10 Favorite Liners

"I could never understand why the Queen Mary was so much more popular. I have noticed that people either LOVE or HATE the Normandie."


I agree. I notice that people who write books for QM have an undying love for her and have an undeniable disliking for Normandie. It's the same the other way around. Isn't that strange? Perhaps they both represent how bi-polar transatlantic liners can be... Queen Mary, tubby, kind of straight-up-and-down, homely, comfortable... While Normandie is the complete opposite, Sleek, streamlined, urban, and somewhat stark. I also notice that, while Normandie was popular with celebrities, and unpopular with us "regular folk"... Queen Mary was popular with the general population and unpopular with celebrities. Of course this is only relevant while the two liners competed. After the War, Marlene Dietrich and her kind had to settle for the Queen Mary, I guess.

Admittedly, Normandie's public rooms aren't the kind I can imagine curling up with a good book in. All the same, passengers might as well have dozed the afternoon away in Queen Mary's halls. The only rooms on Normandie that I see as being conducive to informality are all the small enclaves of the big rooms. Like the Salon des Dames, and the Private Bar.

I also admit I fall victim to the love-one-hate-the-other syndrome... but I also think Queen Mary has some excellent design in her. Almost all the elements of her design are really lovely... but they were all put together the wrong way.

I have Mauretania on my list above because I think her exterior is nice, other than that she's kind of... flat. But that's just my opinion.
 
Well, mine is the Titanic, followed by Normandie.

Titanic? Because of all the beautiful carved woods. Normandie... elegant though the interiors are in black and white, what color images I've seen have been somewhat startling to me. However, from the outside (and certain rooms), she was indeed a sight to see... or so I can tell from photos.

-John
 
Hi Jonathan,
My favourite is the 1st Mauretania. I have been fascinated by her for as long as I can remember. Why do I love her?- well, it may have something to do with the fact that like her, I am from the North East of England, I live about 100 miles from her birthplace of Newcastle. I have always considered her to have been an ambassador for the shipbuilding and engineering of the North East- even at the end of her life her hull and boilers were said to have been in remarkable condition, a testament indeed to those who built her.
She was never just another "floating palace" like her contemporaries, she was a great feat of engineering, along with her sister Lusitania she had a power plant that was ground-breaking (turbines of that size were unprecedented), and of course, she held the Blue Riband for over 20 years.
She was beautiful to look at, with her sleek lines, impressive four stacks and elegant, shapely counter stern. Her interior, especially her first-class lounge, was beautiful, with its glass dome, fine carved woods, and pretty crystal chandeliers. She had a beautiful, feminine quality about her, even her name in both its full and shortened versions (Maury) was graceful.
Reading accounts of her give the sense of a positive, "feel-good" factor surrounding her. She was regarded with a great deal of affection, and was an icon and a celebrity of her day. Even a US president, Franklin D Roosevelt, was captivated by her, remarking of her that she had a soul "that you could talk to", and the remarkable thing was, he admitted that he had never liked travelling in her!!
Maury has been described as a real character among ships, in his book Mauretania, Humfrey Jordan gives an amusing and delightful account of how in a relatively calm sea, she would suddenly pitch and spray her commander, drenching him as he stood on the bridge, as though she was playing a practical joke!
She was a lucky ship, a survivor. During WW1 she had a very close shave with a torpedo, in the early '20's she survived both being nearly swept away whilst under tow when her engines were dismantled for refit, and a fire, which, ironically, turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it led to her being given a new lease of life. Someone up there was certainly looking out for her, maybe God is a Geordie!!!
At the end of her life she was given a good send- off, she had a blue riband flying from her cut-down mainmast. Excursions were run to the East Coast of Britain where she passed, and I have often tried to picture her out at sea whenever I have visited the East Coast. She stopped at the mouth of the Tyne to bid a last farewell to her builders. Even the fact that she passed under the Forth Bridge shortly before arriving at the place where she was to meet her end, is fitting, like the Mauretania herself, the Forth Bridge is an icon of British engineering.

Other liners I like are the Lusitania, Aquitania, and the 1st Queen Mary- my great-grandfather helped build their boilers.
 
I have always favored a handful of liners that had a well planned look to them. Aquitania, the Lusitania & Mauretania, The Queen & Monarch of Burmuda, the 1st Queen Mary. I think the Aquitania had both a pleasing exterior and one of the best looking Smoking Roooms.

[Moderator's Note: This message and the four immediately above it, originally posted as a separate thread, have been moved to this pre-existing one addressing the same subject. MAB]
 
I know that this could have been mentioned before and it may sound stupid on a Titanic website but what is your Favourite Ocean liner? Mine is Aquitania, she lasted so long and all that luxury. Titanic was a unique ship, but, we didn't have enough time to judge her properly! What are the Favourite ships of you lot out there? lusitania? Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse? Even early ships, Mary Rose? or even the Andrea Doria or QE2

[Moderator's Note: This message, originally posted as a separate thread, has been moved to this pre-existing one addressing the same subject. MAB]
 
Hate to be different. but what about the Great Eastern? Sure, she was a morphodite, the great experiment that failed, but when she was outfitted with accomodations for some 4000, before she was a cable ship.... she had some pretty nice (especially for the time, circa 1860) rooms and salons.
Too bad more pictures don't exist of her interiors.

I am also surprised that more people don't seem to be interested in the turn of the century German 4-stackers. They were beautiful.
 
I guess it's time to post a revised list:

1. Normandie
2. L'Atlantique
3. Paris (post-'29 fire)
4. Champlain
5. Lafayette (1930)
6. Burdigala
7. Iroquois
8. France (1962: Exterior Only!)
9. United States (Exterior Only)
10: Imperator

And as a Bonus...

#11: Century
 
Here are my top ten.

1. Aquitainia (my mother came to Canada on her)
2. Mauretania 2
3. Empress of Britain (#2)
4. Olympic
5. Normandie/Ile de France
6. Mauretania 1
7. Rex (I have a 1930's Rex travel poster, she was a beautiful ship)
8. Berengaria (my great grandmother took her to France in 1922, and I heard stories about her)
9. QM1
10. Empress of Australia (again, family related)
 
Top ten in no particular order:

Savannah
Great Britain
Oceanic I
Oceanic III
Olympic class
Lusitania class
Queen Mary
Bismark/Majestic
Ceramic
United States

Again, no particular order, but all except the Olympic class are on this list because of groundbreaking design or other aspects (such as the Bismark and the Ceramic) that refined an earlier design to perfection. The Olympic class are really a further refinement of the Big Four and of the Oceanic II and are for obvious reasons sentimental favorites of mine.

This last statement is, of course, merely my opinion, but that is the beauty of this thread!
 
here is a poll
what is your favorte liner(s) of all time ?
and why?

[Moderator's Note: This message, originally posted as a separate thread under a different subtopic, has been moved to this pre-existing thread addressing the same subject. MAB]
 
My top ten in no particular order are:

1. Paris
2. Ile de France (pre WW2)
3. Normandie
4. Rex
5. Leviathan
6. Lusitania
7. Titanic
8. Rotterdam (1908)
9. France (1912)
10. Queen Mary 1
 

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