The first mega cruise ship
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 20 June 2024
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On 16 January 1988, the world’s largest passenger ship, Sovereign of the Seas, set sail on her maiden voyage around the Caribbean.
She carried more than 2,600 passengers and had five restaurants, nine bars, four pools and a casino.
Rachel Naylor speaks to her captain, Tor Stangeland.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.
(Photo: Sovereign of the Seas. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:29.0 | Newscast, listen on BBC Sounds. BBC World Service and now the Witness History Podcast with me Rachel Naila. |
| 0:42.0 | I'm taking you back nearly 40 years to |
| 0:45.6 | when the world's first mega cruise ship set sail. Sovereign of the seas was the |
| 0:50.3 | first of its kind carrying more than 2,600 passengers and had five restaurants, |
| 0:55.4 | nine bars, four pools and a casino. |
| 0:59.5 | I've been speaking to her captain. It's the 15th of January 1988 and we're in Miami in the U.S. for the |
| 1:10.0 | christening of the world's largest cruise ship, |
| 1:12.5 | Sovereign of the Seas. |
| 1:15.8 | But she wasn't the only record breaker that day, |
| 1:18.2 | as Owner Royal Caribbean's promotional video explained. |
| 1:21.2 | Former First Lady Rosalind Carter had been chosen to christen Royal Caribbean's new flagship. |
| 1:27.0 | Champagne Tatenture of France had created the world's largest bottle of Champagne, |
| 1:32.0 | exclusively for this ceremony. |
| 1:33.9 | I'm a prison you sovereign of the scenes. |
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