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Built as a cargo-reefer vessel under yard no 1827 by the yard of Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson, at Wallsend, U K. for the Port Line, at London.
Oct. 1954 launched under the name PORT SYDNEY (II), Mrs. Ronald Senior, the wife of the then deputy chairman of the Port Line, performed the christening ceremony.
Tonnage 10.166 gross, 5.149 net, 10.950 dwt., dim. 162.39 x 21.42 x 12.82m., draught 7.51m.
Powered by two 6 cyl. Dockford diesel engines, 13.200 bhp., speed 17 knots, twin screws.
Passenger accommodation for 12 passengers, in eight single berth cabins, and two, two-berth cabins.
March 1955 delivered.
The crew lounge was fitted out with the timbers and fittings that had been removed from the saloon of the first PORT SYDNEY.

She did have one sistership the PORT MELBOURNE, both were built for the liner service from England to Australia and New Zealand.
In her six holds she could carry 180.000 frozen carcasses of lamb and 15.000 bales of wool.
Her maiden voyage was with general cargo via South African ports to Brisbane and then to Auckland to load homeward bound.
10 March 1968 came under the management of Blueport, a joint management company formed by the Port Line and the Blue Star Line.

1972 Sold to Chion Shipping Co. Ltd. (Carras Group manager) Greece, and renamed the next year in AKROTIKI EXPRESS.
1974 Converted into a cruise liner by the Chalkas Shipyard. Accommodation for 503 passengers.

The same year transferred to the Akrotiki Express Shipping Co. Greece, renamed DAPHNE.
Spring 1975 used for cruising in the Mediterranean and Black Sea.
1976 Transferred to the Delian Athina Cruises Inc., (Carras Liner Service manager) Greece, not renamed.
1978 Chartered by Flotta Lauro for one season.
1979 Chartered for five years by Costa Armatori SpA (Linea C) at Genoa.
1983 Tonnage given as 11.683 gross.
1985 Sold to Costa Armatori SpA (Linea C), Genoa, and registered under ownership of Independent Continental Lines Ltd., Panama. She was thereafter cruising in American waters. Tonnage given as 9.436 gross, 4.381 net, 14.167 dwt.
Early 1990 managed by the Prestige Cruise Lines.
1997 Chartered by the ICH (Switzerland) Co., and after a refit renamed SWITZERLAND. Managed by Leisure Cruises, Panama. Passenger accommodation for 440 passengers and 210 crew.
23 August 2001while cruising in Northern European waters she was struck by a serious case of salmonella that affected nearly 25% of the passengers. The outbreak came from provisions taken on board at Amsterdam, under which chicken.
27 Sept. 2001, laid up in Genova after the September 11 terrorist attack. She had just finished a refit which included new cabin furnishing and new carpets. The charterer following the bankruptcy of her parent company Swiss Air could not more pay her charter.
She was put on the sale list.
2002 Sold to Majestic Cruises and renamed OCEAN ODYSSEY., under the flag of Panama.
The same year sold or transferred to Majestic Marine, renamed in OCEAN MONARCH, under the flag of Portugal. Managed by Majestic Marine, Athens, Greece.
2005 Chartered by the Greek Foreign Ministry to send her to Sri Lanka with 800 tons of humanitarian aid (tents, clothing, medicines food etc.) for the tsunami victims that struck southeast Asia.
She was offered by Majestic International Cruises, and she will be used there as a floating hospital with specialized medical personnel supplied by Greek non-governmental organizations.

November 2007 sold to Golden Laurel Maritime Inc., Madeira, managed by World Cruise Agency, Lisbon. 19 January 2008 sailed from Piraeus to Lisbon.
Renamed PRINCESS DAPHNE.

She will made in 2008 and 2009 cruises from Australian ports to the islands in the Pacific and to Azia.

http://www.equasis.org gives: IMO No. 5282627 Call sign CQSD.

Antigua 1989 60c sg 1284, scott 1190.
Barbuda 1989 60c sg 1129.
Cayman Islands 1978 sg 444.
Grenadines of Grenada 1984 60c sg 610, scott 602
St Lucia 1991 sg MS 1064, scott 980 (vessel on the left of the sheet, with the yellow funnel.)

Sources: Great Passenger Ships of the World Vol 6 by A.Kludas. The ships that serve New Zealand vol. 1 by I.G.Stewart. http://www.maritimematters.com/shipnews2001b.html http://www.travelscene.com.au/t034-marcruis.html http://fp.redduster.f9.co.uk/PORT8.htm
MARHST-L.

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02 October 2012 PRINCESS DAPHNE, on charter to Germany's Ambiente Kreuzfahrten, was arrested in Souda, Crete.
There were 169 passengers on board at that time.
It was announced that the owner’s bankers had withdrawn all funding from the fleet of Classic International Cruises, a company owned by World Cruises Agency, which was founded by the Greek shipowner George Potamianos, who died earlier this year.
November 2012 she is still at Souda under arrest.

2014 Sold to shipbreakers and under the name DAPHNE she sailed to Alang, India where she arrived in May 2014.

Source: Marine News 2012/646
Niger 2019 3300F sgMS?, scott?