M/S Silja Opera

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Silja Opera at South Harbour in Helsinki in 2005.
Silja Opera at South Harbour in Helsinki in 2005.

M/S Opera (earlier Sally Albatross, Leeward, Superstar Taurus and Silja Opera) is a cruise ship currently owned by Seacontainers.

Contents

[edit] History

The ship was originally built in 1980 for Rederi Ab Sally, one of Viking Line partners as the cruiseferry M/S Viking Saga.

In 1980-1981 the Baltic ferry operators Silja Line and Viking Line brought several new cruiseferries to the routes connecting Stockholm to Helsinki and Turku. Viking Line received a total of four new ships in 1980, three of which were built for Rederi AB Sally. The Viking Saga and her sister ship M/S Viking Song were built by Wärtsilä (now Aker Finnyards) in Turku, Finland. M/S Viking Sally (later M/S Estonia) was built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. Two of the Sally ships have been involved in a total of three serious accidents. However, the Viking Saga's service with Viking Line was uneventful in terms of accidents, instead she and her sister (alongside Silja Line's contemporary M/S Finlandia and M/S Silvia Regina) were instrumental in turning the Helsinki - Stockholm route into a popular cruise route.

After M/S Olympia replaced her on the Helsinki - Stockholm route in 1986, Viking Saga was converted into a cruise ship, the Sally Albatros (I), for cruising around the Baltic from Helsinki (mainly 25 hour cruises to nowhere) as the sole ship of the newly established Sally Cruise brand. In 1988 she was rebuilt at Schichau-Seebeck Werft, Bremerhaven, Germany with additional cabins on the former upper cardeck and a more streamlined forward superstructure. In January 1990, while in regular maintenance at the Finnboda Shipyard in Nacka, Sweden, a fire damaged beyond repair practically the entire superstructure of the ship.

[edit] Sally Albatross II

The burnt-out hull was first towed to Mäntyluoto, Finland, where she was partially scrapped, leaving only the hull below cardeck intact. After this the remains were towed into Naantali, Finland where the remaining hull was cut into several sections. These were then transported to Finnyards shipyard in Rauma, Finland where they were used as the basis of a new ship with the projectname Sally Eurocruiser. Sally Eurocruiser was made into a genuine cruiseship, without a cardeck, which allowed for a smaller and more streamlined superstructure. The hull was also lengthened by 13 meters compared to the original. In essence this was a completely new ship, and she is usually listed as such in most sources. However, her owners decided to keep the name Sally Albatross, which has led to some sources (and many passengers) to consider the second Sally Albatross the same ship was the first.

The new Sally Albatross was delivered to Sally Cruise on March 23, 1992 and started doing cruises in the Baltic Sea with Helsinki as the port of departure, in a similar arrangement as she had done in the late 80's. In July of the same year she was chartered to Svea 92 (a Swedish consortium for advancing exports) as a hotel and conference ship for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona for 1 000 000 finnish markka per day. Originally Svea 92 had wanted to charter Silja Line's Swedish-flagged M/S Svea. In September that same year Sally Albatross was transferred to Silja Line who also were a part of the EffJohn concern. Despite joining the Silja fleet Sally Albatross' old colour scheme was kept, as were the Sally Cruise funnel colours.

On March 4, 1994 Sally Albatross ran aground in the ice covered sea outside of Porkkala. After some complications she was towed to the abandoned Vuosaari shipyard where the most necessary repairs were made. After inspection it was determined that the cost to repair the damage would be around 200 million FIM ($35 million USD). The ship was towed to La Spezia, Italy where it was repaired and rebuilt for international cruise traffic. It was then chartered to Norwegian Cruise Line who renamed her Leeward and put her on cruises in the Caribbean.

Silja Opera at the Olympia Terminal in Helsinki sometime between 2002 and 2005.
Silja Opera at the Olympia Terminal in Helsinki sometime between 2002 and 2005.

In March, 2000 the ship was chartered to Star Cruises who renamed her Superstar Taurus and used on various cruises around Asia, mostly cruising from Japan. In December, 2001 the contract was broken and the ship was once again in the hands of Silja Line who renamed her Silja Opera and placed her under Swedish flag.

Silja Opera started cruising the Baltic Sea, with Helsinki as the starting point, on May 29, 2002. She followed a similar ideology as she had done as Sally Albatross, making one-day cruise from Helsinki and two-night cruises to Visby, Riga (discontinued after one season) and St. Petersburg. The ship already had a reputation as a ship of bad luck (she had after all burnt once and partially sunk only a few years later), and this was not helped when in September 2003 she collided with three cargo-ships in St. Petersburg, resulting in minor damage to all parties. Less than two months later, in almost precisely same spot, she collided with a Russian icebreaker.

Silja Opera's cruises from Helsinki were not very popular, and in October 2004 she began making cruises from Stockholm to Tallinn (via Mariehamn). These too failed to find popularity, and in February 2005 she was transferred back to cruising from Helsinki. Around this same time her white-dominant livery was changed to one closely resembling her Sally-era livery, but with blue stripes instead of black. In 2005 Silja Line decided to cut costs by concentrating on their core markets and the Silja Opera, alongside the prestigious GTS Finnjet was to be sold. In January 2006 Silja Opera made her last cruises from Helsinki, after which she was transferred to the Turku - Mariehamn - Kapellskär route in place of M/S Silja Europa (that was in turn stansferred to Helsinki - Stockholm route while the normal ships of that route were being rebuilt). On February 13 2006 the Silja Opera stopped sailing for Silja Line, and three days later she was laid up Stockholm, waiting for potential buyers.

On 22 May 2006 Silja Opera left Stockholm for the last time bound for lay up at Tilbury Docks, located to the east of Greater London. The ship arrived on May 25, soon afterwards the Silja Line markings were painted over and her ownership was changed to SeaContainers, then the parent company of Silja Line. At the same time she was changed from Swedish to Bahamian flag and her name was shortened to Opera. As of September, 2006, she remains unsold.

[edit] Specifications

[edit] Viking Saga

[edit] Sally Albatross (I)

  • Rebuilt: 1986, Wärtsilä Helsinki, Finland; 1988, Schichau-Seebeck Werft, Bremerhaven, Germany
  • Length: 149,96 meters
  • Width: 25,49 meters
  • Tonnage: 15179 GRT
  • Passengers: 1000
  • Beds: 1000
  • Car capacity: 0
  • Max speed: 21,3 knots

[edit] Sally Albatross (II)

[edit] Leeward

[edit] SuperStar Taurus

  • Rebuilt: 2000
  • Length: 158,90 meters
  • Width: 25,20 meters
  • Tonnage: 25611 GRT
  • Passengers: 950
  • Beds: 950
  • Max speed: 21 knots

[edit] Silja Opera

  • Rebuilt: 2002, Luonnonmaan Telakka, Naantali, Finland
  • Length: 158,90 meters
  • Width: 25,20 meters
  • Tonnage: 25611 GRT
  • Passengers: 1409
  • Beds: 1409
  • Cabins: 482
  • Max speed: 21 knots

[edit] Suites

The 1992 ship's two suites are called Royal Suite and Presidential Suite. The first comes from when Sweden's Royal Couple lived there during the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics. The second was named after former US President George H. W. Bush stayed aboard in November 1995.

[edit] External links

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