Mystery of our neighbour in port - Mirror.co.uk (blog)4 March 2011, 4:00 pmBy John Honeywell
Saga Pearl II has had some interesting neighbours in the past couple of ports.
In Oranjestad today, our 18,5000-ton ship is moored almost in the shade of the SkyWalker nightclub on the 109,000-ton Grand Princess; the escalator which delivers passengers through a glass-roofed tube to the futuristic disco 150-ft above Grand's waterline is in sharp contrast to the three arthritic lifts slowly travelling between six decks on Pearl.......
.......MV Freewinds may look like any other cruise ship of a certain vintage - it was built at Turku in Finland in 1968 - but it has a fascinating history and an intriguing present.
Originally designed as a ferry to sail between Bremerhaven in Germany and Harwich in the UK, it was converted to the Boheme, sailing in the Caribbean for Commodore Cruise Line which went bankrupt in 2001.
So far, so dull, but this is where it gets exciting.
In 1986 the ship was bought by the Church of Scientology, to be used as a peaceful retreat and for members undertaking advanced training courses. It is operated under cover of a company called Majestic Cruise Lines.
The ship is the fifth owned by the Church of Scientology, whose founder, L Ron Hubbard, spent some time at sea in the 1960s. The previous four have all been scrapped, and Freewinds came within a whisker of meeting the same fate in 2008 when lethal blue asbestos was found on board.
As well as being used as the only venue where the church's most senior members can be trained to Operating Thetan Level 8, the ship holds a conference cruise each July, and hosts concerts for the residents of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.
It brought to mind the fantasy novel Plague Ship, by Clive Cussler and Jack du Brul, in which members of an obscure religious cult (no similiarity intended, I'm sure) use a cruise ship as their base for an evil plot to take over the world.
It's utter tosh, and I would hesitate to recommend it except for anyone setting out on a lengthy flight without on-board entertainment.
But at least I could look across to Freewinds from Saga Pearl and dream about a Mission: Impossible-type clash between square-jawed heroes and crazed religious zealots. And to wonder whether that was Tom Cruise sunning himself by the pool.
more at
http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/captain-greybeard/2011/03/mystery-of-our-neighbour-in-po.html
