FAIRSTAR Decked! (A Top-to-Bottom Tour)
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- čas přidán 22. 08. 2024
- Taking footage shot on board in 1993, this is a top to bottom tour of P&O's S.S. FAIRSTAR, the most popular cruise ship to sail in Australian waters. In addition to the tour, a history of the ship, from her origins as the British trooper OXFORDSHIRE to her conversion to an emigrant liner for Sitmar and then her halcyon days of cruising from 1974 until her final sailing in 1997 are covered in this 25 minute Decked! video. Hope you enjoy and if so, please spread the world about MidShipCinema, hit like and if you haven't already, please subscribe! Many thanks! #P&OCruises #Australiancruising #vintagecruiseships #SSFairstar #TheFunShip
Thanks for returning me to my youth, Peter
Memories of wearing a hula skirt in the Disco still haunt me 😂
Hah, well, that makes this all the more worthwhile. :)
As per usual, a brilliant documentary on a ship that was, in a sense, the most popular cruise ship of her time operating out of Sydney. Musicians who became household names in Australia performed on this fine ship. The Seekers, The Bee Gees, just to name a few. Fairstar was a credit to her builders and is still missed to this day.
Though I never sailed on her, I have an enduring memory of lusting over a cruise brochure I picked on the way home after school from a travel agent in Mascot. It wasn’t until 2017 at the age of 56 before we went on our first real cruise. Fairstar looks small compared to today’s offerings…but looked like a lot of fun anyhow. Thanks for sharing, you did really well.
Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to comment. :)
Hi Peter! My family and I sailed from Southampton to Mombasa in 1966 on this ship when she was the trooper TS Oxfordshire (TS standing for "Twin Screw"). My dad ´s regiment, the Staffords were sent, with their families to Kahawa, a married quarters complex just outside Nairobi. We travelled the route: Southampton - Gibralter (through a stormy Bay of Biscay) - Valetta, Malta - Port Said - Aden (with sand storm) - Mombasa; a two week cruise! I was seven at the time and it was absolutely wonderful!! So glad you have posted this film with the history of the Fairstar and her subsequent career as a successful and very popular cruise ship. I´m now over seventy and will never forget this beautiful ship! Good on you, from an aging Pom, Les
Wow, thanks so much, Leslie! I'm so delighted to hear from someone who actually experienced the ship in her first incarnation. Thank you so much for watching and sharing here. Fantastic!
I immigrated to Australia as a 10 year old boy in 1966 the most exciting time of my life
We sailed to Australia on the Fairstar Christmas 1964/65. Great trip.
Very cool! She was brand new as FAIRSTAR then. Must have been a great experience. Thank you.
We also emigrated on that sailing - my parents, four brothers and myself! Had my 9th birthday and Christmas onboard. As I recall, we were the last ship to leave Southampton that day due to bad weather, and OMG, bad it certainly was! Bay of Biscay was "at it's best"! My poor mother was so seasick she said she wanted the ship to sink (hopefully she didn't mean it!). Fantastic journey/experience, and I spent many many years of my life travelling on ships later on because of it I'm sure.
Ahhh memories! Great video. Thank you.
Thanks for watching and commenting. :)
Thank you - great memories of sailing on the Fairstar from Station Pier in Melbourne to Southampton, via Perth, Durban, Cape of Good Hope, Tenerife, and Rotterdam, at the age of 11 years old in 1972
True Lady of The Sea! Thanks for the tour.
Thanks so much for watching and posting. :)
Thanks Peter.... Another well produced and narrated view into a bygone era... My era of passenger ship experience... The 1960's 70's and 80's ...
Sadly no longer affordable to many.
Thank you so much, Chris. Miss those kind of ships.
This was wonderful to watch, myself and husband were 2 £10 poms and we sailed from Southampton to Australia in 1972, we were newly weds having married 4 months before we left for Melbourne. We stopped in Casablanca, Tenerife, Capetown and Durban, all this for a tenner! thank you Peter, from Sue in Ireland, x
Wow, fantastic memories, Sue! Thank you so much for sharing and posting. Very cool, indeed! :)
My family and I returned to the UK in 1969 from Melbourne to Southampton on the Fairstar via Tahiti, Panama, Curacao, and Lisbon. I was seven years old at that time. We watched Neil Armstrong step foot on the moon the day before we sailed.
I dont think she was the same after P&O took her over. I worked on her when she was with Sitmar Cruises and her yellow funnel. Wonderful memories. God bless her
Very small and cramped but seems to have a charm that a lot of big ship's don't .
She was all about being at sea and not trying to make people forget that they were at sea. :)
@@midshipcinema I Was Traveled With The TSS Fairstar In Christmas 1994!!!!
@@shipspiros3766 Very nice. Same cruise.
Nice recap of Fairstar the Funship. You are right , there has never been a ship that has replaced Fairstar in the eyes of Australians. Looking through the pictures the ship looks comfortable, but so different to the liners of today.
That Fairstar 1983 brochure you showed at 4:48 was actually the first time I ever looked through a cruise brochure as a 9 year old. I remember we could have gone on a 9 night cruise - their shortest cruise in that brochure - to Noumea and Vila for only AUD $625 per person for a family in an A Dock 4 berth cabin.
In the mid-80s there was actually quite a lot of capacity in Australian waters with the Fairstar, the Oriana, and the luxury Princess Mahsuri sailing out of Sydney year round, as well as half-yearly summer seasonal visits by the Canberra and Sea Princess.
Considering Australia had a population of only 15 million in 1983 and people travelled far less then, it shows there is definitely a place and capacity for a ship or ships to cruise year round from Australian waters to win our hearts again.
Thanks so much for watching and posting, Gilby. She was a legend and is much missed.
Thanks Peter, the Fairstar had a unique atmosphere which the ships that came after her never replicated, especially Fair Princess. She didn't feel small or cramped on board although the cabin bathrooms were very compact. The ship was comfortable, the food was good and she was pleasant to sail on.
Thanks so much, Stephen and Karen! SO glad you watched and appreciate your posting.
went in Jan 1981, 30c a can of beer , spirits were 60c , cocktails a dollar
NICE, once again. A legend.
The legend of Down Under, for sure. Thanks, my friend. :)
Sailed on her twice in the early nineties. So many happy memories on board. Don’t know why, but it really affected me seeing her last picture, beached, in India. 😥 I understand, but it’s so sad to me.
Thanks so much for watching and commenting. So glad you had a chance to sail in this interesting classic. :)
Another wonderful report against forgetting such wonderful passenger ships. Thank you Peter!.
Where is the time machine to go back to the early 70's to travel from Europe to Australia 32 days on a simple comfortable passenger ship like the FAIRSTAR - and maybe back to Europe on one of the popular one class ships like FLAVIA, FAIRSKY, ELLINIS, AUSTRALIS, BRITANIS, LEONID SOBINOV...
I would immediate sell my soul for such a voyage 🗺
Thank you so much, Frank! If only that time machine could be used for all sorts of ship related things. I would dearly love to have done that voyage in any of the P&O, Orient Line, Lloyd Triestino, CTC and Chandris ships, given the chance! Even FLAVIA, although she was a bit small and probably too crowded, even for me, for such a long haul. Ah well. At least we still have our souls! :)
I sailed from Australia to the UK on Fairstar in 1971. I was 5 yrs old but still have amazing memories of that trip.
Fantastic! So many people emigrated on her and later went on to cruise in her. Thank you for posting.
I miss the great Italian food and service that sitmar ships had. I sailed fairwind and fairsea as often as possible.
Thanks for posting. Yes, FAIRSEA and FAIRWIND were top shelf in terms of food and service, built for cruising as the line voyages were drying up. FAIRSTAR was a nice ship but nowhere near the other two in terms of luxury.
Amazing and a nostalgic yet bunch of happy and sad memories. My parents were £10 poms and we sailed from Southampton with my 4 siblings, me at 2 1/2 yrs young on the Fairstar's inaugural trip to Australia. I do not directly recall anything or have any photos of that trip although I have our Emigration, Boarding and Clearance papers and a blurred 'at sea' promo photo taken from afar......, but now... I have a whole video bringing tears to my eyes on when, where and how our family started our new life here in Australia. RIP Fairstar. Thank you Peter.
Oh, I'm so happy you found the video and that it sparked those incredible memories! Thanks so much for watching and sharing here. :)
Sharp end bar and dance floor at the back
It's in there. :)
When I went on in dec 1984 they had a little pizza bar that constantly served slices. It was either at the bow or stern I can’t remember. I do remember being about to get alcohol served to me and I was well short of legal drinking age :)
It is shown in the video up forward, where I filmed it on sailing day. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Thank you so much for posting .
Thanks so much for watching, Richard! :)
Splendid! Few liners and cruise ships have really achieved such popularity and affection and you have done her proud in your videos of her. Our loss was Australia's gain as I understand that when she operated cruises out of Southampton in the early 1970s she was just not popular. Perhaps in those days P&O dominated the market here.
Thank you, Clive! It is such an honor for you to see these videos. I'm so glad I was able to get the footage and now finally do something with it. I actually think it's strange she didn't do well in the U.K. She had good facilities for that time and was certainly on par with the Chandris ships, which were popular there. But that was also a horrible year and pretty much the last gasp for a lot of lines, so good on FAIRSTAR for finding her niche.
@@midshipcinema Peter, I suppose that part of her problem operating out of Southampton was that she was a single ship operation. So only one cruise every two weeks, when P&O still had several ships, so could offer a wider diversity of cruises. Also, probably Sitmar was not so well known here as a cruise operator.
Classic ship, great photography and perfectly chosen music backdrop. With wide teak promenade decks, a well-placed disco ball and ever a 'Jungle bar' the onboard experience must have been something quite wonderful.
Thanks so much, Grant! Never got to use the Beer Garden/Jungle Bar during our time on board but definitely loved those promenades!
i used to love sailing on her
Thankyou Peter,very good,such a shame you couldn't have done the same for the old Fairsea,which i travelled on in '64 and Castel Felice.Visited Fairstar many times in Port Melbourne in the 60;s.
Thank you, Rob! LOL, I barely made it to FAIRSTAR but love looking at brochures and images of the FAIRSKY, the first FAIRSEA and the beautiful CASTEL FELICE. I did visit the second FAIRSEA and FAIRWIND often and in their latter incarnations, too.
@@midshipcinema All your work is Brilliant,Thankyou for all the Historical work you have done over the years Peter.,very much appreciated by thousands around the World.
@@robstowe7679 Wow, well those are very kind words, indeed! Thank you for the inspiration to keep on doing these. I have so much footage and there are so many ships in my video files, I could be doing this forever and still not have enough time. :)
Great video, It brought back lots of amazing memories for me, I loved my experience on this ship, I was given a 14 night cruise for my 21st birthday on the Fairstar from my parents in 1983, It was really nice to see the history of this great ship, thanks for sharing.
Such nice memories FAIRSTAR gave so many. Thanks for watching and posting.
A wonderful documentation of Fairstar!
Thanks so much, Chris! :)
Thanks for sharing this and other videos of classic liners. It’s great that there is someone with the passion you have for this to document and share for us all to enjoy. Growing up in Sydney, I saw the Fairstar more times than I can remember, but unfortunately never once sailed on her. The closest I got was one Sunday afternoon on a vintage boat on the harbour around 1993 and we cruised all the way down to middle harbour next to her as she was leaving.
My pleasure. Indeed, obsession, lol. Thanks so much for watching and for the kind message. :)
We left Southampton 12 July 1964. Cabin 313 Deck B. Reached Melbourne August 8th.
Fantastic! I love hearing from those who sailed in her liner days. Thank you for posting here.
Very nice video, Peter. Well done and thanks for sharing!
Thank you for the kind comment and for watching! :)
Very compelling video as always Peter. Never got a chance to sail on FAIRSTAR, but growing up in Auckland with a (partially-obstructed) harbour view, we got the binoculars and telescope out whenever she sailed in. Love the stylized canoe wall art piece and the geometric mid-century sconces. Alang is a swear word to me where a lot of magnificent ships have met their fates.
Thank you so much, Logan! You must have seen some fantastic ships in Auckland during those years. Hope to get there one day when the world settles down. Yes, that canoe and those dining room sconces and even the ones in the Cinema were fantastic. Otherwise, she was pretty basic but so full of character.
Awesome footage!
Thank you. :)
This was another wonderful video. Thank you for the tour of her past. Thoroughly enjoyable. I can't wait for the next deck by deck video. Thank you Peter.
Thanks so much for watching, Deborah! Getting ready to work on the next one, which will be coming soon! :)
@@midshipcinema you're welcome, I'll be watching for it.
Peter, as usual an amazing video with much and awesome footage! Thank you so much
Thanks so much for watching and posting! :)
Awesome!
Thank you. :)
Your films are so amazing .. you really make us feel like we're on board with you. Loving all of these!
That's so kind of you, Anthony! Thanks so much for posting! :)
I grew up in Sydney and I remember the ad jingle about "Fairstar the Fun Ship, the Sun Ship, the One Ship" used on TV at the time :-) BTW, did I see, printed on a lifeboat at one point, "Fairstar, Monrovia', indicating that the owners had 'sunk' so low as to register the ship in Liberia?
Hey had deep draughts excellent in the ocean
cool, i did a video on her fleet mate fairsky. a former ww2 carrier
Thank you. FAIRSKY was a nice ship. Wish I had a chance to see her but she was gone too soon.
Muito bom rever esses antigos de cruzeiro eu mesmo fui num navio bonitinho chamado grand mistral depois no nomarch royal caribbean iria no msc seaview mas a pademia mudou tdo ! Os cruzeiros no brazil tiveram surto outra vez
Thank you, Cyro. Sorry to hear about the pandemic there, too. It is definitely affecting the industry, here, once again.
Thank You Peter another Awesome Video
Thank you, Bud! :)
people called her the f....ship (not riend).i never sailed on her...well, i'm glad you didn't comment further on the lido deck...HAHAHA! it looks like...oh...excuse me....
I remember it known as Fairstar the F*#k ship! 😂
That unusual to see a wedding chapel and self serve laundry on this ship I wounder if the other cruise ships have that too
All Princess ships have both.
great episode Peter. what if any items were you able to save from this ship?
Thank you. Unfortunately, she was scrapped a few years before I began rescuing things from Alang.
23:24 RIPA is Aussie slang for fantastic.
Thank you,
I had 18 nite cruise in 1976 or 1977 we sailed to savu savu suva another 2 islands in Fiji then to Nu kalufa Auckland then thru Tasman sea that section was horrible you could not see a person dinning or on any deck lots of vomiting we were suppose to arrive sydney at 7 am we arrived at 11 pm almost 16 hours late
But i must say that food on fairstar was excellent much better than current food serving on p&O now or even princess
On cold nite or cold day they use to serve soup while you on deck also bufet surve as supper on outside deks like all kind of italian cold meat
I been going on cruises lately 4 times a year nothing like fair star RIP
Very cool memories. Thank you for posting them! :)
Just a typo - I meant 1956 - it was before uhuru i keya and the Mau Mau were very acrive then.
I loath the cruise liners of today. A free ticket would cut it
In the zodiac lounge when it was operational and the bar was open did you have to go to the bar to get each one of your drinks or what the floating waiters doing that task so people wouldn't have to get out of their seats during a show?
Pretty sure there were waiters but don't recall.
why did you change the name of the channel?
I think it represents the nature of the channel better.
Her various updates over the years seem to have been done with sympathy and discretion. Sometimes ships that have been refitted over and over end up with an incoherent look...but those interiors work, don't they? She seems to have been 'bigger' than her gross tonnage would suggest.
In retrospect, I agree that the additions were sympathetic to the original bits. I did prefer her afterdecks before the additions but understand why they were redone. All of those ships seemed so much larger than their contemporaries. For instance CANBERRA at 46,000 tons seemed huge while a 46K ton ship today would be considered intimate. Thanks for watching and posting, Richard. :)
When ships were ships. These new floating hotels yuk. Lego blocks.
Is it just me or is that meant to resemble a phallic symbol? 12:36
Well, that's a first and quite an astute observation. Clever architects?
Looks old. The fairsea and fairwind omg red and pink mess.