Canaveral Cruise Line

SS Dolphin IV
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Operator: Canaveral Cruise Lines
Year Built / Last Refurbished: 1956 / 1990
Length / Tonnage: 501 / 13,007
Number of Cabins / Passengers: 293 / 558 (max 692)
Officers / Crew: Greek / International
Operating Area: Year-round Caribbean from Port Canaveral to Freeport, Bahamas every third day. Cruises are typically sold as part of a land package that also includes three days in Orlando theme parks and two days at the beach.

The last cruise ship in the 3 and 4 day Florida - Bahamas cruise trade built for other purposes, the DOLPHIN is a throwback to pre-1970 days when the only ships offering such cruises were old timers unable for any number of reasons to continue in their original trades. Five thousand tonners like the YARMOUTH and EVANGELINE of 1927 (lost to a disastrous 1965 fire as YARMOUTH CASTLE) popularized such cruises when brought to Miami by new owners who touted their 3 night cruises to the Bahamas for a now unbelievable minimum fare of $54.00 (allow for inflation and rampant discounting as such short cruises are even cheaper now though the number of dollars paid is more). Other venerable rebuilt ships joined them doing a great deal to make South Florida the world's leading cruise center today. Like those pioneers, the DOLPHIN began life elsewhere.

Built for Israel in 1956 as part of a war reparations package in Germany, she was delivered to Zim Lines as ZION, a 10,000 ton combination passenger and cargo ship. The second passenger carrier built for the young Jewish state, she spent about ten years hauling up to 313 First and Tourist Class passengers and freight between Haifa, Piraeus, Naples, Lisbon and Kent Street, Brooklyn. Like her sister ISRAEL, the ZION featured attractively decorated public rooms evocative of the Holy Land, plenty of deck space and strictly Kosher food. With only 20 beds permanently reserved for First Class (another 20 or so were interchangeable) these were predominantly Tourist ships, though the length of their voyages made even that class too pricey to compete with jet planes, and in 1966 both ships were sold to Portugal. Running up the houseflag of the Sociedade Geral de Industria e Commercio the ZION began trading from Lisbon to Guinea and Angola in 1966 while her sister went to work in the Madeira/Azores service for Empresa Insulana de Navega‡ o as the ANGRA do HEROISMO. Even under the low costs of Portuguese registry there weren't many years of profitable operation for them. A plan to convert the AMELIA do MELLO into a full time cruise ship was considered but before it could be executed her owners sold her in late 1971 to Greek shipowner J. Vlassopoulos who carried out just such a conversion. He named his new purchase for his Greek hometown, ITHACA, a name which gave entree to a name for his new cruise line, Ulysses Cruises.

Converting this ship into a 13,000 ton cruise liner entailed extensive reconstruction of all existing spaces as well as extension fore and aft of her superstructure to provide room for the entertainment and lounge areas required for her planned 700+ passengers. Involving no pretense of grandeur, designers and owners opted for simplicity and convenience, building well over 200 new cabins and fitting private facilities in all 294 cabins aboard. She emerged a substantially new ship but a very ugly one, her once pleasing profile ruined by a top heavy look forward. Worst was an unusual "bonnet" cladding her funnel installed both to deflect smoke and disguise the ship's origins further but only a shiplover would care...

Avoiding the need to establish an entire cruise operation from scratch, Vlassopoulos arranged a long term charter Thompson Holidays, a UK package tour operator. The ITHACA spent a few seasons with them, operating very inexpensive cruises with British passengers. When Thompsons went bankrupt, the ship found a new home under charter to Canadian tour operator Strand Cruises. Offering 14 day Mediterranean fly-cruise packages to both Canadians and Americans her itineraries were excellent and with budget prices, she was often filled in the summer season. Of course, low prices often means the owner/operator MUST cut back in some expenses and many passengers complained bitterly about the ship. I must say that limiting choice of entree for the Captain's Dinner to Fried Chicken or Hot Dogs with Mustard Sauce (I have the menu) did not exactly place this ship at the top of the heap nor did her compact cabins make much of a hit with all that many passengers either. Strand went belly-up, too, and Vlassopoulos next chartered the ship to Paquet who sent her as DOLPHIN to cruise to the Bahamas from Miami in 1979. At least Paquet redecorated and vastly improved food and service, two items for the most part still in her favor today.

Since her maiden voyage to Brooklyn in 1956 she has been rebuilt, refitted, refurbished or redecorated no less than ten times, so it is obvious that her owners and operators have plenty of faith in this ship. Some of her decor is quite good, I especially like her Cafe Miramar with its bar clad in polished aluminum, modern lighting and flashes of hot red here and there.

When Dolphin ran this ship they touted the excellence of her cuisine though my memories of the goods of her kitchen clashed severely with Dolphin's printed claims...indeed some of the food I ate aboard this ship was frankly terrible and I wouldn't expect her kitchen to have much improved with age...but I might be very pleasantly surprised...I just would not expect much given the ship's now independent ownership and costs of food today versus the low cruise fares a little old ship can charge in the Bahamas trade. Besides sit-down meals in the Barbizon Restaurant on B Deck DOLPHIN passengers are offered breakfast and lunch buffets. These are set up in a small room behind the Cafe Miramar which besides its use as a nightclub after dark obviously doubles as a place to eat by day.

Despite her small size she offers 12 categories of cabins graded from Junior Suite to Category 11, a group of 5 inside cabins equipped with lower and upper berths. These last, located down on D Deck are a bargain even at brochure rates and with the extensive discounting so rampant today can be had for very little money. Rated as Junior Suites are 9 cabins but only two, 511 and 513 could conceivably be so considered, and even these are not large. One of them, cabin 513, used to be the ITHACA's card room. Four such cabins on Atlantis Deck...numbers 438, 440, 441 and 443 hardly qualify. Had they other than double beds the Line could not possibly call them that. If you book this ship, don't bother with Category 2. These small cabins on Atlantis Deck overlooked a covered walkway (and all rooms on Boat Deck overlook the promenade) and offer neither the privacy of other rooms nor are they as big as Category 3 cabins one deck below. With such little difference on tariff between Cat. 3 and 4, you can avoid Cat. 4 and be more comfortable upstairs. And think stairs, for there is but one tiny elevator, a holdover from her days as the ZION, and it's use was limited to First Class passengers. Thus the DOLPHIN is not well suited for wheelchair passengers or others not comfortable with stairs.

Now the only small ship in the Bahamas trade, many people like her intimate size, pleasing decor and casual atmosphere. With her very affordable fares, she draws heavily from the Florida crowd and she has a fair clientele of repeaters who take her several times a year for a short break from everyday living. Fitness fans beware, there is no gym nor is there much room for jogging. During several weeks of the year the ship is heavily booked if not chartered outright to a wide variety of special interest groups so you will do well to inquire if there are any large groups aboard. You might not beat her discounted prices so if money is an item to consider, by all means consider the DOLPHIN if you want to get away by sea for a few days. Think of her if you want a cruise and don't want to be run ragged partying and gaming because you might like this ship, but if you need broad expanses of deck, countless public rooms (the DOLPHIN has somewhat limited deck space, a tiny swimming pool, a big main lounge, small card room and library, casino, video game room, a disco deep down in the ship and not accessible by elevator, and the expected shops) and dazzling atria, a large cabin with TV, and the amenities of the five star ships, then you might find the DOLPHIN lacking, for she cannot and does not even claim to compete with the dazzling newcomers.