Elegance of another era keeps old ships afloat.

Publication: The Miami Herald (Miami, Florida) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

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COPYRIGHT 2005 The Miami Herald

Byline: Jay Clarke

Oct. 30--With their idiosyncratic character and decor, some old cruise ships are so ensconced in the hearts of passengers that their retirement is delayed.

While some passengers demand the latest in gyms and rock-climbing walls, others long for the elegance of cruise ships of another era. They keep booking passage on older ships, keeping some liners afloat after others of their generation have been sent to the scrap heap.

"I like the feel, the unique character of older ships," said Jeff Macklin, a Miamian who has sailed several times on the SS Norway and other ships of yesteryear. "Newer ships are homogenized, essentially all the same."

That opinion is shared by many other ship buffs.

"It's a romantic association with the golden age of ocean travel," said Larry Miller, a writer for Cruise Travel magazine who has sailed on more than 200 ships.

"Ships were ships in those days . . . You knew you were at sea," said Michael Algar, a Canadian and former ship officer. "My perception [of today's big ships] is that they are something that could've been built in Las Vegas. They're big boxes -- nice, but they're not ships."

You'll get an argument about that from the cruise lines, but certainly it is true...

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