CHANDRIS LINERS AND CRUISE SHIPS 1959–1997: FROM IMMIGRANTS TO OPULENCE AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN
June 28, 2019 @ 6:15 pm
Although significantly involved in passenger shipping for less than four decades, the family-owned Chandris Group operated a wider variety of ships and services than virtually any firm of its era, from secondhand liners carrying immigrants from Europe to Australia and converted coastal steamers cruising the Greek islands, to some of the newest and most luxurious cruise ships sailing from North American ports. Fifteen-year-member and current Branch Secretary Doug Newman, whose interest in passenger ships was sparked by a childhood cruise on the then-new HORIZON, presented an illustrated history of Chandris Group’s passenger ships, from the parallel births of Chandris Lines in 1959 and Chandris Cruises in 1960 to the sale of Celebrity Cruises to Royal Caribbean in 1997. His program featured one-time New York regulars like AMERIKANIS, BRITANIS, GALILEO/MERIDIAN, HORIZON AND ZENITH, as well as some less familiar vessels that rarely, if ever, made their way to our waters.
(Photos: Ted Scull and Doug Newman)