One of the longest serving passenger ships in history, and the only ship expressly built for the
Greek Line was initially named
Olympia.
Olympia was completed by
Alexander Stephen & Sons, on the
River Clyde, in 1953. She was initially measured at , and carried 138 First Class, and 1169 Tourist Class passengers. She was registered in Liberia. Parsons turbines of drove her at a service speed of ( maximum). The maiden voyage left
Glasgow for
Liverpool and
New York City on 20 October 1953. Her first voyage on the intended route from
Piraeus to New York City as an
ocean liner did not take place until March 1955 due to legal complications. In 1961, the route was extended to
Haifa, Israel. Her voyages to New York usually included numerous intermediary stops.
Olympia was a frequent caller with immigrant families to
Pier 21 in
Halifax, Nova Scotia making 86 calls at Halifax. In 1968,
Olympia was
registered in Greece, and spent an increasing number of voyages cruising, this becoming her exclusive occupation in 1970. By this time she had been re-measured at . She was laid up at Piraeus in 1974, and the Greek Line suffered financial collapse the following year. In 1981,
Olympia was bought by
Sally Shipping with the plan was to use the ship as both a floating hotel and for occasional Caribbean cruises. She was renamed
Caribe and refitted with Klockner-Humboldt-Deutz
diesels of replacing the
steam turbines. The diesel engines reduced her service speed to approximately . In addition to the new power plant, extensive interior modifications were carried out. These modifications included but were not confined to: Removal of the
Agean pool and converting that space into the
Mermaid Bar, conversion of the
Calypso Room,
Card Room and
Drawing Room into suites. The
Derby Room and
Taverna, aft of the
Olympian Hall restaurant on restaurant deck was converted into a casino. One public room that remained untouched throughout her life was her paneled library on Promenade deck. When the hotel plan was cancelled she returned to cruising and was renamed
Caribe I in 1983, in the
Commodore Cruise Line fleet. The ship's original
funnel had been replaced by exhaust pipes decorated in a framework design. In 1988, this was replaced by a more traditional funnel. In 1993 she was sold to
Regal Cruises and renamed
Regal Empress, and began sailing out of
Port Manatee in the Northern Hemisphere winters and New York City during the summers. She was then described as being only . In September 2008,
Regal Empress was removed from service to be used as an aid in the recovery of the aftermath of
Hurricane Ike. She was laid up in Texas for about two months. She returned to service in December 2008. Her last voyage took place on 6 March 2009. On 9 March 2009
Regal Empress was retired by Imperial Majesty Cruise Line. She was laid up for sale and inspection in
Freeport, Bahamas until late March. It was reported by Maritime Matters on 26 March that
Regal Empress was sold for
scrap.
Regal Empress was replaced by a newer ship, . The new ship carried on the same cruise itineraries as
Regal Empress did.
Bahamas Celebration operated for a new cruise line,
Celebration Cruise Line, until the company ceased operations in early 2015 following the ship's accidental grounding in 2014. Celebration Cruise Line was owned by the same company that had operated
Regal Empress. ==References==