Have You Sailed The Former Royal Viking Line?

[Myrtle Ave. Mayhem]

Has anyone here ever sailed aboard the former Royal Viking Line? What are the things you remember? Growing up in San Francisco during the 1970's the prominent cruise lines were Sitmar, Princess, Royal Viking Line, & Pacific Far East Line. Royal Viking Line was partly headquartered in San Francisco. It was always a breathtaking sight when the Royal Viking Star, Sky, or Sea was in port. As you may already know Torstein Hagen was former CEO of RVL before its demise. Back in the 1970's the line would have been the current day equivalent of Crystal or Seabourn I'd say. The ships of Viking Ocean remind me of a modern up-to-date version of the Royal Viking Line trio of sisters. I'd love to hear your stories.

[oakridger]

Yes, it was my first ship (can't remember if it was the Sky or Sea) and it got me hooked on cruising!  I sailed in January 1982 from San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta.  At age 29 I was probably the youngest passenger and many people thought I was a crew member. Somewhere in my garage is a box with all my old pictures in it and there are a few from that cruise.  When I find them (someday) I'll post any that seem memorable.  I still have the Viking Ship necklace I bought on board as a souvenir.  What a wonderful experience!

 

I hope to sail on Viking Ocean in the future.

 

~Nancy

[Heidi13]

Thanks for starting this thread. While I was never able to sail with Royal Viking Line, I used to see their spectacular ships on a regular basis. When sailing Alaska cruises out of Vancouver, we used to pass one every week in the narrow channels of the BC Coast.

 

After seeing their ships, I maintained an interest in them and have followed them and their ships on a regular basis. The old steam liners had multiple classes from First Class to Steerage, but RVL started the smaller luxury ship concept, which at the time was an industry first. To put it in perspective, the Island Princess that I sailed on was slightly smaller than the RVL ships, but we carried about 750 pax, while RVL ships carried only about 550.

 

They started as a Norwegian Company, with the US Head Office in San Francisco, as you mentioned, The similarities to the current Viking Ocean are significant - target audience being an older demographic interested in longer voyages to more exotic places. The names of the first 4 ships were in the same order.

 

Torstein Hagen, after rescuing Holland America Line, took over as CEO in the early 1980's. One of his first roles was lengthening all 3 ships. I recall in the mid-80's he tried to purchase the cruise line, but the owners sold to what became NCL, at which point I stopped following them. However, I recall reading that they were purchased by Cunard in the 90's and were merged with Seabourn.

 

Two of the ships - Royal Viking Star (Black Watch) & Royal Viking Sky (Boudicca) were operated for about 15 years by Fred Olsen Cruises, based in UK. My dad really enjoyed those ships with Black Watch being his favourite. Sadly, they both departed Fred Olsen, due to COVID, and I believe the Star is destined as an accommodation ship for workers, but Sky was sold to breakers in Turkey. I read recently the Royal Viking Sea was also sold to the breakers in Alang.

[njhorseman]

Our first cruise was on the Royal Viking Star from New York to Bermuda in the mid to late 1980's. It got me hooked on Bermuda and I've been a regular visitor there ever since, but it didn't get me hooked on Royal Viking so this became our only cruise on Royal Viking. I would never describe the ship as luxurious. The accommodations were ordinary and while the dining room food was good the service was atrocious...which perhaps was primarily attributable to our waiter, but it appeared that our experience in that regard wasn't unique based on comments from other passengers I overheard.

Edited August 7, 2021 by njhorseman

[Myrtle Ave. Mayhem]

@oakridger -  What a wonderful way to start cruisung! The experience of your first cruise is a life changing event. To experience nautical life, the sights, smells, & sounds of a ship are addictive!

 

@Heidi13 - You could write a book! What a career to have been with Princess during that golden era! In the '70's my aunt was a Princess cruiser staring back just after Stanley McDonald took delivery of Island Princess/Island Venture from Flagship Cruises. When "The Love Boat" aired, I(at 11 years old) was taken aback. As you know, the TV version of Princess Cruises & the actual P&0 owned line were NOTHING alike. That's Hollywood! The twin Island/Pacific Princess are to this day some of the favorite ships I sailed, Scandinavian Modern for their era, similar to the Royal Viking & Viking's Ocean ships (notice a theme?) I dearly miss the British P&O days of Princess. It was a different era, as each cruise line was nationality specific. After Carnival came on the scene Princess has never been the same. Also fascinating is  that you were around during & P&0 takeover of Sitmar. Another historic event in modern cruise history. It took awhile for the kinks to get smoothed. It was a transition for the British & Italian crew. After many years as a kid dreaming of a cruise, after high school I booked a Sitmar cruise on the Fairwind. By the time I sailed she was in full Dawn Princess mode. 

 

@njhorseman - That's a shame your RVL cruise wasn't up to par. I wonder if the Kloster ownership had anything to do with the poor experience. My first Princess cruise was on the original Dawn Princess, ex Fairwind. This was just after the Princess takeover of Sitmar. Imagine a ship crewed by ticked off Italians & Portuguese, giving openly disinterested service. 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Myrtle Ave. Mayhem

[Heidi13]

On 8/7/2021 at 8:17 AM, njhorseman said:

Our first cruise was on the Royal Viking Star from New York to Bermuda in the mid to late 1980's. It got me hooked on Bermuda and I've been a regular visitor there ever since, but it didn't get me hooked on Royal Viking so this became our only cruise on Royal Viking. I would never describe the ship as luxurious. The accommodations were ordinary and while the dining room food was good the service was atrocious...which perhaps was primarily attributable to our waiter, but it appeared that our experience in that regard wasn't unique based on comments from other passengers I overheard.

 

By then, RVJ had gone into decline since they were purchased by the Kloster Group, which was Norwegian (NCL)