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Cunard in the 1990's - Trafalgar
House, Expansion and Decline
Queen Elizabeth 2 (1969 -
2008)
Queen Elizabeth 2, or QE2 as she is often known is arguably the
most famous vessel in the world. Since her launch in 1967 and
due to retire in 2008, she
has broken nearly every record possible in the ocean liner
record book. Please see
our detailed QE2 section for this remarkable
vessel's history. ^ TOP
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Cunard Countess
(1975 - 1997)
Cunard Countess was Christened by Mrs. Neil Armstrong, wife
of the first man on the moon.
^ TOP
Cunard Princess (1976 -
1995)
Cunard Princess was Christened by Princess Grace of Monaco
in New York. She was Launched as Cunard Conquest but name
changed to Cunard Princess while ship was being fitted out.
Both Countess and Princess
served as Cunard's contemporary cruise ships in the Caribbean
(Countess) and Mediterranean (Princess).
Countess was used for duties
in the Falklands campaign (along with QE2) by the British
Admiralty, while Princess saw service in the Gulf War as a
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Sadly these two
popular ships left Cunard before their time due to poor
management by Trafalgar House and Kvaerner in the mid-to-late
1990's with Princess leaving the fleet along with Crown Jewel
(detailed later) in 1995.
Countess remained in the fleet
until 1997, when company finances drove the decision to remove
the 4-star tonnage. She was sold to Star-Lauro cruises after a
brief charter and became the M/N Rhapsody. That line has now
rebranded as MSC Cruises and Rhapsody remains part of their
growing fleet. ^ TOP |
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Sagafjord (1983 - 1997; Built 1965)
Sagafjord was
acquired by the Cunard Line in 1983 along with the Vistafjord (later
Caronia)
when they took over operations of the Norwegian America Line. Sagafjord sailed a successful 13 years under the Cunard banner,
spending 3 months a year on a "world cruise" which would
include the annual meeting with her larger fleet mate QE2.
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In 1996, Sagafjord was chartered to Trans-Ocean Cruises as
part of a 6 month deal. Under Trans-Ocean she operated as "Gripsholm."
Sadly, during that time was swept by a fire which knocked her out of
service and resulted in her having to be towed back to port. This
gem of a ship was sold to Saga Holidays in 1997 where she was given
a much deserved refit and to this day sails as the very popular and
highly rated Saga Rose. ^ TOP |
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Vistafjord / Caronia (1983
- 2004; Built 1975)
Vistafjord was the last liner built for Norwegian America Cruises.
In May 1983 Cunard Line had announced the completion of negotiations
to purchase the fleet of Norwegian American Cruises for $73 million.
The two prizes gained were the magnificent Sagafjord and Vistafjord,
the latter who would be re-named Caronia in late 1999. Sagafjord and
Vistafjord worked together in the Cunard Fleet, consistently getting
5 plus star ratings by cruise review specialists. Sagafjord did an
annual world cruise, and met up with her much larger and very famous
sister, QE2, on a few occasions.
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Vistafjord,
completed in 1975, was treated to a $30 million refit in early 1995,
which was just after QE2's $45 million refit in December of 1994,
this showed the progress that these great ships were making in the
Cunard fleet. In the Vistafjords refit, she was internally re-built,
with the re-designing of every room aboard. She was also treated to
an external re-fit with the addition of two very large luxury suites
built on the Upper Bridge Deck.
Just
after this, the Trafalgar House Co. the owners of Cunard, went
into deep financial trouble. Vistafjord's older sister,
Sagafjord was due for retirement in late 1996, but a fire cut
her life in Cunard short, and she was sold to Saga holidays in
January 1996, and re named Saga Rose. The rest of the Cunard
fleet continued to cruise on an altered schedule, to try and
make as much money as possible for the line. In 1997 Cunard Countess
and Dynasty were sold to Mediterranean shipping interests.
Vistafjord and
the rest of the Cunard fleet were finally sold to Kvaerner
Shipbuilders Co. in late 1996 who wanted to own the line as a
status symbol scheme to try and attract more business.
Vistafjord
continued to cruise as a 5 star ship, but by early 1998, she
and the rest of the fleet were in desperate need of a refit.
Kvaerner could not afford to maintain the fleet. The question
of selling or scrapping the fleet was brought up several times
at the Kvaerner board meetings, but this was an option that
they didn't want to take. Finally in mid 1998, the Carnival
Corporation bought the Cunard Line. Carnival merged Cunard
with their Seabourn Cruises to form "Cunard Line
Ltd" and put them in the skilled hands of Pamela
Conover as President of the newly founded line..
In early 1999 the decision was made to
split the fleet, luxury liners go to Cunard, luxury yachts go
to Seabourn. As a result of this, the QE2 and Vistafjord were
matched as fleet mates in the "Cunard" division of
Cunard Line Limited, with Royal Viking Sun, and the Goddess'
going to Seabourn.
The plan
was to rebuild the Cunard side as a 'British Luxury Cruise
Line' and the Seabourn side as 'Luxury Norwegian style
cruising'. As a result of this, the decision was made to
re-name Vistafjord, Caronia in her late 1999 refit, which was
taken out in Germany. She would then join Loyds Register as a
British Flagged liner. In the refit, all rooms
were re furnished and re carpeted, and the "White Star
Bar" was created (originally to be called the Golden Lion
Pub).
Caronia
departed from Cunard Line service in late 2004. She was to leave as
the original Queen Victoria was to enter service, but due to
that ships late arrival, Caronia has been sorely missed. She
was sold to Saga Cruises (UK) and joins Saga Rose (Ex.
Sagafjord). ^ TOP
Sea Goddess I (1986 - 1999)
Sea Goddess II (1986 - 1999)
Originally the first two of an
ambitious planned fleet of eight identical luxury yacht's, Sea
Goddess I and II were the only two ships completed before the owners
realized the impracticality of such a large fleet.
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Cunard
took a management stake in
the ships early in their careers when Sea Goddess Cruises ran into
financial trouble. Thus the newly formed Cunard-Sea Goddess operated
these 5-plus star ships until the late 1990's.
When Carnival Corporation purchased
Cunard in 1998, they planned the merger of Cunard with Seabourn.
Seabourn already operated a fleet of three large luxury yacht's and
so the Goddess' were moved to Seabourn to become Seabourn Goddess I
and II.
Today they sail as Sea Dream I and
Sea Dream II as part of the Sea Dream Yacht Club. ^ TOP
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Cunard Crown
Jewel (1993 - 1995)
Cunard Crown Dynasty (1993 - 1997)
Cunard took management control
of these two small 4-star vessels in 1993 through a deal with
Crown Cruise Line to form Cunard-Crown Cruises. Dynasty
introduced cruises through Alaska and the Panama Canal while
Jewel followed in Panama, the Caribbean and Europe.
Jewel was sold to Star Cruises
in 1995 to become Super Star Gemini. Dynasty remained at
Cunard until 1997 when cracks in the line's finances forced
her sale. She is now the flagship of the Fred Olsen Cruises
fleet and named Braemar.
^ TOP
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Cunard Crown
Monarch (1993-1994)
This vessel had a very short
life with Cunard. Acquired as part of the Cunard - Crown line
joint operations deal, Crown Monarch was sent to Australian
waters to undertake a series of cruises between Darwin and
Sydney as well as trans-Tasman voyages to Auckland.
Crown Monarch brought a new
level of sophistication to a market that had previously been
dominated by P&O's 3-star Fairstar. Sadly for Monarch
there was insufficient demand (at the time) for her more
luxurious and expensive voyages.
Monarch was withdrawn in mid
1994 and all further sailings cancelled. For many years she
has been a Casino Ship in Hong Kong known as Walrus.
^ TOP
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Royal Viking Sun
(1994 - 1999)
Cunard purchased the Royal
Viking Sun and the 'Royal Viking' brand as the ailing Royal
Viking Line ceased operations in the mid 1990's. This 5-plus
star ship was rated the finest vessel afloat for most of her
life with Cunard.
Royal Viking Sun undertook
World Voyages as Cunard's Global Roamer, and was a popular and
highly sought after ship for passengers and crew alike.
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When Cunard and Seabourn
merged in 1999, it was decided to move Royal Viking Sun to
Seabourn, and after an extensive refit she emerged as the
Seabourn Sun in late 1999. In 2002 she undertook her last
cruise for Seabourn, a circumnavigation of South America.
Seabourn
Sun never really fit into the Seabourn product well. She was
too large. Unfortunately management did not think to move her
back to Cunard Line, but rather she was transferred to sister
line, Holland America. She now sails as the M/V Prinsendam,
and performs the Global Roaming role for HAL...^ TOP
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