The Last Ocean Liners - A History of Classic Old Passenger Ships and Sailing Timetables

Until the early 1970s, it was routinely possible to schedule extensive worldwide sea journeys by transferring between two or more different ocean liners on point-to-point line voyages. The services were promoted to take advantage of a coordinated system of fares and schedules among cooperating shipping
companies known as the "Interchange Lines".

In August 1962, for example, travelers could begin at New York with an 8 day Atlantic crossing on the Italian Line's superb 29,000 ton Cristoforo Colombo (above) to Gibraltar and Naples. After touring glorious Italy, they would embark on the outbound Asia of Lloyd Triestino for a 24 day adventure to Egypt and the Suez Canal, Aden, Karachi, Bombay, Colombo, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Then passengers sailed home in comfort crossing the Pacific in 19 days aboard American President Lines' President Cleveland via Kobe, Yokohama and Honolulu to San Francisco. In those days fares for this alluring around the world voyage began at only $935 in Tourist Class or $1488 in First Class.

Here we survey a sample of the 1962 schedules and services of the Interchange Lines as they weaved together those romantic routes on splendid ships over exotic seas. Come along. It's sailing hour, so let's enjoy a pleasant journey back into the not-so-distant past when ocean liners
could take you almost anywhere!

For modest additional cost, travelers also enjoyed rewarding stopover tours at connecting points with hotels, sightseeing and ground transportation. Authentic examples are included with each itinerary.

Ships and Worldwide Sailing Schedules of the Interchange Lines