Languishing in New York - Part 1

With the second of Universal Cruise Line's Caribbean cruises having come to such a disastrous conclusion, Caribia limped back to New York after temporary repairs had been made. The promoting company Diners Fugazy now being forced to cancel all remaining cruises that had been scheduled.

To begin with, Caribia was anchored in Gravesend Bay as various legal claims against the promoters were launched. Among these were two major law suits, one for $1.6million severance pay for the crew, the other for $1.5million being Cunard's first preferred mortgage on the ship.

Nevertheless, Andrew Konstaninidis, ever the optimist, then announced that he intended to restore the ship for a regular New York to the Bahamas service. He was however in need of up to $750,000 to complete the necessary repairs! Needless to say, the funding never materialised, so the ship was moved to a more secure mooring between the piers at the foot of 35th street.

One Final Insult!

The following spring Caribia was moved once again, back to her anchorage in Gravesend Bay. What happened next was bizarre! Because of potential disqualification and removal of insurance cover, Mr Konstaninidis was forced to berth the Caribia properly. So the ship was moved to a mooring between Piers 84 and 86, despite not having been given permission to do so by the port authorities. The New York police were immediately instructed to issue the Caribia with a “Parking Ticket”!

Mr Konstaninidis’ fortunes were to change slightly for the better by 1971, though only by him forcing city officials to show due cause as to why they would not provide a berth. Co-incidentally, the same Court of Appeal decision found in his favour on the matter of the outstanding Crew wages claim, which was not contested.

The End is Near

Once again, more ambitious plans were announced for Caribia by Mr Konstaninidis. Apparently a crew from Honduras would be manning the ship to bring her back to sailing condition. Caribia was to cruise in the Bahamas and Caribbean, and then be based at San Juan, Puerto Rico during the winter months.

However, major repairs to Caribia's main generator were still outstanding, and the shortfall in his funding for these new plans had now grown to $2million! As before, this funding did not materialise, so from 1971 onwards Caribia remained at her allotted mooring between Pier 54 and 56. Co-incidentally, these were piers once used by Cunard 40 years previously.

Many more months passed by, but even as late as November 1973, as the letter sent to Wayne Morris [seen left] shows, it looks as though there was probably some hopeful “wheeling and dealing” still going on behind the scenes. Clearly, the ambitious “Caronia rebirth” fantasy was still being clung to as tightly as ever. Surely, the local agency could not seriously mean “in the same grand style as the “Caribia” was known for”, could they? (!)

The picture of the “Caribia as she is in New York now” referenced in this letter is shown below. The other picture was of her maiden arrival there nearly 5 years previously, and can be seen on Page 2.

Beginning of the Final Act

However, by early 1974, it was time to make a final decision. With Caribia now costing her owner anything up to $50,000 a month for maintenance, rents and wages, along with the now soaring price of fuel oil, the future looked very bleak indeed. However, scrap metal was rising in value, so an eventual offer of around $3.5million, from a Taiwanese ship breakers yard, would become harder and harder for him to resist.

Reluctantly, the Caribia was sold for scrap. However, she was not to leave New York without first being completely gutted of all her removable fittings. The shed of Pier 54 was filled from end to end, though the sale of these items happened a month or two after Caribia had been towed away.

Eventually, quietly and unannounced, with not even a flag flying, on 27 April 1974 the Caribia was towed out of New York by the German ocean-going tug “Hamburg” behind nearly a mile of tow-line. Ahead was potentially a 100 day voyage to Kao-hsiung, via the Panama Canal.

The story continues with…

• Rob Mason's 1974 Caribia Visit
• Annette Donner's account of Caribia's final demise at Guam
• Pier 54 - An Art-Deco sale like no other!
• Photos of Pier 54 Sale items (1)
• Photos of Pier 54 Sale items (2)

If you can contribute any information, do please get in touch…