P.S.
I don't want to sound repeating or annoying but why are you always advertise and praise Costa with every opportunity and at the same time say bad things for other companies?
I agree that it is normal for people to "support" companies based in their country but I really think this could be done without writting those negative comments for the competitors.

does anyone know more about the present state of the "Sapphire", and the service is offered.

Someone I know is considering a 12 day Italy-Greece cruise onboard her in June, and asked me for a bit more background info, and an assessment.

Apart from the history (Italia, Princess Italia etc...) I don't know much about the present condition.

Louis Cruise Line is expanding, and doing well, so I guess it won't be bad. Is it comparable to the present "Oceanic" (of Pullmanturs ), which I do know ?

Thanks,

The cruse ship “Seawing” weights 16.710 tones and has been built in 1971. It is 163,30 meters long, has 11 decks and transports 926 passengers in 401 cabins. The “Saewing” ship, among other things, has a swimming pool, a casino, six different rooms for entertainment, beauty salons, gym etc.

The expansion of Louis Ltd fleet has been judged necessary due to the increased demand for the cruises to Piraeus. Already, for the year 2005 the reservations for the ships Calypso and Ithaca that will travel from the port of Piraeus have overcome the capacity of the ships.

With the addition of “Seawing” to the fleet of Louis Plc, the company becomes the owner of 11 cruse ships, strengthening its position worldwide. Eight of the 11 cruise ships operate from foreign ports and three have as base the port of Limasol. The purchase of “Seawing” is expected to increase the turnover of the company and to positively affect the profitability of year 2005 and the following years.

It is an cheap Offer of 2 Stars, not more.

The Cabins are little, the Pool is for an Dip, the Entertainment is cheap, the Food is Mediterranean and of cheap Items, but fresh cooked on Board and not bad, the Service is lacking all finesse, it is definitively not possible, to serve proper without Busboys and with only 4 Stations in an Dining Room for more than 300 Pax.

I think, if the People are willing, the Product coulb be improved.

It is more an Problem of the Officers and the Circumstances, not the "working People".

I would book Louis again, but only if i get no cheap Offer with Celebrity, Transocean, HAL, Princess, Royal Caribbean , Cunard and so on...

My brother and me arrived at the check-in at 12 o?clock, and were greeted with name! But that was not due to a very personal service, but can be attributed to the fact that we were the last to check in. As with ROC in the last years there were no signs set up in the Ponte Andrea Doria to guide you to the SAPPHIRE. This was in stalk contrast with MSC?s OPERA, whose signs were ubiquitous. At the check-in we were treated to some bakery. Wow, better than ROC!
Departure was scheduled at 13:00 and we sailed punctual. The turnaround time in Genoa was extremely short (the ship had berthed at 8:30 AM), because it was only the approximately 100 German speaking passengers (Germans, Austrians and Swiss) who embarked here. The majority (around 250 French and Belgian, and some Dutch) had embarked already in Marseilles. With another 100 Italians embarking in Naples the next day the Sapphire was almost full (650 is the maximum with all berth occupied). There had been heavy discounting of the already adequate brochure rate, so it was no surprise). The next cruise (that does not fit into the German school holidays) was not sold out and it was possible to prolong the cruise on board spontaneously.
Ot on the ocean the ship began to rock heavily in a ?corkscrew motion? (pitching and rolling at the same time, a term I learned from fellow lister Frank Gradwell aboard the FUNCHAL). We cast only a glimpse into the dining room, to see that the first sitting showed two thirds of the tables empty. The lifeboat drill had been called off to be rescheduled for the next day. We went to our cabin 136, which was thankfully amid ship outside on the lower deck. When we entered the cabin our cabin the cans of soft drinks that had lined the desk were scattered all over the floor, the wardrobe doors swinging rhythmically open. Our cabin was at sea level with no porthole but directly at the hull. So we could hear the bashes of the waves outside. The interior was from the period of Ocean Cruise lines, judged by their emblem at the radio unit. But the bunk-beds looked older. Also the private facility looked older than the 80s, with tiled floor. According to ?The Costa Liners? her lowest 3 decks had been under water, when she sunk on the Amazon in 1993. Apparently the lowest passenger deck was not involved. Even the cinema deep down below seemed to have its original rows of chairs (ok, rubber fake leather, possibly water-proof) The piano on the stage looks like it disassembles as soon as you touch. The Sulzer diesels are still the original ones, as our table mate (she was an employee of Sulzer, and therefore got an engine room visit) confirmed.

In Naples time ashore was a bit short, only from 12 to 16:30(all aboard).
I boarded at 16:45 instead of 16:30 (all aboard time). So me and another passenger have been paged immediately via the public address system.

The crew aboard seems to have been a mix of former employees of now bankrupt cruise lines: Helen, the polyglot cruise director (Dutch, English, French, German and Greek!) came from ROC?s ODYSSEUS, Captain Foundoukas also, the Maitre d? Antonio was from Festival. He told us that he had quit his job at Festival already before the bankruptcy when he did not receive his wage for 5 months.
The ?Four Seasons Restaurant?, what an uninspired choice for a dining room?s name, is situated behind the lifeboats, so the room featured ?obstructed view?. But a step towards modernity compared to a real liner. Décor-wise it seems to be 80s (definitely not younger) with a recessed ceiling that was lighted from behind the floral decorated frosted glass panels. At the end of the room an arcade of mirrors should be the eye-catcher, definitely 80s in a kitschy Charleston way. Beside these mirrors, the room looks quite reasonable, but does not feature much noise-swallowing textiles, so it was loud. The food was quite good, with salmon galore, my roasted duck with bitter sweet sauce this time not chopped with all the bones still inside (as experienced on two ROC ships). No water was offered for free, though. But soft drinks were decently priced. The soft items on the ship were a delicious mix of liner memorabilia: Ocean Cruise Line vases on the tables, ?AUSONIA? read the round paper pieces your drink rests on, the shampoo is old Paquet stock, probably inherited when the SERENADE was acquired by Louis Cruise Lines.

The small passage that lies behind the lifeboats cause the whole deck of the restaurant to be named Promenade deck. While it is not very attractive, it is still a good recess if you want to be alone with the sea. A few steps away from the restaurant, undiscovered by any passenger. This deck has a height of one and a half of the other decks, but in the forward direction only to the bridge; the ceiling of the corridors forward of the bridge are low again. On the lounge deck above there is a staircase to bridge the difference in height of the deck underneath. Strange construction. While the interiors of the lounge deck are no big deal (80s and 90s design) the Rendez-vous square in front of the main show lounge has a smart lay-out: With groups of easy-chairs and one bar slightly detached from the main passenger flow, with the casino and the shops it really felt like the heart of the ships social life.

In Benghasi there really is not much to see, so we decided to go on the guided excursion to Cyrene, ...

In the port of Tripolis I had time to inspect the hull for the first time. The ship was in quite a good cosmetic condition. The hull shows many layers of paint though. She has one row of rivets at the main deck, all else is welded. Her homeport is Majuro on the Marshall Islands. I thought that this was due to the fact that the ship called at Kusadasi this summer, where Cypriot flags are banned. But that was denied by the cruise director. I noticed that the funnel logo is missing the blue "L". So the red sun apparently is the new logo for Louis.

Aboard are many from Eastern Europe (Ukraine, Romania) in the hotel staff, reportedly there are also many Egyptians, but I presume they are mostly deck crew. Or cabin stewardess was Ukrainian and cared for 18 cabins.

Next day was spent on sea en route to Marseilles. On that day cruise director Helen picked me up (amongst others) for a bridge visit, as she knew I am very interested it ships. That delivered a very informative visit like on the ODYSSEUS tow years back. My congratulations! It was on that bridge visit, that I saw the press release pinned there about AUSONIA being used in the Aegean next year as ITHACA. Boy, was I pleased to hear that! The bridge itself has a quite traditional air, due to the fake-wood panelling, and the wooden steering wheel, while it doesn?t feature separate engine telegraphs.

We had very professional photographers aboard, who were shooting for next year?s brochure of SAPPHIRE.

Back in Genoa, the early departure of the SAPPHIRE at 13:00 provided for an extremely good photo-shooting opportunity. I made pictures of her from every angle, as she manoeuvred in the harbour! With a bit of a stretch of the imagination, she really looks like the OCEANIC.

Up sides of the Sapphire:
- Evening shows that were nothing short of gorgeous! (5 dancers, 4 singers)
- Two Gentlemen hosts (Thought this to be a thing of the QE2 exclusively)
- Good cuisine
- Gracious amount of deck space
reclining chairs of solid metal frame instead white plastic
- cruise director Helen

Down sides
- No artwork other than textile walls with some boring color textures in the stair-towers
- Decks with blue plastic grid cover, no teak anywhere
- Lacks warmth in interiors with to many mirrors in the stile of the 80s
- Excursions expensive
- Wine list reportedly high priced
- German translation of the dinner menu quite adventurous