Michael
But how do you really feel about the Queen Mary
One thing we all have in common on this board is that we have a love of old liners, as well as other kinds of ships. Most, if not all of us, can fully understand the economics of it, but we all still dream of what could have, or in some cases, should have been.
The cold hard reality is that ships have a finite existance. Most of the time the end of a ship's existance is based on economics. in the 1970's and 1980's, dozens of classic liners went to Taiwan and China because they were no longer viable. Had the QM still been sailing for Cunard, she probably would have met the same fate.
Companies very rarely have the same sentimentality that people do. I remember reading somewhere, that when the Mauretania was withdrawn from service, there was a very large campaign to save her, as she was that well loved. But being the oldest of the surviving Edwardian Cunarders, she went to Rosyth, (I was there last month), along with the Olympic, Homeric, and many others. The Aquitania and Majestic survived only as long as they were viable.
To many people, the Mauretania was almost a symbol of national pride. If she couldn't be saved, why would a ship, built as the France, rebuilt as a cruise ship, renamed Norway, have survived. She had no national identity, and while popular, did not build up the fans that the ships of old did.
I remember my grandmother and grandfather delaying a vacation to Canada when I was a kid, as their favorite Cunard liner, (I think it was the Saxonia) wasn't available. That kind of dedication doesn't happen anymore.
Perhaps the best loved ship in the UK is the Royal Yacht Brittania. I was there last month, and toured her, and while beautiful, and she has had a fantastic area built up around her, even she fights tooth and nail be be preserved. And she's only been open for tours for 4 years.
Sentimentality is great, and allows us, in our minds eye, to visit the great ships of old. And then we have to come back to the real world.
