RMS Empress of Canada (1961) - Other Ship Lines

Other Ship Lines

Plans were made to sell the Empress to the Shaw Savill Line, the same company which had bought her sister the Empress of England, but the sale did not take place.

Instead she was sold and transferred to the Carnival Line and after a few internal changes and an update on her colour schemes she was put back into service as the Mardi Gras, Carnival's first ship. She sailed for her new owners until 1993, by 1975 joined by her sister the Empress of Britain.

By 1993 Carnival wanted to update their fleet by ordering new tonnage so she was sold to Epirotiki in that year, and was renamed Olympic, Star of Texas, Lucky Star and finally Apollon. For a while she sailed for this line and was later chartered by Direct Cruises for voyages around the United Kingdom. Direct Cruises was purchased by the airline Airtours. Carnival took some interest in the line but later pulled out and in 2000 all voyages planned for the vessel were cancelled and she was returned to Greece where she would be laid up for a little while.

In 2001 she was put back in service for three- and four-day cruises out of Piraeus due to late delivery of the Olympic Explorer. She operated alongside the new Olympic Countess before being laid up for good in 2003. She was sold for scrap later the same year, having been in service for 42 years.