MS Marco Polo was a cruise ship originally built as ocean liner Aleksandr Pushkin in 1965 by Mathias-Thesen-Werft, East Germany for the Soviet Union's Baltic Shipping Company. After major alterations and additions, the ship operated as Marco Polo for the Orient Lines from 1993 to 2008. It last sailed for UK-based Cruise & Maritime Voyages and its German subsidiary Transocean Tours. After Cruise & Maritime Voyages entered administration in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was sold at auction by CW Kellock & Co. Ltd. for US$2,770,000 on 22 October 2020; it was subsequently resold and in January 2021 was beached at Alang, India and scrapped.
Swedish American Line was a Swedish passenger shipping line. It was founded in December 1914 under the name Rederiaktiebolaget Sverige-Nordamerika and began ocean liner service from Gothenburg to New York in 1915. In 1925 the company changed its name to Svenska Amerika Linien / Swedish American Line.
SSOriana was the last of the Orient Steam Navigation Company's ocean liners. She was built at Vickers-Armstrongs, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England and launched on 3 November 1959 by Princess Alexandra. Oriana first appeared as an Orient Line ship, with a corn-coloured hull, until 1966, when that company was fully absorbed into the P&O group. Faced with unprofitable around-the-world passenger routes, the P&O white hulled Oriana was operated as a full-time cruise ship from 1973. Between 1981 and her retirement from service five years later, Oriana was based at Sydney, Australia, operating to Pacific Ocean and South-East Asian ports. Deemed surplus to P&O's requirements in early 1986, the vessel was sold to become a floating hotel and tourist attraction, first in Japan and later in China. As a result of damage sustained from a severe storm whilst in the port of Dalian in 2004, SS Oriana was finally sold to local breakers in 2005.
MS Bore is a combination museum and hotel ship docked permanently in Turku, Finland. She was originally built in 1960 by Oskarshamn shipyard, Oskarshamn, Sweden as the car/passenger ferry SS Bore for Steamship Company Bore, Finland, then the last commercial steam ship built in Scandinavia and the first ferry on the route between Finland and Sweden where cars could drive aboard. She was later known as SS Borea, before being rebuilt as a cruise ship in 1988. 1988 to 2010 she was owned by the Finnish shipping company Kristina Cruises and known as MS Kristina Regina until she was retired because she did not comply with new safety regulations.
MS Tropicale was a cruise ship that entered service in 1982, and was one of the pioneering cruise ships in the modernization of the cruise industry. She was Carnival Cruises Line's first newly built ship, initially operating mainly in the Mexican Riviera and the Caribbean.
Atlantic Star was a cruise ship built in 1984. She sailed for Sitmar Cruises, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia, and Pullmantur Cruises. Under ownership of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., the ship had been laid up since 2010 before being handed over to STX France in 2013 as a partial payment for the construction of what is now, Harmony of the Seas. She was later sold to a shipbreaker in Aliağa, Turkey, renamed Antic, and scrapped on 14 April 2013.
MS Vistafjord was an ocean liner that was built as a combined liner/cruise ship in 1973 by Swan Hunter, England for the Norwegian America Line. In 1983 she was sold to Cunard, retaining her original name until 1999 when she was renamed Caronia. In 2004 she was sold to Saga and sailed as Saga Ruby until sold in 2014 for use as a floating hotel and renamed Oasia. This never came to fruition. Her owners went bankrupt, and in April 2017 she arrived at Alang Ship Breaking Yard, India for scrapping.
RMS Sylvania was an ocean liner built in 1957 by John Brown & Company, in Glasgow, Scotland for Cunard. She was the last Cunard vessel built specifically for transatlantic crossings. The ship was later heavily rebuilt as a cruise ship, and sailed under the names SS Fairwind, SS Sitmar Fairwind, SS Dawn Princess and SS Albatros before being scrapped in 2004. She was renamed SS Genoa for her last voyage.
Home Lines was an Italian passenger shipping company that operated both ocean liners and cruise ships. The company was founded in 1946, and it ceased operations in 1988 when merged into Holland America Line. Although based in Genoa, Home Lines was an international company with ships registered in Panama, while the original company chairman Eugen Eugenides was Greek. By the time Home Lines was merged into Holland America, they were one of the most highly regarded cruise lines in the world.
MS Cunard Princess was a cruise ship, previously owned an operated by the Israel-based Mano Maritime. She was built 1975 by the Burmeister & Wain shipyard in Copenhagen, Denmark, for Cunard Line as MS Cunard Conquest, but her interior fittings were subsequently installed at the Navali Mechaniche Affini in La Spezia, Italy. Following re-delivery from Navali Mechaniche Affini in 1977 the ship was renamed MS Cunard Princess. In 1995, the ship entered service with StarLauro Cruises, briefly retaining her previous name before being renamed MS Rhapsody. In 2009 she was sold to Mano Maritime and sailed as Golden Iris until 2018. After being laid up for four years at Chalkis Shipyard, Greece. In 2021 was she renamed Gold Club. She was beached at Aliağa, Turkey, for recycling.
TS Maxim Gorkiy was, until 30 November 2008, a cruise ship owned by Sovcomflot, Russia, under long-term charter to Phoenix Reisen, Germany. She was built in 1969 by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, Hamburg, West Germany for the German Atlantic Line as TS Hamburg. In late 1973 she was very briefly renamed TS Hanseatic. The following year she was sold to the Black Sea Shipping Company, Soviet Union and received the name Maksim Gorkiy in honour of the writer Maxim Gorky, renamed to Maxim Gorkiy after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
MV Astoria is a ship that was constructed as the transatlantic ocean liner Stockholm for Swedish American Line, and rebuilt as a cruise ship in 1993. Ordered in 1944, and commenced service in 1948, at 76 years old, she is the oldest deep water passenger liner still around in a non retired status. As Stockholm, she was best known for an accidental collision with Andrea Doria in July 1956, resulting in the sinking of the latter ship and 46 fatalities off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States.
MS Stockholm was the name of two near-identical ocean liners built by Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico, Monfalcone, Italy between 1936 and 1941 for the Swedish American Line. Neither of the ships entered service for the company that had ordered them—the first ship was entirely destroyed by fire during construction in 1938, while the second was completed in 1941 but immediately sold to the Italian government as a troopship. The second ship served for three years in the Regia Marina and Kriegsmarine under the name MS Sabaudia, until sunk by British bombers outside Trieste in 1944. It is unknown if she was ever actually used as a troopship.
MS Kungsholm was a combined ocean liner / cruise ship built in 1953 by the De Schelde shipyard in Vlissingen, the Netherlands for the Swedish American Line. Between 1965 and 1981 she sailed for the North German Lloyd and their successor Hapag-Lloyd as MS Europa. From 1981 until 1984 she sailed for Costa Cruises as MS Columbus C. She sank in the port of Cadiz, Spain after ramming a breakwater on 29 July 1984. The vessel was refloated later that year, but sent to a Barcelona shipbreaker in 1985 for scrapping.
MS Kungsholm was an ocean liner built in Germany by Blohm & Voss for the Swedish American Line from 1928 to 1941 on transatlantic services from Gothenburg to New York City as well as cruising out of New York. In Second World War the US Government requisitioned it as the troopship John Ericsson.
MS Astor was a cruise ship that most recently sailed for Cruise & Maritime Voyages' Transocean Cruises subsidiary, under which she operated voyages to Europe, South Africa, and Australia.
MS Golden Princess was a casino cruise ship owned by Eurasia International, operated on short casino cruises out of Hong Kong. She was built in 1967 by the Wärtsilä Hietalahti shipyard in Helsinki, Finland as Finlandia for the Finland Steamship Company. In 1975 she was sold to Finnlines, who converted her into the cruise ship Finnstar in 1978. In 1982 she entered service for Pearl Cruises as Pearl of Scandinavia. In 1988 she was renamed Ocean Pearl. In 1994 she entered service with Croisières Paquet as Pearl. Between 1995 and 1998 she sailed for Costa Cruises as Costa Playa. In 1998-1999 she sailed as Oriental Pearl for Mega Wave International, and in 1999-2000 as Joy Wave for Costa Cruises. In 2000 she was sold to Eurasia International and entered service under the name Golden Princess. In 2009 she was sold for scrap to China.
The MV Akdeniz was a 1955 built Turkish passenger ship that served on both ferry and cruise voyages for the Turkish Maritime Lines until she became a student accommodation and training ship in Tuzla, Istanbul Province for the Maritime Technology branch of the Istanbul Technical University. Ms Akdeniz never served as a ferry. It was built as a combi ship, for carrying passengers and cargo as well.
MS Italia was a cruise ship built in Italy in 1967. She sailed in the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and Pacific under various names and operators, and was scrapped in May 2012.
MV Delphin was a cruise ship owned by the Mauritius-based Vishal Cruises Pvt. Ltd., under charter to the Germany-based Passat Kreuzfahrten. Built 1975 by Oy Wärtsilä Ab Turku Shipyard in Finland and renovated 1986 and 1993 by Lloyd Werft, Bremerhaven, Germany and got converted into a cruise ship, with her bow unloading doors permanently welded. In 1992, while being serviced at Singapore's Singmarine Dockyard, she toppled over when a floating dock sank with her in it. In 1993, she went through renovations at Lloyd-Werft again and got completely modernized and elegantly re-equipped. At the same time, the Delphin Seereisen and later Delphin-owned Hansa Kreuzfahrten of Germany, had been chartered until bankruptcy. The ship was managed by MTC Marine Trade Consulting GmbH.
