the island when it was known as Gorda Cay.....it never stopped there.

For anyone who is interested....here is true story of Gorda Cay as told by the grandson of the owner.

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/Blackbeard-Doesn-t-Come-Here-Anymore.html?page=all

MJ

 

[love280mickey]

As mentioned....Big Red Boat did NOT stop at the island when it was known as Gorda Cay.....it never stopped there.

For anyone who is interested....here is true story of Gorda Cay as told by the grandson of the owner.

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/Blackbeard-Doesn-t-Come-Here-Anymore.html?page=all

MJ

very cool, thanks for sharing that link! I'll be remembering it when we visit Castaway Cay next April!

 

[quirty30]

A sad end. We had our honeymoon on that boat.

Add me the list of those who honeymooned on the Big Red Boat. The Oceanic in particular in October of 1992. My marriage also had a sad end
As I recall, we were on a 4 night cruise in a tiny inside cabin and we stopped in Nassau, and took a limo to Merv Griffin's Paradise Island Casino. And there was also a stop at a private island, which, ironically enough, I preferred to Castaway Cay (I have this odd aversion to gritty sand, and I didn't like the sand at all at CC.) Our tablemates at dinner were 2 other honeymoon couples, and we all met up at WDW after the cruise and went to the luau at the Poly. It wasn't a glamorous cruise, but it was fun.

Having recently sailed on the Fantasy, there is just no comparison.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I never sailed on the Big Red Boat, but our dept. secretary did with her family and they all LOVED it. Whenever I mention going to Disney or on a cruise, she says how much fun her family had on that vacation!

Thanks for the link to the story of CC!

 

[cwdefouw]

My brother and I sailed on the Oceanic in April of '96. He got the 4 day cruise for free for agreeing to a time share presentation. Which I have to say was downright terrible. The cruise however was nice. I fondly remember hanging out on the back deck in the evenings listening to the steel drum band. We went to Nassau, Freeport (Port Lucaya before it was re-developed) and a day at sea. The cabin was tiny, however as we had never been a ship before, we didn't know any better. I got one of the worst sunburns of my life. As a first cruise experience, it is something I will always remember. That trip was also my first visit to Epcot and what was then the MGM Studios. When my wife and I purchased DVC in '99, I was against even agreeing to the presentation after the horrible experience with time-share sales pitch and pressure in '96 but she talked me into it. The experience was so much better and we are so glad that we joined back then when points were only $68 dollars each. If only we had bought more.

 

[sue]

[QUOTE="Cinder" Ella's Mom;46002201]We sailed 3 times, twice on Majestic and once on the Royale.. We did stop at a private island, but I think it was called Salt Cay. We went to The Abacos Islands, as I recall. It was so long ago.[/QUOTE]


Yes, you are correct. We sailed on the Oceanic back in 92' and it was Salt Cay. It was a small island about a 25 minute boat ride from Nassau. This island was the filming place of the movie Splash and Gilligan's Island. It is now used as a Dolphin encounter island.

 

[CarolAnnC]

As mentioned....Big Red Boat did NOT stop at the island when it was known as Gorda Cay.....it never stopped there.

For anyone who is interested....here is true story of Gorda Cay as told by the grandson of the owner.

http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/Blackbeard-Doesn-t-Come-Here-Anymore.html?page=all

MJ

Thank goodness! Can you imagine the cruise passengers debarking onto the island being greeted by the drug runners?!? LOL!

Gives new meaning to "Pirates in the Carribbean" parties..

 

[vakamalua]

We took our son on his first cruise in '92 when he was two (he's now 22) on the Big Red Boat. It was a wonderful holiday cruise! The Disney connection was very well done and we spent a week at the Grand Floridian afterwards.

I still LOVE the picture that we have from that cruise of my son and Captain Mickey who's crouching down so that they are nose to nose--now my son would have to crouch a bit to be nose to nose with Mickey!

We chose to introduce our son to cruising on that particular ship (the former Oceanic) because we had taken our very first cruise on that ship in 1979 when we were newlyweds. It was then owned by Home Lines, a now-defunct Italian line; the entire crew was from Italy. Although the ship was tiny compared to today's behemoths, it was classically beautiful. It was the first ship to have a roll back roof over the swimming pool for rainy or cool days (too bad the Wonder doesn't have one on the DCL Alaska itinerary). And everyone was assigned a deck chair (no chair hogs!) and their own deck steward--he would roll a towel and place it behind your head before you could lean back.

Ah, 30+ years and about 25 cruises on many lines and in all parts of the world later, we can still say that Home Lines had the BEST service and food we've EVER experienced on a cruise ship. Thanks for bringing up these memories.

 

[savannahcat]

DH and I did a land and sea package on the Big Red Boat in September of 1996. I remember going to Nassau and one other island, but I'm not sure where that might have been. The staterooms were tiny! Our stateroom on the Dream in June must have been about five times the size of the one on the Big Red Boat!

 

[antmaril]

Our son was four when we took him on The Big Red Boat (Oceanic) in 1991 (he is now almost 26 years old). We had a wonderful vacation. Lots of character interaction (especially Goofy) and we spent a fun-filled day at the private island. After the four-day cruise, we spent three days at WDW (CBR).

That trip was one of the best vacations we ever had (and we took many, many trips when our son was growing up). I will always remember the fun we had.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

DW talked me into doing a cruise for our Honeymoon, 1987. Thought I would hate it. Got on the Big Red Boat and have been hooked on cruising ever since.

Have done a 3, 4, 7 (eastern), and 15 night DCL cruise. Doing the Dream in December, 2013 . We plan on doing the Fantasy - Western in 2014.

 

[Babycakeslynch]

Reminiscing about my first cruise on the Big Red Boat in about 1993. Good times . Been on Carnival , Disney Wonder, and next Royal Caribbean Mediterranean coming soon June 2019

 

[happytime]

I went on Premier Cruise lines in either 1988 or 1989 on the Royale, I believe. Our first cruise--rough seas, but oh sooooo nice as far introducing us to the world of crusing. LOVED it!!

 

[dcassetta]

Honeymooned on the Big Red boat, and then we sailed on the Seabreeze in 1998. The Seabreeze was a classic old ship, but not ADA compliant in any way. But we sure did enjoy our trip on her. We got a complimentary upgrade to a "suite ", and were told it was one of the nicest cabins on the ship. Today, however, I'd compare it to a typical verandah cabin on the Disney classic ships.

 

[Capt_BJ]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_Cruise_Line

Big Red Boat and Premier Cruise are still popular topics to long time residents of the Canaveral / Cocoa area as it was pretty much what created Port Canaveral as a cruise port. We lived near the port 86 - 89 and many of our neighbors worked for Premier at the time.

Later we sailed Magic during the inaugural year and in Nassau we were parked with a BRB on the other side of the same pier. At this time BRB was still using the Looney Tunes association. It was kind of sad to look down from M onto the smaller older BRB and see kids looking up at DCL ....

 

[CamColt]

DW talked me into doing a cruise for our Honeymoon, 1987. Thought I would hate it. Got on the Big Red Boat and have been hooked on cruising ever since.

I could say the exact same thing only 1995, LOL! I always tell DH, the joke was on him...24 cruises later, ROFL!

I believe the other port we went to that I haven't seen mentioned was Port Lucaya. There was a tender there. We did not get off but I remember being "docked" in the ocean that day because we had a huge storm while out there.

Our room was actually good sized as we had what they considered a "suite". It was one of the rooms with the tall shaded windows that faced out to the hot tub. We had people out there putting their faces up to the window trying to see what was in there, LOL! To this day DH claims the service we had on that cruise was the best we ever had.