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| S/S France - Solid and Staid |
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| Romance on the S/S France |
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| S/S France: A Happening Place! |
S/S France was built for transatlantic passenger service. She left her home port of Le Harve in February, 1962, for her maiden crossing, first to Southhampton, England, and then on to New York.
She was the longest ocean liner ever built, and the second fastest. At a top speed of 34 knots, she could cross the Atlantic in under five days. She was one in a long history of illustrious vessels that made up the "Golden Age of Ocean Liners": the Lusitania, Mauretania, Titanic, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and Ile de France, among others. She was (alas) the last in this long history. Because, even as she was being built, the Golden Age was coming to an end. Why? Because fewer and fewer people were willing to spend five days crossing the ocean by liner when they could cross it in five hours by air
Did the CGT miscalculate in even building the France? Consider that 1962, the year of her maiden crossing, was also the first year that more people crossed the Atlantic by jet than by ship.
OOPS!
The France had a hard time making money. She was subsidized by the French government, but in 1974 those subsidies were withdrawn so the government could put the money into developing the Concorde instead (note cosmic irony! <g>). She was also a fuel hog, and the oil crisis and resulting spike in prices made her too expensive to operate. She was retired and sent to Le Quai de L'Oubli - the Quay of the Forgotten.
But her memory lived in the hearts of so many who had sailed on her. Years later, when, as S/S Norway, she made her final voyage, more than 300 of them turned up to accompany us on that cruise. With sometimes hilarious results. More later....
This page features three CGT posters for the S/S France. The top one simply shows a ship, strong and solid (unlike a jet, which can fall out of the sky at any moment <g>). The second is more aggressive: A ship where one can find romance (unlike a jet, where the interior is cramped and sterile). And the last is positively wild! A couple kisses with abandon. (Are they even married, one wonders?) (To each other, I mean. <g>.) Smart-looking people sit or stand at cocked angles. It says, "This ship is a happening place!" (Unlike a jet, on which the only thing that happens is you spill your coffee and get stiff joints.)
Was the CGT getting more desperate for passengers? I don't know. All I know is...
...the jet is so much faster...
...and that was the end of the S/S France.
After her retirement, there were plans to do this or that, but they all fell through. Then, in 1979, she was purchased by Norwegian Cruise Lines, for her scrap value. But NCL didn't plan to scrap her. They planned to turn her from an ocean liner...