Travel with Ray Signore: The Trip That Started It All

It was noon Friday, July 14, 1961, a date firmly etched in my memory that I set sail for Rotterdam on the SS Nieuw Amsterdam for a six week tour of Europe. It was, what was then called, Le Grand Tour. It was a life changing experience…. one of those defining moments.

Holland America’s SS Nieuw Amsterdam

My parents must have hit the lottery… six weeks in Europe! Talk about planning. For a year my father and mother would meet regularly with the New York Thomas Cook Agent deciding on cities and hotels in the seven countries we would visit. On each leg of the journey we would be met at the train station by the local Thomas Cook Agent, escorted to our hotel, given the vouchers for the local tours, and escorted back to the train station, only to be repeated at the next city. Tours like that don’t exist anymore and believe me it was not wasted on this 12 year old.

1961 was just about the end of the hey day for Trans-Atlantic crossings. Holland America had weekly sailings from New York to Rotterdam, via South Hampton and Le Harve, with their SS Rotterdam and SS Nieuw Amsterdam. While the Nieuw Amsterdam was the older of the two ships, she was known for her elegance and 1930’s art deco decor. Holding to the tradition of the time, the Nieuw Amsterdam was a three class ship… First, Cabin and Tourist. We had a Cabin Class room… Three beds, a private bathroom (not all that common in those days) and two port holes.

It is more than fifty years since that first crossing, and the memory is a bit foggy. Unfortunately the photos have disappeared, they would have helped to jog my recollection, but this is what I do remember….

The crossing took 8 days, with a brief stop in England and France.

We dressed for dinner every night… That meant me too… jacket and tie.

There were no children’s programs, so I was left to my own devices to amuse myself and that I did. I discovered how to maneuver from one end of the ship to the other. With a class ship, the first class lounge was for first class passengers, the cabin class for the cabin class, etc. Movement between those lounges was restricted, unless you discovered the secret passages… up two decks, cross over to mid-ship, down one deck to the aft staircase, and up one deck and voila you were in the First Class Lounge. Great fun for a twelve year old.

I served Mass every day with a traveling Jesuit priest… Fr. Robert Taylor, SJ. He told me that travelers did not have to refrain from eating meat on Friday’s because travel was a hardship. (Remember that rule?)

The midnight buffet was unbelievable… particularly in First Class! Ice sculptures, beautiful pastries. I think I was the only one eating.

I won $15.00 at Bingo, and my father made me buy drinks for the table.

And, I remember asking my mother repeatedly throughout the voyage….”Mom, are you sure I would be considered woman and children”? I saw A Night to Remember a few weeks before we sailed.

In 1961 minors could be listed on a passport with a parent.