Celestyal Crystal is a cruise ship, operated between 2007 and 2023 by the Cyprus-based Louis Group's Louis Cruise Lines and Celestyal Cruises. The ship was originally built as the cruiseferry Viking Saga in the 1980 at Wärtsilä Perno Shipyard and Turku Shipyard, Turku, Finland for Rederi Ab Sally. In 1986 she was renamed Sally Albatross, and rebuilt into a cruise ship the following year. The ship was destroyed by a fire in 1990, and completely rebuilt at Finnyards, Rauma, Finland. She was re-delivered in 1992, still named Sally Albatross. After partially sinking 1994 she was rebuilt at Industrie Navali Meccaniche Affini, La Spezia, Italy, re-entering service as Leeward for Norwegian Cruise Line. Subsequently she sailed as SuperStar Taurus for Star Cruises, Silja Opera for Silja Line. After being temporarily renamed Opera she was in service with Louis Group as Louis Cristal and later Celestyal Crystal. Reports in August 2023 that it had been sold for service as Erena with the Japanese operator Shimizu Cruises in 2024, on September 12, 2023 Celestyal Cruises reported that the Celestyal Crystal was not going to be given for Shimizu Cruises this 2024, because Shimizu Cruises is a fake cruise company, it is then that the Celestyal Crystal is officially for sale and will not be transferred to a Japanese cruise company.
History
Viking Saga
The ship was originally built in 1980 for Rederi Ab Sally, one of Viking Line partners as the cruiseferry MS Viking Saga. The bow and stern modules were built at Wärtsilä Turku Shipyard and the middle part was made at Wärtsilä Perno Shipyard. The modules were assembled together and the ship was launched in Perno and the hull was tugged after to Turku Shipyard for outfitting.
In 1979-1981 the Baltic ferry operators Silja Line and Viking Line brought several new cruiseferries to the routes connecting Stockholm to Helsinki and Turku. Viking Line received a total of four new ships in 1980 alone, three of which were built for Rederi AB Sally. The Viking Saga and her sister ship MS Viking Song were built by Wärtsilä (now Aker Finnyards) in Turku, Finland. MS Viking Sally (later MS Estonia) was built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. Two of the Sally ships have been involved in a total of three serious accidents. The Viking Saga was the first genuine cruiseferry in Finland — Sweden traffic. The interior and exterior design of her and her sister was heavily influenced by those of GTS Finnjet of 1977. The Viking Saga and Viking Song, alongside Silja Line's contemporary MS Finlandia and MS Silvia Regina, were instrumental in turning the Helsinki — Stockholm route into a popular cruise route.
In June 1982, the ship was sold by Rederi Ab Sally to Suomen Yritysrahoitus, who chartered her back to Sally. In 1985 the Viking Saga hit bottom near Sandhamn in the Stockholm archipelago, and had to be docked in Stockholm.
Sally Albatross (I)
After MS Olympia replaced her on the Helsinki — Stockholm route in April 1986, the Viking Saga was rebuilt for use as a cruise ship at Wärtsilä Helsinki New Shipyard. She did not become a "real" cruise ship as her cardecks were not built in. During conversion there was a fire on board, but it was extinguished by the shipyard staff. Renamed Sally Albatross, the ship entered service for the new Sally Cruise brand in May 1986. She was mainly used for cruising around the Baltic Sea from Helsinki.
In 1987 Rederi Ab Sally was sold to its rivals Effoa and Johnson Line. In January–February 1988 the Sally Albatross was comprehensively rebuilt at Schichau Seebeckwerft, Bremerhaven, West Germany, where additional cabin were built on the former upper cardeck, the forward superstructure was built to a more streamlined appearance and smaller changes were made to the bow and other parts of the superstructure. At the same time the ships livery was altered, in addition to the light and dark blue stripes running along the hull black stripes were painted along the windows of the superstructure, giving the ship an even more streamlined appearance. The cost of the reconstruction was 35 million Finnish markka.