Europa
now Blue Sapphire, ex Saga Sapphire, ex Bleu de France, ex Holiday Dream, ex SuperStar Aries, ex SuperStar Europe
Blue Sapphire was originally built as yard number 1001 at the erstwhile Bremer Vulcan shipyard. She was named by Simone Veil and became the fifth ship of Hapag-Lloyd bearing the prestigious name 'Europa'. The interior of this seminal ship was designed by Wilfried Köhnemann and Joachim Buchwald. Her understated elegance and spaciousness surpassed other ships of her time. Europa was the first cruise ship divided vertically with the accommodations in the quieter forward areas and the public rooms aft following a a concept introduced with ferries like Finnjet. Europa pioneered prefabricated cabin modules; even today her standard cabins are amongst the largest found aboard passenger ships. During her career with Hapag-Lloyd, the ship underwent only a few modifications, the most noteworthy being the change from two sitting to single sitting operation of the main dining room at the end of the 1980ies. Later owners implemented drastic changes to the decor and layout giving the ship a rather different atmosphere than during her days with Hapag-Lloyd. Features like her wide promenade decks (albeit not wrap-around), the cinema or her three large pools including a large potable water filled indoor pool were dearly missed by her fans when her successor was introduced in 1999. At that time, the ship was sold to Star Cruises where she served as SuperStar. In 2004 she was sold again to become Pullmantur Holiday Dream. Holiday Dream was based in Havana for most of the time until Pullmantur became part of the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Group in 2007. In 2008 she was transferred to a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, CDF Croisières de France. Renamed Bleu de France she catered to the French cruise market.
2012 Bleu de France became Saga Sapphire for Saga Holidays and underwent an extensive refit at Palermo - see also KNUD E. HANSEN A/S; video-blog on refurbishment @ YouTube. Photos of this vessel be found at Simplon Postcards, see also this nice video with aerial views of Saga Sapphire: Saga Sapphire DRONE chase @ YouTube.
Since 2020 she is sailing as Blue Sapphire for SELECTUM BLU.
A description of ms Europa can e.g. be found in the January 1982 issue of "The Naval Architect" or in the book "Das Schiff - die neue Europa" by Wilfried Köhnemann and Udo Burk. A large model of her hull used for the towing tank tests is on display in the Deutsches Museum in Munich. A 1:100 scale model hull and plans of ms Europa were available at Steinhagen Modelltechnik.
The most noteworthy incidents the ship encountered were a grounding in Greenland in the early 1980ies, a collision with the container ship Inchon Glory in 1992 and an incident with a lifeboat in the 1990ies. Several incidents were reported during her Saga years: Engine problems during her first voyage 2012, a flooding in 2014 - see official accident report, an accident during a crew drill in 2012 - see official incident report at
gov.uk and an electrical fire in 2014. Note that the apparent frequency of incidents may be skewed, as reporting standards were less rigorous in earlier decades than they are today.
Although Europa remains one of my favorites anmongst all the ships I travelled with I almost have no video material of my own. I am therefore grateful that Mrs. Erika Preiss surrendered some video material from her late husband for publication on this webpage. I also want to express my thanks to Saga Cruises for allowing me to visit the ship in 2017 since Saga's age limit did not allow me to travel with her at that time.
Blue Sapphire - IMO: 7822457 @ MarineTraffic
ms Europa arrives at Kiel
Saga Sapphire leaves Marseille
ms Europa leaves Piraeus
ms Europa at Piraeus
'The Drawing Room' (Club Belvedere) aboard Saga Sapphire
On deck aboard Saga Sapphire
Interior views of Saga Sapphire
Indoor pool of Saga Sapphire
'Pole to Pole Restaurant' aboard Saga Sapphire
Short glimpse of the galley of ms Europa
ms Europa passes the unfinished 'Great Belt Bridge'
