Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Are there theaters on cruise ships?

This is topic Are there theaters on cruise ships? in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Allison Parsons (Member # 2728) on 10-11-2008, 10:52 AM:

Yes, a totally random question. But a friend of mine is going on a cruise this week, and I was pondering to myself if they had movie theaters in them. If so, do they have projectors, or is that a big ball of film on the floor disaster waiting to happen? I've never been on a cruise ship, let alone seen one up close and personal. I've heard you don't notice the wave action since the boat is so big.

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 10-11-2008, 10:57 AM:

Probably low-grade consumer projectors in a small room running DVD if anything.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-11-2008, 11:18 AM:

Back in the days of real ocean liners there were real film theaters on board. Several ocean liners were even 70mm equipped! Ahhh the good old days, those were REAL SHIPS with almost as many crew members as passengers all there to attend to you! I think todays cruise ships represent more of a floating cattle corral than anything else... who would want to get away for a vacation and go to sea with 6000 or more other people?? Cruise ships may have something along the lines of what Joes says but more likely being a TV in your room with pay per view.

Mark

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 10-11-2008, 12:40 PM:

One of my employees just got back from a cruise and she watched two movie on the ship. I don't remember which ones they were, but this ship does in fact have a theatre.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 10-11-2008, 01:24 PM:

To emphasize what Mark G. said, this comes from Thomas Hauerslev's in70mm site:

quote:
Two DP70 (1741+1744) with upward projection angle. Launched 19.01.1962. The S/S France was the longest ship in the world (316 m). 664 seats (185 on balcony). Projectors mounted on jacks and had to be adjusted before each performance. Passengers on maiden voyage to New York saw premiere of new French film "La Fayette" in 70mm on 10 m screen. Wessel renamed "Norway". Projectors taken out and installed in Todd-AO Studios #1, Hollywood, USA.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 10-11-2008, 02:06 PM:

I think you'll find that the Walt Disney Cruise line ships have both stage and movie theatres in them...they sure have at least one largish auditorium. I would suspect that they have both film and digital on board but would definitely be switching to all digital.

Steve

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 10-11-2008, 02:50 PM:

Royal Caribbean ships have a screening room and movies are shown daily. Carnival shows movies in one of their lounges once or twice per cruise. Both lines rely on video projection and movies run continuously on cabin TVs.

Allison: Most cruise ships have stabilizers to offset the wave action. When I cruised to Alaska the ship had a noticeable list to starboard as we encountered heavy winds coming from the West the first night out. Other than that, the remainder of the cruise was very smooth. I have cruised the Caribbean several times and all were very smooth sailing.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 10-11-2008, 04:00 PM:

Video, mostly run over the pool on something that looked a lot like a scoreboard. Louis

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 10-11-2008, 06:50 PM:

First cruise I took had 2 Kinton 16/35mm projectors.

Posted by Joshua Waaland (Member # 287) on 10-11-2008, 10:22 PM:

I've been on three cruises so far and all of them had movies. Royal Caribbean had a separate theater that ran video projectors all day long and the other two cruises I took were on Princess ships. Both of those also used video projectors but the movies only ran during the day because they shared the stage theaters.

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 10-12-2008, 02:57 PM:

Back in the late 80's /early 90's we were visited by one of the cruise lines ,Cunard I think, as they were interested in putting an IMAX theatre on one of their new liners. sadly never materialised.

Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 10-12-2008, 05:15 PM:

Many (medium to long) distance ferries have onboard cinemas (DVD or VHS source) either designed as a cinema, or converted from a random room. Sealink (British Railways) had an ambitious plan back in the late 1980s, for their cross channel routes.

quote:
The Platner team and Sealink had actually come up with the idea of installing a 360 degree cinema on board the new sister ships. With the design work completed and construction actually in hand, the project was scuppered. Special licenses had to be obtained from Disney who owned the copyright on the 360 concept. They were apparently happy to sell the licenses, but would not sell Sealink any of the films to show - so Sealink would have had to make their own films
especially for the Fantasia and Fiesta. The cost would have been exorbitant, so the project was pulled, the Rock Box being completed beneath the dome instead.

At no stage does consideration appear to have been given to the potentially doubly nauseating effects of watching a 360 degree movie during a rough crossing...

From This site (Index for ship)

quote:
Two DP70 (1741+1744) with upward projection angle. Launched 19.01.1962. The S/S France was the longest ship in the world (316 m). 664 seats (185 on balcony). Projectors mounted on jacks and had to be adjusted before each performance. Passengers on maiden voyage to New York saw premiere of new French film "La Fayette" in 70mm on 10 m screen. Wessel renamed "Norway". Projectors taken out and installed in Todd-AO Studios #1, Hollywood, USA.

Cinema onboard SS France (Later SS Norway) Picture Source

Unfortunately this ship met her death on the beach in Alang India, earlier this year.

Posted by Joe Tommassello (Member # 4632) on 10-13-2008, 11:55 AM:

quote: Steve Guttag
I think you'll find that the Walt Disney Cruise line ships have both stage and movie theatres in them

It's been a few years but Disney ships definitely had 35mm film. In fact they showed us "Finding Nemo" at midnight the night before the theatrical release. My daughter probably still has the "I saw it first..at sea!" pin they gave out. The ship I was on (the "Wonder" I think) had a designated movie theater that seated about 200-250 and a larger room equipped for stage shows that had to seat near 1000 if not more! 1000 people watching Finding Nemo at sea. Very cool.

Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 10-14-2008, 10:32 PM:

Gordon H. Bell served as projectionist on several Cunard/White Star ocean liners and posted photos of their projection booths and auditoriums on Film-tech along with running commentaries. I discovered his posts (there were only four, but they ewere extensive) serendipitously while searching "Brenkert." (That's how I first discovered Fi;m-tech.) I just searched again, but cannot find his posts.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 10-14-2008, 10:58 PM:

A flat-mate of mine in the early 90's had a gig as a projectionist on the 'Achille Lauro' running 16mm twice a day. The rest of the time was his to do whatever. Food and drinks were free for him from memory.

He was amazed the gunshot holes had never been covered up from the hijacking 5 or so years earlier.

Posted by Dick Vaughan (Member # 540) on 10-15-2008, 03:07 AM:

If he can't remember if the drinks were free then they must have been!! [beer]

Posted by Jonathan Worthing (Member # 803) on 10-15-2008, 06:11 AM:

The Fishguard (UK) to ROSSLARE(Eire) ferry had a 200 seat cinema on board.

They originally ran with 2 GK37s, but when we went on board they were using a RGB Projector.

The original projectors were still on the ship but they had not been used for a long time.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 10-15-2008, 06:15 AM:

Dick,

Didn't you have a Kalee projector from the Royal Yacht 'Britannia' on display at the Museum at one time? I know I saw it somewhere, and I think it was there, just inside the main doors, near the bookshop, I think.

Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 10-16-2008, 10:59 AM:

quote: Jonathan Worthing
The Fishguard (UK) to ROSSLARE(Eire) ferry had a 200 seat cinema on board.

They originally ran with 2 GK37s, but when we went on board they were using a RGB Projector.

The original projectors were still on the ship but they had not been used for a long time.

Was that This Ship Interier photos of the cinema on this pageBeing below the car deck (and possibly the waterline) in the middle of the ship probably has the least motion.

Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 10-18-2008, 03:21 PM:

If I'm not mistaken, I believe the Titanic was the first ship to have a pre-designed screening room on board. No indication, however, what projectors were used or if any prints went down with the ship.

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 10-18-2008, 06:19 PM:

I used to service ships coming into Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. Usually Ernemann E12 / E15 35/16mm or Kinoton with large reel transport (think of platter brain wrap on a rocking ship [Big Grin]

) ....now all video....first one a G.E. Talaria video projector with a colorwheel.

Posted by Bernard Tonks (Member # 809) on 10-19-2008, 12:10 PM:

From a 1936 theatre opening programme. The SS Queen Mary had four cinemas equipped with Gaumont Eclipse projectors and British Acoustic sound system.

Posted by Ky Boyd (Member # 23) on 10-19-2008, 04:13 PM:

Princess did show movies on the Island Princess when I took it this summer with my parents for Mom's 80th birthday. Lousy video projection in the big cabaret showroom. And why would American Gangster be appropriate for general audience? They showed a couple of others but it wasn't a regular daily event.

Does Roger Ebert still do his Film Festival at sea? What line is that on? I would think they would use either film or DCI even if it had to be brought in special for that voyage.

Posted by Christian Volpi (Member # 2370) on 10-20-2008, 10:14 AM:

Side question... Are there any airports that have movie theaters? A few years ago I was stuck in the Memphis airport for 5 hours and I thought it would be great if I could grab a bag of popcorn and watch a flick.