MV Astoria
ex Azores, Athena, Caribe, Valtur Prima, Italia Prima, Italia I, Fridtjof Nansen, Volker, Völkerfreundschaft, Stockholm
Roy Thornton Collection
Steel twin screw motor vessel built in 1948 by Ab Gotaverken, Gothenburg (Yard No. 611) as a Transatlantic (Passenger) liner for Swedish – American Line, Gothenburg, Sweden
Technical Data
- Original Cost: $150 million
- Length: 160.08m (525 ft)(1948 – ), 144.78m
- Breadth of hull: 21.04m (68.9 ft)(1948 -)
- Draught: 7.90m (24 ft)(1948 – )
- Tonnage: 11,700 (1948), 12,165 gross (1953),12,442 (1960), 12.068 (1972),12,644 (1992), 15,614, 16,144, 6,040 net (1948), 6,450 (1992), 4,700 deadweight (1948), 4,800 (1992)
- Engines: Two 8-cylinder GV diesels (1948), Two Wärtsilä 16V32 diesels.
- Power/Propellers: 12000 hk/2 (1948), 10664kW (1992)
- Speed: 17.0 knots (1948), 19.0 knots (1992)
- Capacity: 113 1st – 282 tourist class passengers (1948), 86 1st – 584 tourist class (1953), 568 (one class)(1960), 670 (1992), 556
- Crew: 220 (1948), 280 (2006)
- Navigation Officers: European (2006)
- Passenger Decks: 7 (2006)
- Call Sign: SEJT, DAYP, ICZU, CQRV
- IMO Number: 5383304
- Registry: Gothenburg/Sweden 🇸🇪 (1948), Rostock/Germany 🇩🇪 (1960), Panama 🇵🇦 (1985),Portugal 🇵🇹, Italy (2000), Madeira/Portugal 🇵🇹 (2006 – )
Please note that this specific vessels AIS position data may be over an hour old and that the vessels position will only be displayed when it is within range of the VesselFinder AIS system. The AIS transponder/ship position data featured on this page is intended for information purposes only and it is in no way related to the 'Safety of Navigation at Sea'. All the AIS ship position data featured within this article is provided by VesselFinder and we are therefore not responsible for its content or its accuracy.
Current AIS Location
History
September 9th 1946: Launched; first transatlantic liner to be launched after the war and the largest passenger ship ever built in Sweden.
Edmund Ziegler Collection
October 1947: Sea trials.
February 7th 1948: Delivered to Ab Svenska Amerika Linjen, Göteborg.
February 21st 1948: Maiden voyage Gothenburg – New York.
1953 – February 12th 1954: Major refit at AG Weser, Bremen. Accommodation restyled.
1955: First-Class accommodation reduced.
February 1956: Rumoured to be transferring to newly-formed Denmark-America Line for Copenhagen – New York service; never materialised.
Edmund Ziegler Collection
July 25th 1956: Rammed and sank ANDREA DORIA position 40 30 n and 69 53 W off Nantucket; 52 casualties.
1956: Repaired at Bethlehem Steel, New York.
December 8th 1956: Returned to service.
May 15th 1959: Sold to Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, Rostock, East Germany (Registered to VEB Deutsche Seereederei, Rostock) for delivery in 1960.
January 3rd 1960: Taken over by the new owner and renamed VÖLKERFREUNDSCHAFT and commenced year-round cruising from Rostock. Became the world’s first trade-union holiday ship.
© Malcolm Cranfield
© Brian Fisher (Lisbon, April 1977) (Left) and © Robert J Smith (Leningrad, 1971) (Right)
August 1960: Grounded at Sandhamn.
© Bob Scott (Rotterdam, 1969)
🆕 © Fotoflite (01/06/1972)
1974: Registered to VEB Deutfracht/Seereederei, Rostock, East Germany.
© Brian Fisher
April 1985: Sold to Neptunus Rex Enterprises, Panama. Renamed VOLKER and laid up in Oslofjord.
December 11th 1985: Under tow, arrived at Southampton for further lay up.
© Brian Fisher (Southampton)
December 20th 1986: Renamed FRIDTJOF NANSEN and towed to Oslo by BAMSE.
© A Scrimali
December 25th 1986: Arrived in Oslo where she became floating accommodation for refugees.
May 1989: Sold to Star Lauro Societa per Azioni, Naples, Italy.
May 6th 1989: Towed to Genoa for refit.
🆕 © Fotoflite (10/05/1989)
May 27th 1989: Arrived in Genoa and laid up.
© Carlo Martinelli (Genoa, 28/10/1989)
1989: Intention to rename her SURRIENTO according to other sources POSITANO.
1992: Major rebuild commenced at Varco Chiapella yard Genoa, Italy.
© Frank Heine (Genoa, 26/07/1992)
© Carlo Martinelli (Genoa, 31/01/1993)
1993: Renamed ITALIA I.
October 1994: Renamed ITALIA PRIMA.
© Carlo Martinelli (Genoa, 16/10/1994)
October 1994: Registered to Nina Cia. di Navigazione, Naples, Italy.
October 31st 1994: Maiden cruise in the Mediterranean.
December 22nd 1995: Chartered for five years to Neckermann Seereisen.
December 1995: Maiden cruise in the Caribbean.
© Carlo Martinelli (Genoa, 30/08/1996)
© Frank Heine (Malaga, 06/08/1997)
January 6th 1998: Neckermann Seereisen collapsed and she was laid up in Genoa.
1998: Chartered for five months as an exhibition ship in Lisbon.
September 1998: Chartered to Air Maritim Seereisen (Valtur Tourist) and renamed VALTUR PRIMA and began cruising in the Caribbean.
2001: Laid up in Havana, Cuba.
December 2002: Sold to Festival Cruises and renamed CARIBE, but planned cruising between Havana – Mexico – Cayman Island never materialised and she was laid up in Havana.
© Benoit Donne
October 2004: Laid up in Lisbon, Portugal.
2004: Sold to Nina SpA, Lisbon, Portugal.
January 7th 2005: Renamed ATHENA. 2005: Began cruising for Classic International Cruise.
© Aleksi Lindström (both)
© Jens Boldt (both)
May 2009: Chartered to Phoenix Reisen.
© Ken Lubi (both)
2010: Registered Owner; First Quality Cruise. Inc (since 2008). Registered Manager; World Cruises Agency (since 2008)
© Jens Boldt (both)
© John Mavin (Dover, 03/09/2010)
September 2013: Sold to Island Cruises Transportes, Lisbon, Portugal and renamed AZORES. Chartered to Classic International
© Gary Davies (Maritime Photographic)
© Mike Jackson (Dover)(all)
June 27th 2014: It was announced that for 2015 she would be chartered to Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) to replace the MV Discovery.
“British based Cruise Operator, Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV), is pleased to announce the introduction of the 550 passenger classic cruise ship Azores to their fleet in 2015.
Azores will replace Discovery as CMV’s second ex-UK cruise vessel operating alongside Marco Polo and will also be dedicated to the British and English speaking markets and positioned as an adult only product (16 years plus). Azores will operate year round sailings commencing operations from Bristol Avonmouth on 26th January 2015 with a 30 night CMV maiden voyage to the West Indies.
Azores will also be sailing from Hull and London Tilbury with programme highlights including; the Solar Eclipse & Northern Lights, Seville Fiesta, Summertime Gardens & Medieval Cities and a Scottish themed Edinburgh Festival cruise, plus all the perennial favourites.
The Azores has been chartered from Lisbon based, Portuscale Cruises on a long term basis. All crewing and ship management services will be handled directly by CMV in line with the services provided by Marco Polo and Astor.”
2015: Entered long-term service with Cruise & Maritime Voyages, with her first voyage from Avonmouth Docks to the Caribbean in January 2015.
© Erwin Willemse
March 1st 2016: Renamed ASTORIA
© Stephen Brown
May 2016 – March 2017: Chartered to Rivages du Monde.
March 2017: Commenced cruising with Cruise and Maritime Voyages.
© Frank Heine (Kiel Canal, 02/06/2017)
March 14th 2020: Owing to Coronavirus Pandemic sailed from Poole to Tilbury.
March 15th 2020: Arrived Tilbury and laid up.
July 20th 2020: Announcement made that CMV Cruises had been placed into administration. Continued lay up at Tilbury.
October 21st 2020: Due to depart Tilbury, under tow from tug MONTE DA LUZ, bound for Lisbon but returned to moorings owing to technical issues.
November 5th/23rd/29th 2020: Further sailings aborted.
December 5th 2020: Initially with the aid of tugs BRENT, GINGER, SVITZER MONARCH, SVITZER GANGES and RT AMBITION left her moorings en-route to Lisbon. She then continued her journey being solely towed by BRENT
© Port to Starboard Photography (Dover Strait Shipping)
December 9th 2020: Arrived at Falmouth Anchorage.
© Geoff Hoather (09/12/2020)
“Astoria with her her towing tug, Brent, and Falmouth tug St Piran, in Falmouth Bay this morning. Attempt to enter Falmouth abandoned just after this was taken. Brent and tow now heading back out into the Channel.”
December 13th 2020: Port of Rotterdam shows her arrival together with tugs BRENT and GINGER.
© Hugo Sluimer (Rotterdam, 13/12/2020)
December 2020: Laid up in Rotterdam.
January 31st 2023:
“Brokers report that she had been sold for recycling at a European Union-approved facility for an undisclosed sum by Puerto Rico-based The Roundtable LLC.”
February 1st 2023: The same source as the previous entry states:
The owner of the world’s oldest oceangoing cruise ship denies that it is ending a 75-year career.
“A spokesman for Puerto Rico-based The Roundtable LLC claims that reports by brokers this week that the 16,144-gt Astoria (built 1948) has been sold for recycling at a European Union-approved are incorrect.”
“The Roundtable, a company affiliated with crypto currency billionaire Brock Pierce, acquired the Astoria in mid-2021 with the intention of using it as a cruise ship.
The company later backtracked on these plans, and put the ship back on the sales market.”.
“We are doing everything we can to prevent the ship from being sold for scrap,” The Roundtable spokesman said.”
🆕 Google Earth (27/05/2023)
We would like to thank: Jens Boldt, Stephen Brown, Malcolm Cranfield, Gary Davies (Maritime Photographic), Benoit Donne, Nigel Scutt & Port to Starboard Photography (Dover Strait Shipping) Brian Fisher, Fotoflite, Frank Heine, Geoff Hoather, Mike Jackson, Aleksi Lindström, Ken Lubi, Carlo Martinelli, John Mavin, Bob Scott, Hugo Sluimer, Robert J Smith and Erwin Willemse for their assistance in producing this feature. All information is believed to be correct and no responsibility is accepted for errors and omissions.
Article © Nigel Thornton and Ray Goodfellow (Dover Ferry Photos Group)
Great site Thank you help me a lot to find what i need
My wife and self started cruising on the Italia Prima cruising twice Mediterranean/ then Carribean.
Had just been refurbished and very nice decor with typical Italian flair. We are still cruising thanks to Italia Prima.
Tug Brent did a U turn off Salcombe and is heading back to Portland with the tow. Weather?
Another U turn SE of Portland now showing Falmouth as the destination
Has Astoria been left in Falmouth? The tug Brent is off back to Vlissingen doing 7.3 knots off Portland, a bit fast for a tow.
But the tug is still showing restricted manoeuvrablity off Eastbourne so maybe Astoria is off to Vlissingen – I wonder what’s wrong
Does anyone know if Astoria is still in Rotterdam and/or what her status is?
Hi Mark,
As far as I am aware she is still in Rotterdam. In regards to her status, that is currently unknown.
All the best
Ray
Ray,
Thank you very much for the information and your response. I’ve been doing my best to keep track of her in order to update the online ‘SOS’ petition.
We would cruise on Astoria anywhere. We don’t book ships that are just blocks of flats although we have tried them. We book only ships with an aft, tiered deck and full promenade. Not many left. Need to brush up on our German to cruise on the Deutschland. 🙂
Are you aware of the swedish “M/S Baltic star”, a k a “M/S Birger Jarl” from 1953 ? (was steam driven until 1982). She´s in big trouble right now and (almost) everybody seems to want to kill her these days. The machine works excellent though and she has absolute no problem with sailing on her own propulsion (her non authorised travel from Stockholm to Sundsvall last year was a judicial disaster according to the bureucrats, but “technical difficulties” was never an issue, despite her long stand by status as a hotel ship, without service/control routines). If you could initiate a rescue plan for her, it would be super great !.