Cunard Countess

[westerly]

our 2nd cruise was on the countess also on the princess a few times we love cruising .how the ships have changed.i loved the small old ships they were more sociable but the new ships have so much.the cruise director on the old ships were very social and involved with every thing

[403A]

I was one of the Cruise Staff & DJ during the early 90's on board, It was probably the best job i'll ever have & all the team i worked along side was great fun & Hosting the Rum punch parties in Grenada & Martinque with the conga & limbo was brilliant fun.

[geopa]

Countess was our 2nd cruise back in 1992 (or 93??). our first had been the brand new Nordic Empress. Great itinerary, good service. The vast majority of the passangers were brits so the food and entertainment was directed more to that group but that made the cruise special for us. Great service but very bare bones cabin with little to no A/C (not a good thing in the Southern Carribean).

The thing a remember was the night returning from Barbado's the ship was sailing back at full speed and the ship creaked and groaned so much I swore that it was going to crack into two and go to the bottom of the ocean.

[bcscot]

In 1986 I worked for a while on Ocean Cruise Line's Ocean Islander. Many of the staff were ex-Cunard.We even had the Cruise Director from QE2 'on loan' for a while.I was quite friendly with a couple of Spanish guitarists/singers.Their act was called Los Zafiros(?spelling) & they talked a lot about their time on the Cunard Countess or Princess ( I cannot remember which ). Does anyone remember them?

[Amylawter]

We sailed on the Cunard Countess in April of 1996 and I was wondering if anyone had the agenda for the cruise that left from Puerto Rico. It was a seven day cruise. I am putting my scrapbook together and can't remember exactly which islands we visited. HELP!

[haggis]

Hello Amylawter,

I still have a brochure from 1995 somewhere amongst all our cruise junk. If you can specify the date I'll add it on. I know for certain first port of call was Tortola on the Sunday as this was my wifes first view of a Caribbean Island. I know it was a Sunday as we stood outside the church in Cane Garden Bay listening to the service. Needless to say, in those days the beach was empty.

Jimmy

[Amylawter]

Wow, that is awesome. I looked again through my photos and noticed that I had my video camera. So I got it out, which doen't work anymore, and found my tape...that I can't play...the note on the tape sleeve says April 13, 1996, which was on a Saturday. I hope this helps. Amy Lawter

[haggis]

Well I've found two brochures, one for 1993 and one for 1995. Not 1996 unfotunately but, by a series of mathematical deductions, the ships last sailing on Saturday 30th December, I've worked out that your itenary was

as follows.

Sat 13th April ... San Juan

Sun St Maarten

Mon Guadaloupe

Tues Grenada

Wed St Lucia

Thurs St Kitts

Fri St Thomas

Sat San Juan

Cunard only sold these cruise to us Brits for 14 days or a 7 day cruise and 7 day hotel stay in either Barbados or St Lucia. The 14 day cruise included Tortola, Antigua, Martinique,Barbados and St Thomas. Looking at the prices in this brochure, our 14 day cruise, outside cabin, cost us £1910, roughly the same as today. I hope this is of assistance to you,

Happy cruising, Jimmy

[johnmik1]

We did a sail and stay on Cunard Princess in 1983 where we went to St Martin,Gudalupe,St Kitts,St Lucia(where they flew us to their resort in Barbados)for a week and were picked up and finished with Ile de Saints,St Thomas and back to San Juan.We had originally planned a one week cruise but Cunard had sent the Countess to the Falklands so they offered us the week in Barbados for free as they needed our cabin for someone else.

[Amylawter]

Did any agendas include Barbados and Aruba?

[haggis]

Yes, the ship called into Barbados once during our two week cruise. She never called into Aruba on our trip.

Jimmy

[butterfinger]

Was the LaToc Hotel on a private island in/on St. Lucia? My husband and I honeymooned on the Countess in April, 1978 and I can't find my photos anywhere. It is driving me crazy, but we were talking about St. Lucia just the other day. It was then I suggested the private island aspect. But maybe it was just the ship's private hotel....

[safarigal]

Our trip on the Countess in 1985 was the first cruise my husband and I did together. I was pregnant with our first son at the time. It probably only cost about $400, but it took us months to pay off. We spent some of our day in Barbados watching a test cricket match, which made my husband extremely happy! I have great memories of that trip. We have been on bigger and better ships, but there was something so special about the Countess!:)

[Sea Urchin]

The Countess is still my all time favorite. It was the first cruise I was on and I did her before and after the Falklands.

 

I visted the Cunard Countess several times when she visited Ascension Island during the Falklands campaign - in my capacity as Joint Forces Signals Officer for the Island - to check and maintain the military radio eqipment fitted to her for the conflict, and flying out to her by helicopter and landing on the makeshift helipad. Lovely ship, and it was great to spend time aboard to get away from the dust and heat of the island.

[apollo393867]

Hi,

 

I worked on the Countess in 1984 and 1985. I was on the front desk of the Bureau and I loved every minute of it. I am writing a book of my adventures and I hope it will make people smile. Does anyone know what happened to Nick Underwood or Victor Savage?

[haggis]

Have a look at www.maritimematters.com/ in the news section.

 

The great survivor has done it again.

Jimmy

[Maryandi]

We took that ship for our 25th wedding anniv. It was horrible.

 

Had to fly to San Juan, then onto the ship that was the second half of a back to back for most of the passengers. The ship was dirty and looked like maintainence was long overdue.

 

 

 

My DH got so sick on the ship, we went to the Doctor onboard, were given some pills, it seemed like half the ship was in there. He still had to get more pills when we got home.

 

It was not a pleasant experience for us.

 

Now, it will be our 45 Anniv. next year. Among other cruises, we will be on the Queen Mary 2. Looks like things have improved since then.

 

MaryAnn

[Copper10-8]

Cunard Countess (1974-present) was launched on 20 September 1974 as ms Cunard Countess at Burmeister & Wain Skibsbyggeri, Köpenhamn/Copenhagen, Denmark for Great Britain's Cunard Line. Although delivered on 21 May 1975, Cunard Countess did not begin sailing for Cunard until 1976. Upon leaving the Cpenhagen shipyard, she was towed to La Spezia, Italy where she arrived on 28 May 1975 to be fitted out at the Industrie Navali Meccaniche Affini Shipyard. She was christened in August 1976 by Janet Armstrong, wife of astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.

 

Cunard Countess began service for Cunard with British officers and an international crew and would soon become a staple at Miami, Fl, San Juan, Puerto Rico (her home port), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and several other Caribbean ports. Countess was well-known for her amenities which were of a very high standard and even included an onboard hospital. She had a sister ship, Cunard Princess (1976), which was almost a carbon copy, but would not be as famous.

 

 

Cunard Countess was one of the few ships to regularly visit the Caribbean island of Grenada during the revolutionary period of that island between 1979 and 1983 playing a major role in supporting the local tourist industry during those years. From 1982 until 1983 she was chartered by the British Ministry of Defense and sent to the South Atlantic as a troop ship during the Falklands conflict between Great Britain and Argentina. She was back cruising the Caribbean for Cunard in July 1983. In 1990, she was re-registered in Nassau, the Bahamas.

 

 

On 26 October 1996, before Carnival's buy-out of Cunard Line in 1998, Cunard Countess was sold to an Indonesian company by the name of Awani Cruises, and renamed Awani Dream II. Unfortunately, the Awani cruise company ran into financial trouble and in 1997, she was sold to Greece-based Royal Olympic Cruise Line who renamed her Olympic Countess. The International Olympic Committe had a problem with that name and filed a protest. It wasn't until 2002 however, when she was renamed Olympia Countess.

 

 

In Royal Olympic/Olympia operation, the ship alternated between three and four-day cruises from Piraeus, visiting the Greek ports of Mykonos, Rhodes, Patmos, Santorini and Kusadasi in Turkey interspersed with longer cruises including some crossings.

 

 

Following the financial collapse of Royal Olympia in January 2004, the ship was arrested on 8 January in Durban, South Africa due to outstanding bills. On 29 January 2004, she was aquired at public auction by Majestic International Cruises' subsidiary Maximus Navigation and named Ocean Countess on 8 March 2004. For the 2005 summer season, she was chartered to Spanish tour operator TravelPlan/Globalia for Mediterranean cruising.

 

 

On 12 November 2005 her next operator would be German-based Holiday Kreuzfahrten for which she would sail on long-term charter as Lili Marleen. Mr. Murphy had other plans however, and decided to pay yet another visit when Holiday Kreuzfahrten failed on 21 September 2006, declaring bankrupcy. The ship arrived back at Piraeus in October 2006, was returned to Majestic International, once again renamed Ocean Countess one month later and laid up in Eleusis Bay.

 

 

On 28 May 2007 she was chartered by Cyprus-based Louis Cruise Line (operated by their Greek arm, Louis Hellenic Cruises) who renamed her Ruby and used to replace their Sea Diamond which had sunk at Santorini after striking a reef.

[Copper10-8]

 

In November 2007, she was renamed Ocean Countess for a third time and was to be placed on charter to Monarch Classic Cruises, another subsidiary of Majestic International Cruises. Her itinerary was supposed to have her depart from her home port of Piraeus and making port calls at Greek isles Mykonos, Patmos, Crete and Satorini as well as Kusadasi in Turkey. Instead, she spent the 2008/2009 winter months on charter to Spain-based Quail Cruises cruising to South America. At the end of this charter, she spent some time in lay-up at Elefsina (Piraeus)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The latest news on the former Ocean Countess is that she has recently been chartered again by Quail Cruises for a series of seven-day cruises from Valencia, Spain using the name of New Venus. In Quail Cruises livery, she is once again replacing their mv Pacific, the former Pacific Princess and original TV 'Love Boat'. She left Piraeus on 15 June 2009, arrived in Valencia on 19 June and departed on her first cruise for Quail on Monday evening, 22 June 2009.

[merecat]

Thank you for that excellent biography of the ship ,she will shortly be joining Marco Polo and sailing under the colours of Cruise and Maritime Cruises ,with departures from ports around the British coast.:)

[Copper10-8]

Thank you for that excellent biography of the ship ,she will shortly be joining Marco Polo and sailing under the colours of Cruise and Maritime Cruises ,with departures from ports around the British coast.:)

 

Thanks a bunch for that update Merecat!:) I wasn't aware of the latest change! Take care and be safe!

[Voith-Schneider]

Videos of Ruby ex Cunard Countess:

 

http://ships.galutschek.at/ruby/

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for that excellent biography of the ship ,she will shortly be joining Marco Polo and sailing under the colours of Cruise and Maritime Cruises ,with departures from ports around the British coast.:)

 

Thanks for this news.

She was our first cruise ship back in the 80's.

[orlandocruiser777]

I worked as the Stage Manager on the Cunard Countess in the summer of 1996 and have many fond memories of the entertainment crew and Cruise Director John Butt he was a really funny nice guy to work for...

 

The ship was small but had the best itinerary of any cruise ship in the carribean hands down in a different port every day...

 

Jay Stanley

[jmudcat49]

I worked briefly as a busboy on the Countess in 1978. So many memories. I wonder whatever happened to my buddies, especially Martin Bourne from Barbados and the unforgettable Omar Salim Charqui (sp?) from Tunisia.

 

Life on the ship wasn't exactly a picnic for the wait staff. We worked 17-hour days, under the regime of maitre d Jurgen Shargosi (sp?). All these years later I'm in the process of writing a novel about it. If anyone would like to supply an odd / interesting anecdote or two, I'd love to read them. Thanks.