ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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SS The Emerald is a cruise ship owned by the company and disposed of on July 27, 2012. The ship was built for Grace Lines in 1958 at the shipyard in Gulfport, USA and was named SS Santa Rosa. Between 1992 and 1995, the ship was operated by Regency Cruises under the name SS Regent Rainbow, and from 1997 to 2008 by the current name. Since 2007, it is the last passenger ship built at a shipyard in the United States (passenger ships have not been built there since 1958), which was in service until July 2012.

History

Santa Rosa and Temporary Conservation
The ship was launched in 1958 under the name Santa Rosa and with a displacement of 20,000 register tons. Operated with this name along with the twin ship for 13 years, before it was laid off in 1971. The ship was sold to New York-based Vintoro Corp in 1976 and was renamed Samos Sky and was intended to operate in South America, but this did not happen and it remained out of business. In 1989, the ship was sold to the company and towed to Greece in December of the same year.

Modernization
In March 1990, Samos Sky arrived in Halkida for an upgrade. Coral Cruises renamed the ship Pacific Sun and then Diamond Island and resold it later that year to the Greek Lelakis Group, which rebuilt the ship for $70 million. The updated ship appeared in 1991, with new deck superstructures above the unchanged hull, and was barely recognizable. It was also unusual that the original steam turbines remained on the ship after the modernization.

Regent Rainbow
With a new tonnage of 26,431 register tons, the ship, named Regent Rainbow, was put into service in 1992 until Regency Cruises suffered significant losses and was declared bankrupt in 1995. Regent Rainbow was arrested on 27 November 1995 and sold to Cyprus in December 1996, where it was renamed The Emerald.

The Emerald
In 1997, The Emerald was chartered by a company (which added the article The before the ship's name) to serve cruises in the British market. The ship soon became the company's most popular and remained with Thomson Cruises until November 2008, when the company's preferences tilted in favor of larger and more modern ships. Due to the entry into force of the new version of SOLAS, the ship could be decommissioned as not complying with the convention. Louis Cruise Lines said The Emerald is on the hook and will likely not sail anywhere else. The Emerald was retired and laid off in September 2009.

Fate.
It was proposed to moor the ship as a floating hotel in California for a while, after which it can be restored to its original form as Santa Rosa. Louis Cruise Lines could not find an owner interested in