I have great memories of sailed as a passenger on the SS _Britannis_ from New Zealand to England and back again in 1972.

Hi Peter; I was 10 almost 11 years old on 19th May 1974 when we Mallabone family; mum dad and my 2 sisters embarked on the Britanis at Southhampton England as immigrants to Australia where we would settle in Adelaide South Australia. We arrived in Adelaide on 15th June 1974. We were fondly known as 10 pound poms; the cost for each person 12 and over was 10 pounds. I recognise some of the rooms for dining, the promenade deck and the cabin with the bunk bed which was the type of cabin on B deck cabin 263 where we slept; we spent all of our time out of the cabin enjoying the sun by the pool and enjoying the many activities; it was wonderful. Thank you for rekindling special memories for me.

My family sailed on this ship in 1971 from the UK to Sydney. We were 10 pound poms. I have been looking for years for information about this ship, only just found it. Thank you for sharing.

We sailed on the SS Australis in October 1969 from Auckland NZ to Melbourne, Fiji, Los Angeles, Acapulco and London, staying and working in the UK and touring Europe before returning on the Britanis via the Canary Islands, Capetown, Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and finally Wellington before returning to Dunedin, flat broke, but delighted with our travels. Thanks for the memories. Ron Esplin.

I grew Up onboard those Chandris Ships, (Britanis, Australis, Amerikanis, Victoria, Fiorita) during the 70's and early 80's. My father served as the Ship's Chief Medical Officer. I did the UK-Australia 3 times and then the Cruises, Caribbean, Scandinavia the Baltics. Indonesia and Mediterranean.

In April 1981 my college choir did a tour (as many school choirs do), but ours was a Caribbean cruise on the Britanis! It was a fantastic time. Still remember the steel drum band playing as we left dock in San Juan, our waiter Theo, the casino, the passenger talent show... Thanks for the memories!

This was brilliant. Looking forward to part 2!

Thanks. Love the older ships. So much more personality than the floating behemoths of today.

Went to Australia on this ship 1974- happy days

Peter, this is great! I'm already on the lookout for Part 2! I rermember when I first discovered the wonderful Britanis and it was love at first sight. It would have been late '75 or every early '76 when I was in the 9th grade and went to a travel agency to get cruise brochures for a class project and one of the agents gave me a stack of brochures that were out of date but were a treasure chest ocean liner pictures. Among the brochures handed to me and that I was allowed to take from the racks was one about the Britanis and I still have it to this day. That two-funnel liner I'd never heard of before was the stand-out ship for me. Back in 2000 I was sitting on a bench at the local mall and got into a conversation with an older gentleman and somehow he was telling me about having been on the Monterey. I was thinking of the one-funnel Monterey but then the man mentioned having been a soldier aboard the ship and how his bunk was in the swimming pool. Oh, THAT Monterey! I gave him an update on what had happened to the ship since World War II. I didn't know then that the former Monterey had recently sunk on the way to the scrapyard and maybe it was better that the veteran I was speaking with didn't know about that. What an interesting situation that your mother already had a connection with the ship that you would later sail on as a passenger. I had the experience of getting a job located in what had once been my father's fraternity house! That was a surprise to learn that the Britanis might have supplied parts for the Ellinis but that the situation was reversed. It would be interesting to know why the decision was made, similar to why the newer Majestic was scrapped in the 1930's and the older Berengaria kept in service. Thank you for all the time and work that went into this video! It's much appreciated.

Just delightful.

Fine presentation. I enjoyed the music background. I owned a travel agency 1975-1985. We sold these ships with confidence. I only wish that I had sailed on this ship. For comparison, I have been on 55 cruises of all descriptions. First was on a similar sized HAL in 1980.

Great job- looking forward to Part 2

Great video peter. While I never got to sail on these beauties when I sailed on the mv horizon from Philadelphia to Bermuda I brought along with me william miller's chandris lines book and I git the captain and staff captain and cruise director to autographed it for me. Wish I could have sailed on some of these beautiful ships

Fantastic video. Enjoyed watching very much. Great work my friend.

Thank you

Such a great video, thank you very much Peter. Can't wait for Part 2 🙂🚢

Love these History videos, hopefully one day you may do one on my personal favorite, another classic two stacker...the Achille Laruo/Willem Ruys :)

That was fun! One of the tikis looks very familiar ! Thanks for sharing your adventures!

Splendid Peter, I'm looking forward to Part 2 - of course.

Absolutely love these videos, thank you for sharing these great histories!

I sailed on this ship as the Chandris Britanis in 1979 from Amsterdam to Genoa. I picked this itinerary out of several offered because it was over 4000 miles - 9 ports in 14 days. I think I booked a cheap share which has sink but you had to go down the hall to shower. As I recall it cost me about $650. I flew from MCO via NYC instead of going out of Miami because I wanted to fly on my first 747. So -KLM NYC-AMS and home ROME-NYC on Alitalia 747then domestic back to MCO.

Love this!! Enjoyed it while having my lunch!

Peter, I’m so happy to see you posting these “history of…” videos here. Your videos are by far the most accurate, detailed and well produced ship history videos I’ve found here on KZfaq! Thank you for documenting these long lost beautiful liners!

A great video thank you

Cruised on a 2 night cruise on the Britanis around 1975 between Melbourne, Australia and Sydney, Australia. I think the ship was continuing on you Britain on a liner voyage after that. I was around 10 years old. Also visited the Australis (sp) which was the former SS America when it came to Melbourne.

Peter, I love this video and only wish I appreciated Britanis more during the one and only time I sailed on her. A gentle reminder that "Lurline" is pronounced "Lur-leen."

How interesting that the parent company of Britanis (Chandris Cruises) actually started Celebrity Cruises as a subsidiary line, hence the huge X's emblazoned on the smokestacks of all Chandris and Celebrity ships. My very first cruise was on the S/S Britanis on July 4, 1993, for five nights. This Thanksgiving I will be on Celebrity's Millennium for four nights, which will be my first Celebrity cruise. Very much looking forward to that! Celebrity is considered a top cruise line in the industry. :-)

People that I worked with on the Caribe1 said Britanis was haunted and still had bullet holes in it, true ?

Same design firm my father worked for for about 20 years and the same design firm who did the SS United States and the America

Is Chandra's line eventually became the celebrity line which is now owned by the Royal Caribbean conglomerate

So she was built right at the beginning of the great depression that must have affected ticket sales

Something I’ve always wondered is has anyone tried to find the Britanis wreck? I’m curious

What song is that? 7:57