Last night I was looking at a souvenir from my first cruise on Carnival Cruise Lines TSS Festivale. I sailed on Festivale in February 1983 She was to me at that time the finest ship ever built. I was so impressed with her 38,000 tons. By today's standards she was tiny. Can you imagine? She carried about 1100 passengers and had about the same staff and crew aboard. With all the pleasant memories I began to wonder "Where is she now?" So a quick search brought me a wealth of information on where ships have gone.TSS Festivale began life in 1962 as the Transvaal Castle and later became the S.A.Vaal. She began operating in October 1978 for Carnival as the TSS Festivale. TSS Festivale was sold in 1996 and became the Island Breeze for Premier Cruises. As the Island Breeze she was not a popular ship. She also did a brief stint as the Big Red Boat III. She did not do well and eventually this ship was reposessed by creditors and was sold for scrap.
I remember my first sight of TSS Festivale. We were on the bus bringing us to the Port of Miami from Miami International Airport. As we drove into the port. I sat there looking out the windows searching for that Carnival crescent on the smokestack. In those days Carnival had not yet adopted the gull wing stack that is their signature now. Finally..........There it was! Carnivals red white and blue crescent. I was so excited I burst into tears. No kidding, I was so emotional over that first glimpse of "my ship". I was slightly embarrassed by the tears until I looked around. Others on the bus were sitting there teary eyed too. TSS Festivale is long gone now. She is a fond memory for me. A ship that had many "lives" and brought joy to many people on cruises. I was one of those lucky people.
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Laura, came across your blog post as I was searching for the answer to this question after the horrific grounding of the Costa Concordia in Italy. I am a former crew member on the Festivale. I sailed for about six months in 1979weekly to San Juan, St. Thomas, and St. Martin, as a Blackjack dealer in the casino. I remember we had a special charter one week to the Panama Canal and Colombia. Another time a bunch of Hollywood types chartered the ship to film a TV movie onboard, and during that voyage we hobnobbed with the stars Telly Savalas, Chad Everett, Michelle Phillips, and others. Never had dealt cards before but they trained me during my first voyage. I shadowed and was supervised by other dealers and practiced on my breaks. I was 23 at the time, in it for the adventure. Though I had an awesome time in the Caribbean, for some it can be a hard life. I loved the Festivale. She was beautiful in her day and I was proud to sail on her. Sad to hear of her ending-saw pictures of her repainted on another website. It was an adventure I will never forget. Glad you have such nice memories too.
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