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After the Swedish America Line sold their
Kungsholm III in
1965, they were left with one
passenger ship in service, the 23,191-ton
Gripsholm II. Their next
ship, the fourth to use the name
Kungsholm, was the largest and
fastest liner built for the Swedish
America Line. She set out on her maiden
voyage from Gothenburg - New York April
22nd 1966. Kungsholm was only
operated on that run occasionally as the
Swedish America Line used her more as a
cruise ship. The Swedish America Line
closed down their operations in 1975. The
decision to sell their two remaining
liners ended a service that began in 1910
to provide transport for Swedish
emigrants traveling to America. Within a
few months, Kungsholm was sold to
the Norwegian owned Flagship Cruises to
be operated under her original name.
Three years later, P&O acquired
this ship to be operated under the name
Sea Princess. P&O had
Sea Princess undergo a
major refit before operating her on
cruises throughout the Far East and out
of Australian ports. Another refit in
1982 increased her capacity to carry over
800 more passengers. The completion of
that work saw Sea Princess
relocated to European cruise routes.
P&O changed her name to
Victoria in 1995 to allow one of
their new built cruise ships to use the
name Sea Princess. The Union Castle Line
that operated ships between Britain and
South Africa chartered Victoria
for their centennial anniversary in 1999.
This led to her being used for a
celebration cruise from Britain, around
the Cape of Good Hope, through the Suez
Canal and back to Britain.
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Victoria departed the
P&O fleet in November 2002
under lease to a German operator
for five years under the name
Mona Lisa. In
2006/2007, this ship underwent a
refitted for use as ocean-going
educational vessel by The Scholar
Ship international education
program as their M/V Oceanic
II.
Mona Lisa was
transferred to Dugm, Oman in
October 2010, where she was
converted to a luxury Floating
Hotel to house tourists and
business guests.
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