Memories required! Vistafjord/MS Caronia/Saga Ruby

[Memory hunter]

Have you ever travelled on this ship, under any of her names?

 

The Saga Ruby, as she is now, is to be sold. I am collecting reminiscences of anyone who has had anything to do with her, whether the original builders at Swan Hunter, ship's staff, or holiday makers. These will be printed and packaged with memorabilia to give to her buyers so her 40 year history is not forgotten.

 

Can you help by providing a quote for me to use? Any (positive!) memory very gratefully received.

 

Thank you.

[balf]

Aboard Caronia and I and my DH entering the Caronia Mastermind quiz. Also taking part a younger American who sat right at the front, with his girlfriend seated opposit him, who prompted him constantly, mouthing the answers.

 

Made no difference though, my wife won and we still have the quite nice wooden and leather trinket box she got as the prize.

 

How things have changed over the years.

 

David.

[Memory hunter]

Thanks David. Couple more questions if that's OK: when was this? What kind of cruise was it (Caribbean/world/etc)?

[yrrah]

I sailed in the King Olav Suite [two rooms] aboard Vistafjord's maiden voyage in May 1973 [a transatlantic crossing from Oslo to NYC ... with King Olav himself waving as the ship departed Norway] ... I sat at Captain Holvorsen's table [i was then a many-time Norwegian America Line passenger ... and again later sailed on the Vistafjord] ... it was a great voyage [albeit many new (e.g., never at sea) crew members suffered from "mal-de-mer" after the ship sailed] ... and the only mechanical problem was that the ship's horn broke down in NYC harbor [so that a tug boat -- with its high-pitched weak whistle -- acted as the reply to all the greeting horns from other vessels] ... plus there was a great parade-type reception at old NYC Pier 40.

 

The last time I saw her -- but in her "Saga" role ["Saga" from the great Sagafjord] -- was in the Suez Canal when I was on the entire 122-day Queen Mary 2 (QM2) World cruise in 2012 [and while QM2 led the procession/convoy, "my Vistaford" was right behind her].

Edited October 22, 2013 by yrrah

[balf]

This was June 2003 to the Baltic. We sailed through the Keil canal which was wonderful, something no present Cunarder can do.

 

David.

[Memory hunter]

Thank you! This is perfect.

[Memory hunter]

(That response to both David and yrrah!)

[sandbella]

We sailed on the two annual repositioning cruises, April and November, for many years in the late 80s and 90s. There was a large group of people who regularly did the same cruise each time and it was like a big family gathering. The men and some of the women too enjoyed sports almost all day and we always had several parties during the cruise.

The last two cruises we had one of the duplex suites right at the top of the ship and it was amazing, especially with a large crowd of friends gathering most days for drinks.

I remember that the second person sailed at a much reduced rate, as these were not particularly popular cruises. I think most people did not like the amount of sea days.

We are still in touch with a lot of the friends we made then and met one on Queen Elizabeth early this year on the exotic cruise.

The first cruise we ever went on was a month for our silver wedding to the Black Sea and Med on Vistafjord and it was so special that we continued to cruise on this ship, even when it was Caronia at the end before Saga bought it.

Any questions, just ask!

Keith and Sandra Ellis

[Memory hunter]

Thanks very much Keith and Sandra. Do you think any of the friends you made on the cruises would be willing for me to quote them? If you have the time it'd be great if you could post anything they tell you on here, along with how they want to be credited. Same goes for David and yrrah!

 

(By the way, when I print out all these comments to add to the Saga Ruby buyer's memorabilia collection, I will credit everyone with their name/s as written at the bottom of their message or, if there are none, with their username. Please tell me if you'd rather I credited you differently. Thanks.)

[safarigal]

Whilst on the Cunard countess in the carribean 1985 we saw the vistafjord for the first time. i knew then that we had to save up to go on her, she looked so classic.

 

We finally went on her in 1998. She was every bit as magnificent as I had imagined. We were about the youngest people on the ship, and sat at a table with the other "youngsters" on the cruise. One formal night we celebrated a table mate's 50th birthday. The dining room was spectacular and we had a beautiful candelabra on our table. The birthday boy, after drinking much champagne, gave me a $100 casino chip. Feeling embarrassed I flicked it back at him, but it went under the table. I grabbed the flaming candelabra and dived under the table to retrieve it. Out of nowhere there was suddenly a huge crowd of waiters under the table with me trying to get the candelabra away from me before I burned the ship down. There was only minor damage, but they were very polite about it.

[Germancruiser]

safarigal- what an unusual " cruise carreer" you have. You sailed on baord ships I never even hear about and I am a devoted ship buff! On board some of them you must have been a mere toddler. Great that you stick with cruising!

[safarigal]

safarigal- what an unusual " cruise carreer" you have. You sailed on baord ships I never even hear about and I am a devoted ship buff! On board some of them you must have been a mere toddler. Great that you stick with cruising!

 

I was born and brought up in Kenya, and my mother didn't trust flying so we had to take ships to Europe, the Far East, and the US if we wanted to travel - it was the perfect childhood experience! Now if course I'm addicted to cruising :) so have continued the tradition, but I do enjoy flying too.

[Germancruiser]

I am sure you have a lot of fond memories of those olden days- of those golden days of cruising or crossing! I am not sure- but as grand and great thos old ships looks I much prefer those modern ships with a touch of the old- like Celebrity´s Millenium Class for example!

[shipgeeks]

We would rank our Caronia cruise among the top five of our 32 (so far) cruises. It took place in 2004, the next-to-last time she sailed for Cunard.

We booked the entire trip - cruise, air, and transfers - through Cunard, which turned out to be very fortunate. We boarded our flight (US to London) on schedule, but then sat at the departure gate for several hours while crew looked at the outside of the plane. It was finally determined that the plane was not airworthy. We were transferred to a plane going to a different US airport, then eventually flown to London. Needless to say, we were much later than expected. But we were met at the airport by a chauffeur with a Mercedes Benz, and taken to the port in plenty of time to board the ship. Good work, Cunard! And good work, TA Carl, who we later learned was in the hospital, but alerted Cunard from his sickbed.

Some quotes from our journal: "Beautiful ship." "What a good whistle we have." "While ashore we got to look at the ship for the first time. She is REALLY PRETTY." "The creakiest cabin ever. I love it!" "I really like this ship."

 

We Yanks were seated with three British couples for dinner. Excellent conversation every night. It felt like being at an Agatha Christie house party (minus the murders).

 

At the port of Santander, our arrival was delayed for several hours by heavy fog. Our ship's horn was sounded every two minutes, as were the horns of all the ships around us. It was quite interesting seeing the fog cover the bow, and then swallow us up.

 

Some of the music onboard was a classical trio, Viva Espresia. They played Bach, Rachmaninof, Astor Piazola, among others. Wonderful.

 

One night a deck party was held. Music was played, but no one danced. Finally, a bouncy tune was played, and we decided to Merengue. Lots of people immediately got up to dance, and we thought, Wow, we started the party. Then we noticed that they were all in a circle doing a set dance. We later learned it was the Gay Gordon, a Scottish classic.

 

Overall, a wonderful cruise, and the type of ship we would choose every time, if they were still sailing.

 

Shipgeeks (L. and L. D.)

[balf]

[quote name=shipgeeks;

Some of the music onboard was a classical trio' date=' Viva Espresia. They played Bach, Rachmaninof, Astor Piazola, among others. Wonderful.

 

 

 

Shipgeeks (L. and L. D.)[/quote]

 

Thanks for your memories, you jogged mine about the trio. They were aboard in June 2003 and we went to every performance.

 

Can you recall the name of the cruise director? An ex dancer I think, Australian. Most hands on CD we have known.

 

David.

[coverpoint]

We sailed on this beautiful ship 5 or 6 times and with each of its names.

The first trip was a 2day excursion on Sagafjord in 1980( I think) when it was chartered for the launch of the new Austin Metro. Liverpool to the Isle of Man and back in a force9 gale! Not many dealers made it for dinner.

We also sailed on Caronia - once round South America, and another time was up the Amazon to Manaus.

Then it was Capetown/ Singapore and Auckland/Cairns on Saga Ruby. We have great memories of this ship but latterly it was showing rather too many signs of its age and she is due an honourable retirement.

[shipgeeks]

Thanks for your memories, you jogged mine about the trio. They were aboard in June 2003 and we went to every performance.

 

Can you recall the name of the cruise director? An ex dancer I think, Australian. Most hands on CD we have known.

 

David.

The Cruise Director was David Pepper.

That reminds me of another good memory: Petre and Roxana Samoila, the ballroom dancers/dance teachers. They were excellent. They were aboard QM2 when we sailed her, as well.

[seacruise9]

Hi,

 

I cruised aboard the Vistafjord in September 1994 from Southampton to Barcelona (with stops in Vigo, Lisbon and Valencia). After the cruise, we did a two-night package with Cunard and stayed in Madrid (with a tour to Toledo). I was 30 years old and took this cruise with my grandmother. This was my first cruise on a true luxury ship with single seating dining. I still remember this cruise very well and met some wonderful people. The afternoon teas in the main lounge were excellent. The guest speaker on our cruise was Edwin Newman (the NBC news commentator). Like us, he and his wife did the post-cruise package to Madrid and Toledo. Thus, we had an opportunity to get to know them.

 

The Vistafjord was a true luxury ship with a wonderful and traditional atmosphere. This still ranks as one of my favorite ships and cruises. Unfortunately, my grandmother passed away nine months after this cruise. This was the last cruise that we took together. I feel lucky to have so many wonderful memories from this cruise.

 

In September 1995, I did a short three-night repositioning cruise on the Sagafjord from Vancouver to Los Angeles. Similar to the Vistafjord, this also was a wonderful ship.

 

These were superb ships and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to sail aboard both of them. They were truly ships from another era.

 

Chuck

[seacruise9]

Hi,

 

I forgot to mention the small round Rosenthal dishes with the itinerary of the cruise that were given to passengers. I think this was an excellent (and elegant) souvenir. I still have our dishes from the 1994 Vistafjord cruise.

 

Chuck

[stowaway2k]

Here is a video slideshow I made of images taken during a Caronia Med cruise some years ago, 2004.

 

If you see any images that you like, just let me know...

 

Enjoy.

 

[arizon99]

I was lucky enough to sail on her in her final year with my wife and two children. We were on for a couple of weeks over Easter and visited the Canaries and Lisbon/Vigo. In Madeira the QM2 visited and I managed to take a photo of the two ships together.

[Memory hunter]

Thank you very much Shipgeeks, Chuck and Coverpoint - all great stuff and much appreciated.

[Memory hunter]

Thank you to Safarigal too : )

Edited October 30, 2013 by Memory hunter

[Memory hunter]

Here is a video slideshow I made of images taken during a Caronia Med cruise some years ago, 2004.

 

If you see any images that you like, just let me know...

 

Enjoy.

 

 

Thanks so much for the offer, but I'm OK for Caronia images.

[Host Sharon]

My first two cruises were with my parents on board Vistafjord - 1977 and 1978. Although I was unable to cruise for many years following, when I was able to start again it was on Caronia in her final year of Cunard Service.

 

The ship got me hooked and I haven't looked back since.