Surreal, Unique, Game Changer, this is how celebrities describe David Bowie as a musician and as a friend. However little has been know that this talented genius loved to sail on cruise ships. His Last cruise was on Cunard’s ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 when he disembarked in New York City after crossing the Atlantic for his Heathen tour.
There are not many pictures of Bowie’s Pacific and trans-Atlantic crossings. However it is easy to imagine him into the night dressed and venturing onto the open deck to smoke and gazing at the sky. His first departure on ship was onboard Queen Elizabeth 2, on September 10, 1972, setting sail for a weeklong voyage from Southampton for his tour in USA.
Once Bowie and his band finished their long tour across US, they returned to New York City where Bowie boarded the Royal Hellenic Mail Ship on December 10, 1972, for his return back to the UK.
Bowie crossed the Atlantic once again on SS Canberra cruise ship in late January 1973, for his Aladdin Sane tour in USA. In March 1972 rather than returning to New York City after playing the Hollywood Palladium, Bowie boarded a cruise ship to Japan. Having completed the US tour, David and his friend MacCormack had the delightful problem of getting from LA to Japan. This meant crossing the North Pacific on one of P&O’s finest cruise ships, the SS Oronsay.
David Bowie toured Japan from April 5 to April 21, 1973,. Bowie and his friend MacCormack then took ferry from Yakohama to Nahodka and returned to Europe by train across Siberia.
Following year Bowie arrived in New York City on April 11, 1974 on the SS France. The rock star traveled on SS France as a first-class passenger, and was not scheduled to play aboard. However Bowie heard that the crew were disappointed because he wasn’t going to perform, so he turned up in the crew canteen with an acoustic guitar.
Bruno Rabreau, SS France Crew Member says “We enjoyed more than 10 songs and especially Space Oddity which was the first one, and a few crew members took instruments too and played with him”
“It was a really, really good time. He was a very ordinary person and very friendly to us. We really enjoyed it.”
In 1976 sailed away from USA to Europe on SS Leonardo da Vinci for his Station to Station European tour. Accompanying him was the world’s famous photographer Andrew Kent who photographed him aboard the ship.
