The former cruise ship ‘Celestyal Crystal’ was delivered to Alang, India for recycling on 15th May under the name of ‘Right’.
After spending more than a year laid up in the Eastern Mediterranean, the ship sailed on her last voyage in late April.
She left Greece under the name of ‘Sun Bright’, initially sailing towards Duqm in Oman.
The 950-pax cruise ship vessel was originally built as a cruise/ferry in the 1980s before being converted into a cruise ship some 10 years later.
Before being acquired by Celestyal, the vessel sailed for various operators, including Norwegian Cruise Line, Star Cruises and Silja Line.
She was the second cruise ship to be beached for scrapping in May.
After her final voyage in April, the small expedition cruise ship ‘Ocean Atlantic’ arrived at a Turkish recycling yard recently.
Last operated by SunStone Ships, the 1985-built vessel is now being recycled at Aliaga.
As for the auction, on Tuesday 17th June, 2025 at 13:00 CEST, the veteran passenger cruise ship ‘Astoria’, IMO number 5383304 and registered in Madeira, Portugal, is to go under the hammer.
She is 160 m in length, 21 m wide, with a gt of 16,144.
The auction will take place at Rotterdam District Court, Wilhelminaplein 100 – 125.
According to the daily shipping news outlet ‘Maasmond’, the intention is to sell the ship for recycling with delivery ‘as is, where is’, moored in Waalhaven, Rotterdam.
Further information and conditions are available from Rotterdam law firm Hoek Sinke Ten Katen’s, Hans ten Katen and Hidde Bol.
‘Astoria’ has had an interesting history and although extensively rebuilt, is now 77 years of age.
She was delivered as the transatlantic ocean liner ’Stockholm’ to Swedish American Line and commenced service in 1948.
As ’Stockholm’, she hit the headlines for colliding with the Italian liner ‘Andrea Doria’ in July, 1956 in thick fog, resulting in the latter sinking with 46 fatalities off the coast of Nantucket, US, while both vessels were heading for New York.
The sinking was mainly caused by ‘Astoria’s’ icebreaking capabilities, which also partly explained her longevity.
As well as ‘Stockholm’, she sailed under the names of ‘Völkerfreundschaft’, ’Volker’, ’Fridtjof Nansen’, ’Italia I’, ’Italia Prima’, ’Valtur Prima’, ’Caribe’, ’Athena’, and ’Azores’, before becoming ’Astoria’ in March, 2016.
She was latterly operated by Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) until 2020 when the company went into administration, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and she has been laid up ever since, mainly in Rotterdam’s Waalhaven, apart from an initial spell at Tilbury Docks with other members of CMV’s fleet, most of which were recycled.
