"Serving on the Big Ships: Life on the Liners" looks at passenger ship history from the perspective of recollections, impressions, and anecdotes of those who sailed these fine, but largely bygone vessels. It covers the last golden age of ocean liner travel, beginning in the 1950s and continuing into the 1970s and '80s. It reflects a pre-airline age-when passengers sailed from A to B, from port to port. It was before liners turned to cruising and where ports were more entertainment than destination. Staff members - from captains to stewards-recall the likes of Cunard & Holland-America on the North Atlantic, the Italian Line to the Mediterranean, Royal Mail Lines to South America, Union-Castle to Africa and P&O-Orient to Australia & the Far East.
Bill Miller is known widely as "Mr Ocean Liner." He has written over 100 books about passenger ships and has authored over 1,000 newspaper and magazine articles. He is a popular guest lecturer aboard modern-day liners and cruise ships. He has sailed on over 450 voyages on some 200 different ships. The recipient of numerous awards, he has also been the subject of a one-hour documentary called Mr Ocean Liner. He has helped found the Museum of the American Merchant Marine, created the passenger ship database for the Ellis Island Museum and been Curator for 20th Century Shipping at New York's South Street Seaport Museum.
The Cunard Queens in the 1960s: Maureen Ryan; Working the Liners From Down Under: Robert Cummins; Hotel Manager: Herbert Jager; The Smell of Curry: Mike McDougle; Sailing with Cunard: Barrie Beavis; Purser Aboard the Great France: Terence Clarkson; Remembering the Ellinis: Leonard Weir; Serving on the Penthouse Deck: Gordon McKay; Purser Aboard the United States: David Fitzgerald; Tense Voyage: Anna D'Ambrosio; British Merchant Service: John Malone; Umbrellas in the Lounge: Giuseppe Cocurullo; Off to Sea: John Jones; On the Run to Bermuda: Ron Evans; Cruise Director: Rick Spath; Blue Funnel to Eastern Waters: Alan Gilchrist; On the Run to West Africa: Tony Costello; British Banana Boats: Alan Hulse; Union Castle to Cape Town: Trevor Blackwell; Onboard P&O's Chusan: Robert Leslie; Fly Cruises to the Med: Brenton Jenkins; Aboard the Luxurious Caronia: Tony Bannon; Bibby to Burma: Robert Gordon; Tipping on Union-Castle: Geoff Edwards; Post-War Luxury: Jim Eldridge; The Great Norway: Cato Christensen; Indian Ocean Sailing: David Andrews; High Luxury on the High Seas: Nick Evans; Popular P&O Liner: Henry Poulton; Peacetime Trooping: Robert Stanhope; Henderson Line to Rangoon: George Munn; Final Days of the Queen Elizabeth/Seawise University: Arthur Taylor; Greek Cruising: Terry Hopley; To the Age of Pandemic & Covid: Scott Peterson
