Once upon a time, converted Scandinavian ferries were a mainstay of the cruise industry. They arguably helped start NCL, Star Cruises, the Miami cruise business and introduced European masses to the previously elitist concept of a cruise via the 'minicruise'. As the industry built more and more vessels dedicated to cruising so these car ferry pioneers are dying away. It was experience of operating luxurious (for the time) car ferries, ambition and arrogance that led Danish company DFDS to believe it could spark a revolution in coastal travel in the US by bringing a specially designed brand new ship into service to carry passengers and most importantly their cars from New York to Florida. That ship was the Scandinavia and she is still, just about, going today as cruise ship Island Escape. There are many rumours of her imminent demise as a big birthday approaches and so I decided to give her a try before the chance is lost forever. Scandinavia has had an interesting career, and been adapted from her ferry beginnings along the way. The New York - Florida car ferry service quickly failed once the restrictive practices of US passenger shipping meant that direct travel was impossible and so transshipment of cars to feeder vessels in the Bahamas was necessary. By 1983, after just over a year of service the Scandinavia was moved to DFDS' flagship Copenhagen - Oslo route where she did a short stint until sold for further service to Sundance cruises who saw her potential for carrying car loving americans on their cruise vacations to Alaska and the Mexican Riviera. As their Stardancer, the brochures show her public spaces to have been largely unaltered with the exception of inserting a library into the former children's room and an extension of the healthclub to the side of the ship on the upper most deck. Stardancer was advertised as bringing space to bring your RV to Alaska aboard a luxury cruise ship at sensible prices. In 1987 Sundance cruises was sold to Admiral Cruises, who in turn were bought by Royal Caribbean in 1990. The ship was renamed Viking Serenade and underwent a far more substantial conversion into a fully-fledged cruise ship.
The Scandinavia was built in the vertical separation of accommodation design that was fashionable up until the Monarch and Majesty of the Seas. The conversion thus required changes throughout the ship but most visibly noticeable was the build up of the stern. A Viking Crown lounge, always a signature feature of Royal Caribbean ships, was added. The previously open upper passenger deck was enclosed full width and made into a Lido restaurant. Down next to the pursers office on Deck 5, the starboard aft section of cabins were removed and new windows cut to create space for a new restaurant. The main change though was the conversion of the car decks into passenger and crew cabin decks. In addition, behind the scenes, many technical changes were made which moved her from a ship for very short voyages to be a ship capable of self-sustaining operation for 2 weeks, including fuel capacity, bakery, laundry and other facilities. Crew cabins were installed generally in the inside spaces, and when disembarking in ports via deck 3, passengers glancing into the crew areas can still see the tell tale DFDS blue car deck with 'elephants feet' for lashing down the trucks, this is what passes for corridor floors. A much larger Casino and the Serenade shops were installed on decks 7 & 8 respectively. The former disco was eliminated as the disco function moved up to the Viking Crown lounge. In its place came cabins.
After a decade with Royal Caribbean, the ship was moved to start a joint brand with First Choice, Island Cruises. A relaxed, informal cruising style (all buffet) was adopted and the ship was further altered accordingly. The main nightclub received perhaps the least thought through alteration with the portion aft by the windows becoming Cafe Brazil coffee shop, internet centre and Library, without any form of sound or visual screening. In a further refit, clip on balconies were added on the upper most cabin deck at the stern. At some point in her Island Escape career, the roof from the Magradrome was removed too. As Island escape, the ship now caters to entry level fly-cruise market from Britain. Although part of the Thomson operation, Island cruises is marketed very separately from the Thomson operation to differentiate the onboard standards.
Looking at the decor and comparing the corporate styles of her owners, the biggest influence is probably her RCI refit as Viking Serenade. Many things like the pub, decor in the A la carte, stairway and atrium murals, all appear to date from that era. However a brochure I have for her as Scanvinavia shows that some things are still original, most notably the glass bubble light fittings in the main restaurant, which back then illustrated plush red velvet seats in the 'Windows of the World' dining saloon, rather than the conservatory furniture and buffet fayre of today. The old brochure also shows how some shipboard design trends come back into fashion. A couple are shown walking into what one assumes is the disco through a mirrored and side lit tunnel, just like today's large Tallink and Aida ships have. Plus ca change!
With all this in mind, I set out for Palma to board the Island Escape for her first 'Spirit of the Mediterannean' cruise of what may (or may not) be her last season. Cabins are allocated upon arrival an I was given an outside aft on deck 4, one of the cabins added in the conversion from a ferry. Like typical ferry cabins it was compact but had all the basics there. An ancient TV spluttered into life showing a few British channels and a bridge cam, a compact but dated pink hued bathroom and wardrobes designed with serious ship shape closing mechanisms, together with 2 narrow beds, completed the scene. Up in the passenger spaces, one is immediately transported back in parts to the 1980s Baltic with smoked glass and brass, and elsewhere to the 90s cruise ships with marble (and more brass). There was a true ferry feel to the layout of the main night club with semi-circular seating around an offset stage leaving wondows on 3 sides, including looking down over the wake. From a similar era seem to be the atrium and the restaurant. Also the public bathrooms had something in their layout which screamed ferry - perhaps it was the odd shape, or the large windows?
We set sail from Palma for Ajaccio and after a day plodding at Sea, got to experience the 'Island Escape' brand of fun. The entertainment staff really work very hard in a working mens club at sea style, constantly amusing, sometimes involving, frequently energetic and almost universally camp. Many of the passengers benefited from the All Inclusive drinks package and so a general air of merriment abounded. The overwhelming majority of the passengers were from Northern Britain and there was the typical brusque, slightly nosey humourous interaction to be had all day. In the whole cruise I only saw 2-3 people obviously the worse for wear on the drink and both were 70+. One was being escorted back to his cabin to sleep it off and another lady was being helped down the stairs amongst much giggling of her friends.
Food on the escape is all buffet. And its plentiful but this is not a line with a high food budget. There is seemingly Pork available for almost every meal, rarely beef and never steak. US cruising this is not. Whilst the quality is overall not bad, it reminds me of a land based restaurant chain called 'Harvester'. Not bad but perhaps not somewhere one would go every day.
Passengers wanting something fancier can opt for the Oasis restaurant down next to the Purser's square. At £14.99 it offers an a la carte waiter service option for 'special occasions'. In truth the quality of the food here was just about the same as in the main waiter service restaurant on other Thomson ships, decent pub grub well presented, but not really any better.
I had been on deck for departure and upon returning to my cabin there was the not unexpected level of the throb of the ships engines. The ventilation system also needs some attention as whenever the kitchen is in operation, its aromas spread throughout certain spaces on the ship making the theatre the 'chip fat' lounge etc. I was alseep in my cabin for arrival at Ajaccio next day and then I really got a special wake up call, as the ships propellor pitch changes or manoeuvering begins so the vibration becomes intense, rather like a lasting lowish strength earthquake.
Our subsequent ports of call were Civitavecchia, Livorno, Toulon and Barcelona. In each port, the Escape showed her age and relative unmanouverability by requiring tugs even in wind still weather, and even then taking upto 45 mins to spin around. By Livorno the wind had picked up to 40 knots and for the first time in a long time I was on a ship which was taken out to Sea by the tugs, taken all the way (usually they drop off once the sharp turns are done). The pilot certainly earned his money that evening as our old tub provided only some shelter. Fortunately for the night from Livorno to Toulon we were heading straight into the wind and sea. My Cabin stewardess had made my cabin become an inside by closing the deadlights and I knew we were in for a bouncy one. And sure enough we pitched away creating great plumes of spray up at least as far as deck 8 as we ploughed on. I was glad then not to have one of the original forward passenger cabins and the next morning tales abounded or 'brave survival' and first time cruises who had been thrown out of bed and slept in their lifejackets. A stroll round the more sheltered parts of the deck that evening brought be across a very frightened looking lady at the forward stairwell who was petrified by a hollow metallic banging which was coming from within the ship. We quickly tracked this down to an empty lift carriage banging against its shaft when we hit bit waves and creating the most tremendous reverberations. I'd like to think that the lady was reassured by knowing what the noise was but reception staff just shrugged and said 'its a normal noise'.
For our day in Toulon we had arrived only a little behind schedule due to the headwind, but it stayed windy all day and many ferries in the area were diverted or delayed. We left 1hr later than scheduled and the Captain announced we were to take a different route to hug the coast and try to stay out of the worst of the weather. Hug the coast we did but as we turned from Toulon we took the wind on our side, made a large roll and with the strength of the wind basically stayed at that angle for the next few hours, only increasing with particularly large waves. Like many slab sided car ferries with the public spaces high up aft, the Escape couldn't really be described as comfortable in such weather. Next day some crew were joking (I hope they were joking) that they had lost months wages in that one turn when lots of glasses, plates and bottles had smashed, and even in my cabin the shelves all emptied themselves on the floor.
During the night, the ship turned south for Barcelona and with a following wind we even managed to arrive ahead of schedule into a wind still Barcelona, which was as beautiful as ever. In port that day we say a ship with a dual identity. The port side was Columbus 2 and the starboard side Insignia. By the evening the ship had been turned around and the identity transformation was taking place on the other side. As is normal with Barcelona, passenger ship and ferries came and went, and the excellently conceived dual use Cruise/ Ferry terminals were in good use. Their idea is that cruise ships generally stay until 5-6pm and the ferries being night ships only need the berths from 8-12. Thus quaysides bustle all day with cruise passengers and supplies until the same spaces are then used to accommodate the waiting ferry traffic.
Back in Palma at the end of the trip I reflected on what a magnificent ferry Scandinavia must have been back in 1982. And despite never being quite right, she has operated for 30years successfully when many other better regarded ships have not. Would I cruise Island Escape again? No - but I don't regret a moment spent in that Harvester with Cabins even if some of it felt like it was during an earthquake.
Thanks for reading and if you are interested, there are a few photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/foodafloat/sets/72157629820740243/
Matt