Vistafjord Will Visit L.A. After 12-Year Absence

For the first time in 12 years, Cunard/NAC’s Vistafjord, sister ship to the prestigious Sagafjord, is in the port of Los Angeles for a brief series of cruises during January.

While most of the sailings are charters, two have been available for general booking: a three-day party cruise to Ensenada and San Diego on Jan. 28 (latest word from Cunard says it’s already sold out) and a 15-day transcanal sailing from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale on Jan. 31 (with some space still open).

We had always assumed that the Vistafjord would be exactly like the Sagafjord, but on a recent Caribbean cruise aboard the Vistafjord we discovered differences, some of them obvious and some subtle.

First, the Vistafjord is the younger of the two sisters in more ways than one. Not only was she built eight years later, but her passengers, ambiance and late-night entertainment are livelier and a bit more casual.

Continental Atmosphere

Because anywhere from 10% to 50% of the 600-plus passengers on each sailing are Europeans, the Vistafjord has a more continental atmosphere than the mostly North American Sagafjord. As the German version of “Love Boat” on the first season of “Traumschiff” (“Dreamboat”) on TV, the ship became a familiar fantasy throughout the European continent.

Our fellow passengers were Swiss, German, French, Welsh, English and Austrian, as well as American and Canadian; shipboard announcements were made in English and German.

The difficulty of a bilingual ship comes in scheduling entertainment. A stand-up comic can have part of his audience rolling in the aisles, the rest staring blankly at him in utter silence. In deference to the mixed audience, the Vistafjord’s lounge show was blandly predictable: pretty chorus girls, an adagio/ballet dance team, comedy jugglers--and sometimes bizarre--a virtuoso of the musical saw accompanied by a yodeler, a woman trumpeter with more energy than talent.

Nightly Spotlight Shows

Far more appealing were the nightly spotlight shows in the dazzling two-level Club Viking, a sophisticated glass-and-mirror nightclub that allows you to sit inside or outside on a terrace above the deck. There, free from the mass audience constraints, several performers, including a Rita Moreno-like singer named Sylvia Mora, played to standing-room-only late-night crowds.

Another Vistafjord superstar is chef Rudolf Sodamin, a 27-year-old Austrian who has studied and worked in major hotels and restaurants around the world for 14 years. Sodamin’s menus routinely offer dishes that would be considered special orders on most ships--fresh foie gras gently sauteed and served warm atop radiccio and Belgian endive; tart fresh sorbets between the fish and the meat courses; cheese and dessert souffles in individual portions.

The only weak spot in the food operation is in the Lido Cafe buffets, where late breakfast items are not replenished as often as they should be, and the grilled meats are not presented as elegantly as they are on the Sagafjord, where each is carved to order by a chef in a toque.

The usual gamut of shipboard activities is available on the Vistafjord, plus, for the first time, a full computer center with seven IBM PCs, a full-time instructor and plenty of software and learning programs. It turned out to be the runaway hit of our cruise.

Bright, Cheery Decor

Decor in the public rooms is bright and cheery, with most still in the Scandinavian style. A green-and-white Garden Lounge with white piano and large dance floor dominates the forward end of the ship, while the silver-and-gray Club Viking overlooks the rear decks. The dining room is a soft rose, with wide view windows along both walls.

Cabins are more spacious than on many ships, especially in the upper categories, and bathrooms are large without doorway sills, making it feasible for wheelchair passengers. At least half have both tub and shower; those with shower only are designated by room number on Vistafjord’s fare chart.

Prices for the 15-day transcanal cruise range from $2,980 per person double occupancy (inside or smaller outside doubles) to $6,360 for deluxe outside doubles, $11,910 for two-room suites with veranda. Ports of call include Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco, Puerto Caldera (Costa Rica), Cartagena, Georgetown on Grand Cayman.

The Vistafjord is just as dress-up as the Sagafjord, averaging two formal (black tie or dark suit) and four informal (coat and tie) evenings a week. During the day, however, casual sportswear is very much in order, and participants in the Golden Door spa program usually wear leotards with the ship’s terry-cloth hooded robes as cover-ups.

This is one of the finest cruise ships, and some even prefer it over its slightly more lavish but stately sister ship.

For 1986, the Vistafjord is offering three Halley’s comet cruises, two in late March between Rio de Janeiro and Fort Lauderdale, plus one on March 1 in the Caribbean.

On April 12 the ship will begin a transatlantic crossing to reposition for summer sailings in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. In June, Baltic and North Cape cruises are scheduled, and on July 26 a first-ever Greenland, Iceland and Norway 21-day cruise.

Although final details have not been announced, the Vistafjord will make a long Pacific and Orient cruise beginning this month, with several days in Australia. The Sagafjord will make its usual world cruise in 1987, while the QE2 will be in an extensive six-month dry dock having major engine work done.