OK, here’s my list:
a) Sunward – this ship started modern cruising;
b) Mardi Gras: like it or hate it, this is the ship which established CCL;
c) QE2: style, grace, and surprising compromises if you weren’t in ‘Queens Grill’ class!;
d) Canberra: a liner, a cruise ship, and when called upon, she was good enough to go to war. She probably kept UK cruising going single-handedly between the late 70s and late 80s;
e) Carnival Destiny – the first post-panamax cruise ship, I believe.

Paul F. Pietrangelo

Carnival Destiny – in service November 1996
Grand Princess – in service May 1998

BTW – I do think I got the Pacific Princess right!

I will not specualate at this time why Heidi retiring, but I wish her peace and joy. I know about the need to take a break from you job!

–QE2
–Queen Mary [the first one]
–SS Norway/SS France
–SS United States [I was kind of surprised at her not being mentioned earlier in the comments than she was]
–original Pacific Princess [think the "Love Boat". 'Nuf said

There are others--many others--important to cruising. Almost everything noted by others so qualifies. And others not noted as I type this [such as RotterdamV] so qualify. I wish I could have made this list longer. But I was limited to five

1. Queen Mary – If you need back story I need to slap you.
2. Andrea Doria – The Andrea Doria was the lastmajor transatlantic passenger vessel to sink before aircraft became the preferred method of travel.

3.MV Britannic – was the third White Star Line ship to bear the name. The ship was built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast. She was launched on 6 August 1929. Like her nearly-identical sister RMS Georgic, Britannic was a motorship powered by diesel engines, not a steamer. She measured 26,943 gross tons and was 712 feet long. At the time of her launch she was the largest British-built motor liner in the world. These two would be the only White Star motorships. She also served as a troop transport carrying over 180,000 soliders In 1950, Cunard White Star became simply Cunard Line, meaning Britannic was the only ship to be owned by all three: White Star, Cunard White Star and Cunard Line. She continued to sport White Star’s colours and fly the White Star burgee for the rest of her career, although from 1950 on, the Cunard house flag flew above the burgee.
In June 1950, she collided with the United States liner Pioneer Land in the Ambrose Channel, but was still seaworthy afterward.

4. The Mayflower – The Mayflower was the famous ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from Southampton, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts,in 1620.The vessel left England on September 6, and after a gruelling 66-day journey marked by disease, the ship dropped anchor inside the hook tip of Cape Codon November 11. The Mayflower originally was destined for the mouth of the Hudson River, near present-day New York City, at the northern edge of England’s Virginia colony, which itself was established with the 1607 Jamestown Settlement. However, the Mayflower went off course as the winter approached, and remained in Cape Cod Bay
On March 21, 1621, all surviving passengers, who had inhabited the ship during the winter, moved ashore at Plymouth, and on April 5, the Mayflower, a privately commissioned vessel, returned to England.In 1623, a year after the death of captain Christopher Jones, the Mayflower was most likely dismantled for scrap lumber in Rotherhithe, London

5.RMS Lusitania – was a British luxury ocean liner owned by the Cunard Steamship Company and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. Christened and launched on Thursday, June 7, 1906. Lusitania met a disastrous end as a casualty of the First World War when she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-20 on May 7, 1915. The great ship sank in just 18 minutes, eight milesoff the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,198 of the people aboard. The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany. It is often considered by historians to be the second most famous civilian passenger liner disaster after the sinking of Titanic.

So John I hope you enjoy my list. I enjoyed writing it down for you. As far as all the concern about Heidi heading home, I am sure you will manage as long as someone does your laundry, and cleans up after you. But I know you will miss her, and I hope we get a blog from her before she heads back to your barn in England. It would be nice to see a little John in the future, hopefully she gets Heidi’s looks, for his sake and the girls too. But your sense of humor mate he will need that especially when he brings any girl around Alan. Speaking of your best mate Alan how is he doing? Look forward to seeing more developments soon of the Splendor.

Kevin

Oh the time now is 12:07am EST in case you still haven’t gotten a new watch.

Wow, it is like a steambath in (upstate) Ny today!!!!!
Heidi, even though you are retiring, I HOPE that you will be on the Bloggers cruise in February. I HOPE that I too will be there too. Unless, of course, you are at home waiting for the stork.
Wow, and to Jeff who left that comment about babies, that they should not be allowed on planes, I guess you really don;t like children, huh? Wow is all I can say. That last paart about lack of parenting skills, is quite an insult to all of us parents out here.
Love to you all,
Sue frm Narrowsburg

Queen Mary
QE2
Olympic
Normandie
Canberra
Nieuw Amsterdam 1939

Oh, I could go on for hours.

Even if it’s named after synthetic sugar.