Her next destination is shown as Port Said but her final destination is not Known.

She is cruising at about 9.7 knots.

That link is well out of date as it shows her at laid up near to Piraeus and is dated 09.10. 09.

The other AIS ship position maps show her as a ' Cargo Boat ' with her name given as just ' Emerald ' !

This morning she is off the coast of Crete and cruising at 10.4 knts.

Her arrival at Port Said is now listed as 03.00hrs on the 7th July 2012.

According to the website this was her book value so the company suffered no loss on her sale.

The Lelakis refit really was not very kind to her original designs but the great cabins that were so big mostly remained.

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Originally posted by Donald Johnson:
The Renovation of the Santa Rosa into the Emerald was a rebuild that should not have happened. All they needed to do was give her a new paint job, metal work, and renovate the plumbing and electrical systems like the SS Indy. They was no need to rebuild her at all.

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The economics even in the 1980s meant that the Santa Rosa needed a massive rebuild to sail again. She only had accommodations for 300 passengers with a lot of space devoted to cargo.

No matter who reactivated her in the 1980s or 1990s she would have had a rebuilt with a lot more cabins built into the cargo spaces.

Hadley was far more blessed in that the United States had a workable GA and both the Indy and Connie as you said were pretty much ready to go as is on the GA that is. In the end both were rebuilt over time but they did make the jump to cruising very easy.

Her latest destination is now showing as Dubai on the 23rd July 2012.

She is at present in the Gulf of Khambhat and cruising at about 8.3 knots.

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Originally posted by Neil - Ex P. & O. S. N. Company.:
All these reports that she was to be used as an accommodation ship have been proved to be wrong !

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Frequently the middlemen who buy the ships for delivery to the scrap yards are actually still negotiating their deal while the ships are en route. The sales only get finalized when they get the ship to its destination so alternate bids are still possible while the ship is en route or the seller might be playing hardball with the buyers by displaying alternate destinations trying to squeeze the last pennies out of the final sale price.

The reports about her use as an accommodation ship in Korea and then doing cruises in the Panama area appeared well before it was announced on the main Louis Group website that the ship had been sold.

To my knowledge how much of her original asbestos and other toxic materials remained on board after her complete rebuilding as the cruise ship ' Regent Rainbow ' has not been commented on.

She was converted into a cruise ship for Regency Cruises at a reported cost of US $ 70 million in 1990.

The work was carried out at the Greek Lelakis shipyard.

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Originally posted by Neil - Ex P. & O. S. N. Company.:
Reports has said that she was doing the Korea charter as an accommodation ship and then going to operate cruises in the Panama area.

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Yes, which is what I said.. it fell through, the reports themselves at the time were not wrong, it was the plan. By 'all these reports' I thought you were referring to perhaps rumours that may have come about since then.

The reports seemed to be conflicting with one lot giving ' The Emerald ' as being used and then another ' Ocean Star Pacific '.

Even the website for the event seemed to have confusing with a mixture of the two ships names being given which can sometimes be due to translation problems.

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Originally posted by Neil - Ex P. & O. S. N. Company.:
SSTRAVELER

The reports about her use as an accommodation ship in Korea and then doing cruises in the Panama area appeared well before it was announced on the main Louis Group website that the ship had been sold.

To my knowledge how much of her original asbestos and other toxic materials remained on board after her complete rebuilding as the cruise ship ' Regent Rainbow ' has not been commented on.

She was converted into a cruise ship for Regency Cruises at a reported cost of US $ 70 million in 1990.

The work was carried out at the Greek Lelakis shipyard.

In her sales listing information it said that she met the Solas 2010 standards.
.

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I know. My comment was to the speculation she might go to Dubai for some purpose or another. That was the destination I was commenting about.

I know the ship well as I did some work with her when she was in Baltimore and was aboard her in those years.

Lelakis' refit was mostly concentrated on adding cabins in the former cargo spaces. When Grace built her she carried just 300 passengers plus both general cargo and refrigerated cargo and even fuel oils.

The 1990s refit left in place all the cabins walls in the former Grace spaces and all those walls were Marinite. It was the "standard" in 1957 when she was introduced. And that was an asbestos product. It was perfectly safe because the asbestos was encased and as long as it was not disturbed via a refit or such it poised no danger. The problem is only when the material becomes airborne.

I seriously doubt they stripped the insulation from the engine room and it would all have been asbestos. Again it was the standard in 1957. It would have been a tricky removal even in 1990 and I doubt Lelakis would have invested in the removal and cleanup as it would have dramatically increased the refit costs.

Being 2010 compliant I do not believe has anything to do with the asbestos aboard.

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Originally posted by Neil - Ex P. & O. S. N. Company.:
The reports seemed to be conflicting with one lot giving ' The Emerald ' as being used and then another ' Ocean Star Pacific '.

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The company's own press releases do not mix up the names, the only conflict seems to have been at the expo website end. I can only guess that when it fell through Louis just decided to sell her for scrap asap.

Expect they were waiting for a high tide !