CRUISE SHIP TRANSFORMATION France to Norway
fter her withdrawal from service in late 1974, the French Line liner remained laid up at Le Havre. There were several unsuccessful purchase bids for the ship, which French Line rejected as inappropriate. However, when Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (French Line) and Compagnie des Messageries Maritimes de Marseilles merged to form Compagnie Générale Maritime in 1976, there was renewed effort to rid the group of the former transatlantic liner. Previous caveats pertaining to the ship’s sale were lifted, except for the stipulation that a sale to scrap was to be avoided. She was eventually sold on 24 October 1977 for $22 million to TAG Enterprises, owned by Saudi Arabian Akram Ojjeh, for use as a floating hotel and casino in Florida. However, she remained laid up until being resold to Norwegian Caribbean Lines (NCL) on 26 June
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