In the mid-1980s Gdynia-based Polish Ocean Lines (POL) was one of the last operators of a scheduled passenger service across the North Atlantic, using its small but well maintained liner Stefan Batory, the former Maasdam (IV) of Holland America Line. In the summer of 1984, following a four-day train journey across Canada from Vancouver to Montreal, my wife and I, along with our one-year-old son, boarded Stefan Batory at Montreal’s Iberville Passenger Terminal for Europe.
We, along with about 100 other passengers, had been able to embark the evening prior to the ship’s departure by paying a surcharge of $18 each, which included the following day’s breakfast.
On the afternoon of 16 June, with the assistance of two tugs, Stefan Batory was moved out of her berth and turned eastwards, leaving behind the white-hulled cruise ship Veracruz I (ex-Theodor Herzl), which had been berthed ahead of us, and remnants of the 1967 Universal Exposition, or ‘Expo 67’, which still stood on the opposite bank. Our cabin, No.324, was an outside three-berth unit on A-deck, just aft of the dining room, while toilet and bath facilities were located down the hall.
On making would be taken out of service the following year, we were told that a drydocking in late 1983 had ensured she could operate for at least another four years.
