The world’s oldest cruise ship has reached the end of her storied history as Astoria has reached the scrapyard, where she will be broken after 77 years of service.

The 15,614-gross ton ship’s last journey has been a relatively short one, as she has been laid up in Rotterdam following the closing of Cruise & Maritime Voyages in 2020 – yet one more ship that fell victim to the pandemic.

On June 17, 2025, Astoria was finally sold at auction for €200,000 (approximately $235,600 USD) to the recycling company Galloo. She is now set to be scrapped in Ghent, Belgium.

Her final journey, then, was just over 100 miles – following a lifetime of thousands upon thousands of seagoing miles over the decades. She left Rotterdam on Thursday, July 3, and arrived in Ghent the next day.

Some fans and maritime aficionados were on hand at various points in her passage to bear witness to her final journey, but all in all, Astoria has quietly ended a life that had some not so quiet highlights over her more than seven decades of service.

The ship will now be broken, with vital components removed and materials sorted for appropriate reuse and recycling.

A Stunning History

Originally built in 1948 as Stockholm for Swedish America Line with a capacity to welcome 390 guests, the ocean liner we now know as Astoria has served various cruise lines under various names and for various purposes, including:

• As Volkerfreundschaft with an East German cruise line, she passed safely through the US blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, bringing guests to Havana to refuel and resupply.
• As Fridtjof Nansen, with a Panamanian company, she was used as a barracks ship for asylum seekers in Oslo, Norway in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
• As Athena for Classic International Cruises, the ship was attacked by pirates in December 2008 but staved off unwanted boarding with high-pressure water cannons.

Perhaps her most infamous – and yet simultaneously heroic – moment was on July 25, 1956, when Stockholm was sailing in heavy fog off the coast of Nantucket. At roughly 11:10 p.m., she collided with the luxury liner Andrea Dorea.

Andrea Dorea capsized and ultimately sank, with half of her lifeboats rendered unusable in the collision due to listing. Despite the extensive damage to her own bow, Stockholm remained at the site of the collision to aid Andrea Dorea, ultimately rescuing 572 passengers and crew.

Stockholm then sailed to New York without assistance and was rebuilt in three months. Her captain was found not guilty following an inquiry, as Andrea Doria‘s captain did not follow standard procedures that might have avoided the collision.

Interestingly, it wasn’t until September 2020 that Stockholm‘s bow and anchors were finally discovered and confirmed near the final resting place of Andrea Doria.

Just three months later, Astoria (formerly Stockholm) was laid up and would never greet guests again.

Could the Old Ship Have Found New Life?

Following the global cruise shutdown, it was hoped that Astoria would once again be sold and perhaps converted for use as a hotel ship or floating maritime museum.

Read Also: Cruise Ship Scrapping – Everything You Need to Know

Despite several promising plans, however, no firm action ever materialized and the ship remained empty and unused for more than four years.

As many ocean liner lovers have discovered in recent months with the disposition of the SS United States – now being prepped to be scuttled as the world’s largest artificial coral reef – it can be excruciatingly expensive to retrofit an old ship to modern safety, operational, and environmental standards.

It is a sad end to the ship’s long life, but Stockholm–Astoria will never be forgotten.

After 77 Years, the World’s Oldest Cruise Ship Arrives for Scrapping