# Royal Viking Sky



## Coastie

This may not be the correct chapter to put this into, but maybe it might get moved to the proper one.

Whatever became of the Royal Viking Sky? I remember her visiting Holyhead in the Mid 80's and being able to go aboard her. Is she still around or has she made the trip to Alang or somwhere similar?


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## ruud

http://www.cybercruises.com/


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## fred henderson

Royal Viking Sky/Sunward/Birka Queen/Golden Princess/Superstar Capricorn /Hyundai Keumgang/ Superstar Capricorn/Grand Latino/Boudicca

1973 O/Y Wärtsilä A/B, Helsinki, Finland
Tonnage: 21,891 Gross
Dimensions: 177.74m x 25.2m x 15.2m
Machinery: Twin screw. Four 9 cylinder Wärtsilä – Sulzer 9ZH 40/48 diesel engines. 13,420 kW = Service Speed: 21.5 knots
Passengers: 536; 559 max. Crew 326.

1973: Jun 5; Delivered to Nordenfjelske Dampskibsselskab, Trondheim for operation by Royal Viking Cruise Line on world wide open ended 7 to 21 day cruise segments, enabling passengers to select one, or a combination of segments. Initially very successful but the economics of the operation progressively deteriorated.
1982: Lengthened by insertion of a 27.7m midships section by AG “Weser” Seebeckwerft, Bremerhaven. New tonnage, 28,078 gross; length, 205.5m; passengers, 812. The conversion did not fully meet its objective of attracting a broader range of passengers.
1984: May; Failed attempt to sell operation to a group of US investors.
June; Ownership sold to Norwegian Caribbean Lines A/S, Oslo, but continued to be operated by Royal Viking Cruise Line
1987: Registered under the ownership of Kloster Cruise Ltd, Nassau.
1991: Renamed “Sunward” and operated by Norwegian Caribbean Lines.
1992: Sold to Birka Line abp, Mariehamn, Finland and renamed “Birka Queen”.
1993: Chartered to Princess Cruises and renamed “Golden Princess” Maximum passenger accommodation 710. Replaced “Dawn Princess”. Operated on the Alaska service in summer, with cruises from California to Mexico and the Pacific in winter.
1996: Charter completed and ship sold by Birka to Star Cruises, Malaysia and renamed “Superstar Capricorn” Employed on cruises out of Singapore.
1998: Chartered to Hyundai and renamed “Hyundai Keumgang” Operated between South and North Korea to enable South Koreans to visit Mount Keumgang, which has local religious significance.
2002: Renamed “Superstar Capricorn” on completion of charter. Operated on cruises out of Bangkok.
2004: Sold to Iberojet Cruises, Spain and renamed “Grand Latino”. Mediterranean cruises.
2005: Sold to Fred Olsen to be renamed "Boudicca".

Fred


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## John Rogers

Fred was there an earlier Sunward? as the wife and I did our 25th wedding anniversary on her in 1981. At least it was a name like that and she was a Norwegian cruise line ship sailing out of Miami to the Bahamas. Will have to check the old album.
John


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## John Rogers

It was the Sunward II, Fred,now I have to find a picture of her.
If my memory is correct there was the Sunward, Sunward 1. Sunward 2. then there was a Skyward. According to this article it must of been Sunward II we were on.

Sunward (1) (1966-72)

Sunward (1) was designed to operate on a new cruise-ferry service from Southampton to Vigo, Lisbon and Gibraltar, her design being an enlarged version of the typical Scandinavian ferries being built at the time. The new line was called Klosters Sunward Ferries, being run by the long-established Norwegian shipowners, the Kloster family (there is a 'K' for Kloster logo on the dummy funnel). Despite great promise, the route was not a success, and Sunward was moved to Miami to operate for Ted Arison (later to form Carnival) as Norwegian Caribbean Lines on sailings to Nassau. The venture was so successful, that additional ships were soon ordered. 

The pioneering Sunward was sold to the French state-owned ferry operator CGTM in 1972, entering service as the Ile de Beaute, in 1973. In 1976, registered owners became Societe Nationale Corse-Mediterranee (SNCM), but Ile de Beaute was sold the following year for use as the hotel ship Grand Flotel in Saudi Aradia. A year later she pased to Saudi Maritime Transport Company, Jeddah, as the Saudi Moon I, for a service Suez-Aqaba-Jeddah. In 1984 she was sold to Sabah Maritime Services Co., Jeddah. In 1988 Saudi Moon I was sold Ocean Quest International, New Orleans, and renamed Ocean Spirit. After rebuilding, she undertook cruises on routes New Orleans-Cozumel-Belize-Cancun and St. Petersburg-Belize Reef-Cozumel-Roaten-Guanaja. In 1990 Ocean Spirit was chartered to SeaEscape as the Scandinavian Song. In 1991-93 Scandinavian Song was chartered to the Danish Cruise Line, returning to SeaEscape briefly in 1993 on their Port Canaveral-Freeport service. She has since operated as Santiago de Cuba and The Empress for Empress Cruises.


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## John Rogers

Trying to track the ownership of ships is like tracking the marriages of a Hollywood movie star. I posted a picture of the Sunward 2 in the gallery. 

Sunward (1) Ile de Beaute, Grand Flotel, Saudi Moon, Ocean Quest 
1966 
Sunward (2) Royal Viking Sky, Golden Princess, Superstar Capricorn, etc 
1973 
Sunward II Cunard Adventurer, Triton 
1971


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## fred henderson

*Sunward*

Many private Norwegian owners are heavily involved in the tanker trades. In the mid 1960s these were in the doldrums and owners began to look to alternative trades. Knut Kloster decided to establish a cruise – ferry operation from Southampton to Portugal and Gibraltar.In 1966 he built a very innovative 8,666 ton ship, which he named Sunward. Unfortunately as an aftermath of the seamen’s strike, the British Government imposed a foreign exchange limit of £50 per head per annum just as Sunward entered service, while at the same time the Spanish closed the border with Gibraltar. Fortunately for Kloster, Ted Arison had an urgent need of a ship and the two entered into a deal whereby Arison provided marketing, sales and passenger service in exchange for 22% of the sales revenue.
The venture was a great success and more tonnage was required. As a consequence of the Six Days War and the closure of the Suez Canal tanker freight rates were now booming and Kloster, flush with cash, was happy to order four larger cruise ships for his Norwegian Caribbean Line. The first three were named Starward, Skyward and Southward. The Italian yard that built the Southward, had serious financial difficulties with the contract and asked Kloster to renegotiate the price for the last ship. Kloster refused and cancelled the contract. The yard went into bankruptcy and after financial reconstruction the cancelled ship was built for P&O as Spirit of London before becoming Sun Princess. 
With four ships in service the Norwegian Caribbean Line was making considerable profits, so Kloster decided to sack Arison and keep all the revenue for himself. Arison went his own way and founded Carnival Cruise Line. I have posted a fuller story as “The foundation of the Carnival Empire.”
I feel that it was poetic justice that from this point onwards, Kloster’s fortunes went downhill all the way.
The OPEC oil price rise killed the tanker market overnight. Royal Caribbean were introducing superior new ships and Sunward was by now far too small. Kloster could not afford to buy new but in 1976 was able to buy Cunard Adventurer for $10.25 million and alter her appearance to resemble the other NCL ships. She was introduced as Sunward II. Sunward was sold as John describes. I attach a photo of her as The Empress.

Fred


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## John Rogers

I have read both your posts Fred and it becomes untangled the more I keep going back to read things. I posted some pictures of the Sunward Ships# 2 and #3, but never found a picture of the first one. Its like that old joke "Who's on First" by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
John


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## fred henderson

John Rogers said:


> I have read both your posts Fred and it becomes untangled the more I keep going back to read things. I posted some pictures of the Sunward Ships# 2 and #3, but never found a picture of the first one. Its like that old joke "Who's on First" by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
> John


One problem John, is that many books only deal with passenger ships over 10,000 tons. 

Fred


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## david smith

Kloster's ships make interesting reading and research. These ships had connections with P&O (Spirit of London) and Cunard (Cunard Conquest) well before Carnival took the companies over. 
Sunward is reported as "Empress" in Singapore waters.


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## Coastie

*Thanks*

Thanks all! (Applause)


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## gadgee

I have a photo somewhere of Royal Viking Sky anchored off Holyhead in 84/5. Will try and find it.



Coastie said:


> This may not be the correct chapter to put this into, but maybe it might get moved to the proper one.
> 
> Whatever became of the Royal Viking Sky? I remember her visiting Holyhead in the Mid 80's and being able to go aboard her. Is she still around or has she made the trip to Alang or somwhere similar?


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## Pompeyfan

She is now Boudicca, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines joining her sister Royal Viking Star, now Fred Olsen's Black Watch. David Cole


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## Principe_Perfeito

Hello to all.

Just trying to complement the excelent and highly detailed information already provided.

SUNWARD (1)
http://www.faktaomfartyg.com/sunward_1966.htm

SUNWARD II
http://www.faktaomfartyg.com/cunard_adventurer_1971.htm

SUNWARD (2)
http://www.faktaomfartyg.com/royal_viking_sky_1973.htm

The first SUNWARD sailed last year to the breakers in Chittagong, here is a photo of her final departure from Singapore:
http://www.faktaomfartyg.com/empress_1966_bild_1.htm

Attached is a view of the SUNWARD with a incredible line-up of British liners in Southampton, probably during the famous strike of 1966:
http://www.faktaomfartyg.com/sunward_1966_bild_1.htm

Best regards,
Paulo Mestre



John Rogers said:


> Trying to track the ownership of ships is like tracking the marriages of a Hollywood movie star. I posted a picture of the Sunward 2 in the gallery.
> 
> Sunward (1) Ile de Beaute, Grand Flotel, Saudi Moon, Ocean Quest
> 1966
> Sunward (2) Royal Viking Sky, Golden Princess, Superstar Capricorn, etc
> 1973
> Sunward II Cunard Adventurer, Triton
> 1971


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## KZP

Sunward on postcard.


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## msouto

My dad worked at the Royal Viking Sky between 1974 and 1975. He recently passed away and I have been digitalising his pictures from that time and trying to find out more about the boat. Thanks for all this information. This is from 1974


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