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Maiden Voyage Brochure, Deck Plan & APC’s Bankruptcy

This page contains three special items; 1. The maiden voyage brochure. 2. The rebuilt ships deck plan, from the back page of the brochure. And 3. A few details n regard to Aloha Pacific Cruises’ downfall!

The brochure presented is extremely rare and I have one of just the very few surviving copies left in the world, and I am pleased to present it to you here! The only page I did not scan was the fare page, but I am sure that you will find the description of the itinerary most interesting!

Please Note: The brochure is from the Author’s private collection, however I originally purchased it from www.nautiques.net one of the finest maritime memorabilia sites and at favorable prices! I have dealt with this excellent dealer for many years and have come to know its owner Mr. Don Leavitt who is will me happy to send you a update of the latest items of passenger/cruise ships items availabe. You van contact him at dml@nautiques.net.

This menu hails from the evening after a day in Norfolk and a day tour to Williamsburg

Below there is the actual dinner menu and then the back cover of the menu

SS Monterey Deck Plan

Needs no explanation, but this napkin survives the Aloha Pacific Cruises days!

As mentioned, all items are from the author’s private collection!

APC’s Bankruptcy Details in Short!

I will first place below the concluding remarks of the extensive FDA report as found on the previous page covering the details of Aloha Pacific Cruises and the rebuilding of SS Monterey. This statement will set the scene for the newspaper reports that I will present below.

“On July 20, 1989, the U.S. attorney's office filed a motion for default judgment against Aloha Pacific Cruises, Inc., Kurtz, Mathiesen and Jennings, based on the original injunction complaint to keep them from serving food until the sanitation violations were corrected. The court entered the default that same day, but, as of this writing, has not imposed a permanent injunction as requested by the government.

A footnote to this sea saga is the question: What is to be the fate of the Monterey, which has lain idle in Honolulu Harbour since May 1989? According to an article in The Honolulu Advertiser, federal Judge Samuel King last November granted a motion to auction off the luxury liner, despite a protest by its bankrupt owner, the SS Monterey Limited Partnership. Judge King, noting the $30,000 to $40,000 needed to maintain the ship each week, judged the vessel too valuable to let deteriorate while several major legal issues surrounding it were settled.

If the vessel sails again in U.S.-flag service, FDA Interstate Travel Sanitation specialists will re-inspect it to protect the health of interstate travellers. As of this writing, no successful bidder had appeared, and the ship was tied up in Honolulu.”

Next I will add several Newspaper reports that will provide two very different views regarding the situation on APC’s bankruptcy and the situation that followed, for obviously it had an ongoing effect on the people who had already booked on the Monterey and paid deposits, etc!

Aloha Pacific Cruises make and attempt to avoid bankruptcy:

Aloha Pacific Cruises File for Chapter 11.

February 13, 1989: From the Washington Post.

WASHINGTON - Aloha Pacific Cruises, a tour company based in Virginia that operates the liner SS Monterey between California and Hawaii, will file for protection from its creditors after efforts to keep the company afloat failed.

Aloha's chief operating officer, John Broughan said the company would seek protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code because of “severe cash shortages and because efforts to obtain additional financing were unsuccessful.”

Monterey Saga:

Cruise Ship Anchored By Lawsuits.

August 20, 1989: From the Chicago Tribune.

“After seeing an advertisement for the S.S. Monterey in January, my wife and I decided to take a cruise for our 30th wedding anniversary,” wrote a Chicago suburbanite. “In February we learned that Aloha Pacific Cruises (the ship’s operator) filed for bankruptcy. Since that time we have tried to contact someone at Aloha Pacific, but the phones were disconnected. Now that we waited this long (without hearing), we decided to sign up for another cruise. Because Aloha Pacific has not provided any information to its customers, we had to make other arrangements.”

The writers were among hundreds of people who were looking forward to a Hawaii cruise on the refurbished 33-year-old ship, once the pride of the venerable Matson Line. Now they want their money back to pay for their alternative vacations.

The couple, who asked us for anonymity, booked their cruise through the Park Ridge Travel Bureau, in that north suburb. They paid a deposit of $1,158 toward their seven-day cruise, which was to cost $4,494 for an inside double cabin, including air fares and transfers.

The Park Ridge Travel Bureau said that, after learning of Aloha Pacific’s bankruptcy petition, it was unable to reach the firm at its Alexandria, Va., office, and subsequently learned the cruise line had moved to Burlingame, Calif.

Gert Fox, the couples travel consultant, said she called the California sales office about a month ago and left a message on a recording machine, but never received a return call. Aloha Pacific phones in both Alexandria and Burlingame now are disconnected.

“We wanted to put this couple on something special for their anniversary, and this is what happened to them,” said Fox.

The Monterey case now is mired in a tangle of legal suits, and it is anyone’s guess if or when refunds will be forthcoming.

Last month the principals of Aloha Pacific, S.S. Monterey Ltd. Partnership, filed a $135 million damage suit in U.S. District Court in Washington against Wartsila Marine Industries, the Finnish shipbuilder that was contracted to overhaul and refurbish the old ship. A similar suit also was filed in Honolulu by the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots, a minority owner of the ship. Both suits charge the shipbuilder with fraud, alleging that it failed to do certain things agreed upon in the contract to refurbish the ship.

In April, a plan to attract new investors and to reorganize the lines $50 million debt under the provisions of Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Act fell through. Chapter 11 also protects the firm from its creditors. A Honolulu court subsequently permitted Wartsila and its U.S. representative, the Connecticut Bank & Trust Co., to foreclose on the ship.

The 600-passenger vessel then was seized by U.S. marshals in Honolulu, where it remains anchored. The owners asked the court to stop Wartsila from auctioning off the vessel following the foreclosure.

S.S. Monterey also was sued by American Hawaii Cruises, a competitor, who asked that the Monterey be stripped of its American flag status because excessive work was done in a foreign shipyard.”

SS Monterey Heads for a New Life:

As a footnote to this ocean going saga the question is, what was the fate of the Monterey, a ship that had laid idle in Honolulu Harbour since May 1989 because she never measured up to FDA hygiene and safety standards? Eventually federal the Hon. Judge Samuel King in November 1989 granted a motion to auction off the luxury ship, despite a protest by its bankrupt owner, the SS Monterey Limited Partnership. Judge King, noted that at least US$30,000 to $40,000 was needed to maintain the ship each week, and judging the ship too valuable to allow her to deteriorate whilst several major legal issues surrounding it were being settled, she was placed on the market.

After her disastrous time with Aloha Pacific, she was first sold to “Coral Cruises” but she was resold to “Naviera Panocean” of Panama. However, thankfully she quickly found a new home with the excellent Star Lauro, previously known as Flotta Lauro Lines. A little later the company became MSC or Mediterranean Shipping Cruises and the SS Monterey became a huge success through to 2006.

However the SS Monterey’s story with Star Lauro and then with MSC will follow on the next four pages!

Here we see a Star Lauro postcard of the SS Monterey

Postcard from the Author’s private collections

The MSC Cruises SS Monterey seen at anchor off Santorini

Photograph by & © Johan Coeman

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INDEX

Page One … SS Monterey & Mariposa, the Matson Lines / Pacific Far East Line (PFEL) Liners.

Page Two … Matson / PFEL Photo Album.

Page Three … Matson / PFEL Cabin Plan.

APC Cruises … Aloha Pacific Cruises’ Monterey 1987 to 1988.

APC Cruises 2 … SS Monterey maiden voyage brochure, Deck Plan of the rebuilt ship & details re the companies end!

Page Four … Monterey as a Star Lauro / MSC Cruises cruise ship.

Page Five … Monterey - MSC- photographs from various sources.

Page Six … Monterey - MSC - an excellent series of photographs by Johan Coeman.

Page Seven … Monterey - MSC - Cabin Plan.

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Commenced in the Passenger Shipping Industry in May 1960

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Photographs on ssmaritime and associate pages are by the author or from the author’s private collection. In addition there are some images that have been provided by Shipping Companies and private photographers or collectors. Credit is given to all contributors. However, there are some photographs provided to me without details regarding the photographer/owner concerned. I hereby invite if owners of these images would be so kind to make them-selves known to me (my email address may be found on www.ssmaritime.com only), in order that due credit may be given.

This notice covers all pages, although, and I have done my best to ensure that all photographs are duly credited and that this notice is displaced on each page, that is, when a page is updated!