Are there still liners on the Atlantic?

[Hank Hargrove]

I would consider a line voyage to be a timetabled regular passenger service other than a ferry service - we need to be careful over the "ferry" aspect because some ferries operate quite significant distances don't they?!

Returning to the original subject, are any of those surviving servicable liners other than the QM2 express liners?  Come to think of it, I'm not sure what the cut off point is above which speed a liner becomes an express liner...

I think the QM2 would be the only one to match that criteria.


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[Hank Hargrove]

Yes CAP - I agree with you, although I'm not so sure about the distance needing to be an ocean!
Isn't it about a previously agreed distance between two specific points (there and back) - and advertised as such?

Maybe we could also add that a ship (belonging to a shipping line), becomes a Liner when it has been built with the ability and capacity to reach across an agreed distance within in a specific, previously agreed time. In this case it's the Atlantic Ocean - As you mention,  it could also be other oceans - for example, the Union Castle Line ships and other Lines also ran Liners across other Seas didn't they?!
There's much more about the definition of the term 'liner' here, via the search engine!
https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php/topic,430.msg21325.html#msg21325

To keep to the Topic - interesting to note that the Officers and Crew etc all refer to QV as This Liner! - This Beautiful Liner in fact! It was very difficult not to say something, as she does cross the Atlantic....however, a challenge at the time would have seemed a bit impudent!

I agree with what you all have said.
 A liner is to get from point A to point B as an airplane would.


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[Hank Hargrove]

The Azores, (up until 2012 Athena) was the MS Stockholm which ran from Sweden to New York. In '56 it collided with Andrea Doria.

I've heard the Stockholm was quite a roller back then.


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[CAP]

Yes CAP - I agree with you, although I'm not so sure about the distance needing to be an ocean!
Isn't it about a previously agreed distance between two specific points (there and back) - and advertised as such?

A couple of things a line voyage is not a return journey but a single passage. Distance and not speed is the main differentiator, in the context of a line voyage a fast ferry from Newcastle to Gothenburg is not the same as slow journey to Cape Town, the latter is a line voyage, the former a ferry service.  The "Express" strapline is simply a representation of a faster passage but much heralded by shipping line marketing departments as the true essence of Ocean travel.

Additionally, the "line" I understand, comes from the track between two ports as measured by a piece of string across a globe.

[Peter Mugridge]

Question - if you use half a cruise as a means of getting from A to B one way, as we did on our honeymoon by using QE2 to get from Southampton to Civitavecchia in order to fly from Rome to New York ( after our TA was turned into a cruise after booking! ), would that count as a line voyage?

[CAP]

Simply no, why because it is or was not a regular, scheduled passenger service.

[jdl]

It is most definately in the interpretation.  The definition above needs to be expanded to include "a passenger service" and "across an ocean".

The inclusion of the latter means that short-crossings are ruled out (I.e. Cross-channel services) although Cunard did often refer to the Queens transatlantic service as "the big ferry"!  It is also worth noting the transatlantic was not the only line voyage route.  South Africa and Australia are two which immediately come to mind, (QE2 even did a number of South African "line voyages" around the millennium.

Because line voyages were passenger services this precluded cargo operations, even Cunard's Media & Parthia which were to all intents and purposes cargo vessels nevertheless offered scheduled passenger services across the Atlantic.

The big ferry is very apt, especially as you could catch one of the queens to Cherbourg for you holiday to France back in the day

[Peter Mugridge]

Simply no, why because it is or was not a regular, scheduled passenger service.

Sorry, I should have worded it better - I meant: "Does it mean we effectively used it as a line voyage?"

You are quite right that the voyage itself was not a line voyage per se, but we did use it purely as an A to B means of transportation.

[Hank Hargrove]

Here is an article on the Azores.

http://maritimematters.com/2014/06/azores-ex-stockholm-chartered-for-2015/

[Alan Snelson]

What an odd looking ship! The proportions look all wrong to my eye and I almost think she merits a place in the 'isn't she beautiful' topic https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php/topic,244.0.html

[Adam Ilgin]

She was much better looking when she was Stockholm.

[Hank Hargrove]

She was much better looking when she was Stockholm.

I agree. She still looks nice on the inside and the outside isn't that bad compared to some of the other cruise ships out there.

[Adam Hodson]

She was much better looking when she was Stockholm.

According to Wikipedia, Azores (Stockholm of 1948) is currently in refit.

[June Ingram]

What an odd looking ship! The proportions look all wrong to my eye and I almost think she merits a place in the 'isn't she beautiful' topic https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php/topic,244.0.html

She did indeed look better as the Stockholm.  She looks almost like a ferry.