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Hard-to-stern view of M.V. ARKONA leaving King's Dock, Swansea.

M.V. ARKONA (18,850 gt) : Built in 1980 in (then West) Germany as ASTOR for the newly-formed Hadag Cruise Line, owned by the City of Hamburg. Sold to the Safmarine who wished to revive the liner service between Europe and South Africa. Found unsuitable for this application, she was sold in 1985 to the East German state-owned enterprise Deutfracht Seereederi and renamed ARKONA, and was sometimes chartered to Western tour operators; at other times she operated cruises for "deserving socialists". After reunification in 1990, ARKONA was chartered to the (formerly West) German tour operator Seetours, becoming a popular ship on the German market. P&O bought out Seetours, but the more traditional Arkona brand did not figure into P&O's plans and in 2001 ARKONA was retired from the Seetours fleet. ARKONA was renamed ASTORIA and in 2002 joined the new Transocean Tours fleet.