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I remember first seeing the Fairstar at the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Sydney's Circular Quay - I made a special trip into town to see the ship several months before we embarked on our trip. The Fairstar's white hull glistened in the sun and the large "V" stood out proudly on her buff funnel. At the time, I couldn't understand why a cruise ship that was owned by a company called "Sitmar" had a "V" on the funnel! I later learned it was the initial of the owner of Sitmar's name - "Vlasov". On the 31st January 1983 my family and I boarded the TSS Fairstar for our 13 night cruise. There were comments by various other passengers at the time saying the cruise would be jinxed - it was a 13 night cruise that departed from pier 13 and was to return Sydney on the 13th February! We ultimately had the last laugh as the cruise was faultless to the point of being almost perfect. The ship took us from Sydney to five ports of call: Noumea - Hieghene - Vila - Lautoka - Suva. My siblings and I were on "A" deck in cabin 12 - a four berth arrangement with a porthole and our parents were on Saloon deck in a two berth inside cabin ("F1"). The cruise would go down as one of the best holidays our family was to ever have. We made new friends, went to new and exotic places and had perfect weather every day. I was hooked on Fairstar. Two years later I arranged another trip on the Fairstar - albeit much shorter. My brother and I along with some friends went on one of the Fairstar's legendary cruise to nowhere" trips. It was basically a three night cruise that just sailed around the east coast of Australia from Sydney then back again (although we made a brief stop at Newcastle for some unknown reason!). There were some pretty wild things that occurred on that trip! In the mid 1990s I was out of work. I dabbled in some freelance photography at the time and applied for a job on Fairstar as one of the ship's photographers. My application was successful and joined the team of five photographers on board. I did a few consecutive cruises, took thousands of photographs and met many people during my time on board. However, in September 1994 I joined the Ambulance Service of NSW and to this day I'm still working as a Paramedic in Sydney's north. Although the Fairstar is now, sadly, long gone - she will remain in the memory of mine and the thousands of passengers and crew who walked her decks. So feel free to browse through the website, maybe post a message on the Forum and relive your experiences on Fairstar. Best wishes,  - Mike Ristuccia Author of TssFairstar.com 
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 The author in 1983 on board Fairstar - age 15  ..and again in 1994 - as one of Fairstar's photographers.  ..and in 2005 on board the P&O 'Pacific Sun'. |