Spirit of London

If there's no menu on the left click on the dog to take you back to frames.

Courtesy of Martin Mullen

Spirit of London was to have been a sister ship to Norwegian Caribbean Line's Southward, to be named Seaward. Norwegian Caribbean Line pulled out of the deal after price rises following the Italian builders' nationalization, and the hull was sold to P&O.

Featured on this promotion video is Brian Langston-Carter, Ian Gibb, Martin Reed and Tommy Kavanagh the dancing waiter.

Spirit of London was eventually completed in the autumn of 1972. When P&O later acquired Princess Cruises in 1974, Spirit of London was transferred to that fleet, becoming the Sun Princess. Sun Princess was sold to Premier Cruises in 1988, becoming Star Ship Majestic, one of their "big red boats", and she retained the red hull when bought by CTC Lines in 1994 as Southern Cross. In 1998, she became the third ship in the Festival Cruises fleet as Flamenco. Following the collapse of Festival Cruises, Flamenco was sold for $12.25 million to Cruise Elysia, being renamed the New Flamenco.

Courtesy of Dave Harbinson

Harbo writes;

"Please find attached a photo of the former Spirit of London, which I joined in March 1975, by that time it was Sun Princess. It has been renamed a few times since, Starship Majestic, Southern Cross, Flamenco & New Flamenco to name a few. There may be others. This photo was taken last year in the Med, where I saw 4 of my old ships in a very short space of time, all in different livery and they were Sky Princess (now Sky Wonder), Pacific Princess (now Pacific), Island Princess (now Discovery) and of course the Sun Princess (now New Flamenco) a bit of a nostalgia rush."

Details: 17042 Gross Tons, Length: 450ft, 700 Passengers, Crew 300, Speed 20.5 knots, Engines 4 x FIAT 133248 kW

Courtesy of Martin Mullen

Martin Mullen remembers the following;

“The first of her kind in P&O to be powered by medium speed diesel engines she was by the standards of the day extremely manoeuvrable, a fact that Gerry Mac the skipper never failed to demonstrate. I started as J/Eng on Pete Chester's watch, possibly because we had sailed together on the fast cargo liner Strathardle and we together with the other 3rds Mike Brogden and John Hill and Juniors Pete Sara and Kevin ? made up a good team. Willie Dempster was Second, John Pace Chief Elec/O, Pete Pallas and Sean Sergent Jrn/Elects, Mike Baxter 1st Freezer and Brian Firth 2nd Freezer, and Maurice Marriot Chief Engineer. We got on very well and took the ship through sea trials, final installation and commissioning and handover. The maiden voyage from our point of view went without a hitch but the weather was bad and a lot of the passengers complained about the lack of facilities such as a library, when all anybody could do was read. US cruising was incredibly successful being a sell-out from trip to trip. We started with Mexico in the winter and went on to Alaska in the summer. The Americans demanded vast changes to the menus and our fabulous Chef Lou Manzi had a torrid time, but eventually things settled down. Our only competitor was Princess Cruises and predominantly the Island Princess. The rest they say is history.

Courtesy of Alan MacKenzie

Rare artist's impression of Spirit of London before completion. Shows vessel with twin funnels similar to sister-ship Southward. Circa. 1970.

Courtesy of Alan MacKenzie

Early Spirit of London postcard. Circa. 1973

Courtesy of Alan MacKenzie

Spirit of London luncheon menu from Trieste Diesel Engines promotional lunch held onboard in Southampton, 9th November 1972 (click for better photo)

Courtesy of Alan MacKenzie

Bill of fare from the above.

Courtesy of Alan MacKenzie

Trieste Diesels advert on opposite page.