Rumors are strengthening that Club Cruise’s Astoria, whose charter to Transocean Tours ends in April 2009, has been sold to Saga to become the second ship for its Spirit of Adventure brand. Club Cruise has come on hard times lately recently, having sold the recently-acquired ferry Da Vinci (ex Finnjet) for scrap and been forced to shut down its stillborn British subsidiary Van Gogh Cruise Line, so it’s not surprising that it would consider selling the 18,591 GT, 500-berth Astoria in the apparent absence of a new charterer.
This schedule from the Hong Kong Ocean Terminal lists a ship named Spirit of Adventure II calling in Hong Kong from 19 to 20 January 2010; the ship’s length is listed as 164 meters, the same as Astoria. Copenhagen’s schedule also lists a ship named Spirit of Adventure II calling in Copenhagen on 4 July 2009.
Saga already operates the 9,570 GT, 352-berth Spirit of Adventure as a separate product from its two larger cruise ships, Saga Rose and Saga Ruby. Unlike those ships, the minimum age to travel on Spirit of Adventure is 21 rather than 50. Both Spirit of Adventure and Astoria were built in 1981 at Howaltswerke Deutsche Werft in Germany, and despite the size difference, they share a similar design, making Astoria a good potential candidate for expansion of Saga’s destination-focused brand.
