Last week, I received a tip about the Saga Ruby cruise ship (ex – Vistafjord), which is on her last cruise for Saga to the Caribbean from Southampton, that the ship is stranded in Canary Islands due to generator problems.

I had mentioned that the old cruise ship is already apparently sold to Chinese investors and is under International Shipping Partner management. 

The following day, Cruise Critic carried the story which contained what I thought was some rather interesting information. 

Cruise Critic confirmed that there as a "faulty generator" affecting the ship’s air conditioning system.

Rather than try and sail over to the Caribbean, Saga announced that the cruise ship will sail in the Mediterranean, where it can operate without air conditioning. 

Cruise Critic quoted a Saga spokesperson, "It was discovered that one of the six generators could not operate properly without a part that needed to be manufactured." Because the air conditioning needs to run at full capacity in the Caribbean, "The Captain decided that for passenger comfort, it would be better to change the itinerary."

That’s interesting, a busted generator and they are not even going to spend the money to fix it. 

Of the 557 passengers onboard, around 30 returned to the U.K. and will receive a full refund. Those remaining onboard will receive a 40-percent refund.

As we previously reported, the cruise, which departed from Southampton on December 7th, is the ship’s last sailing. 

Saga promised a wonderful time for the passengers who remained.

One knowledgeable maritime expert commented on the situation on my Facebook page: "Good God . . . is this thing still running??? I piloted her 20 years ago and thought she was an old bag of bolts back then. Truly revealing how some owners will literally milk the death out of a ship until she earns her last penny!"  

 

Photo Credit: Wikipedia / Holger.Ellgaard