SS The Emerald was a cruise ship owned by Louis Cruise Lines. She was built in 1958 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock company in Newport News, Virginia, United States, for the Grace Line, as the ocean liner Santa Rosa. Between 1992 and 1995, she sailed for Regency Cruises as Regent Rainbow and between 1997 and 2008, she sailed for Thomson Cruises as The Emerald. Before retiring in 2009, she was the last passenger ship built at a U.S. shipyard that was still in active service.
The Emerald in 2008
The Emerald as Santa Rosa for Grace Line, c. 1960
The Emerald, modernised, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 1999
The Emerald laid up in Eleusis, Greece, 2010
Celestyal Cruises is a succession to Louis Cruises and Louis Cruise Lines. The Cruise line was a subsidiary of Louis plc until November 2021 when Searchlight Capital Partners took a majority share within the Cruise Line.
Celestyal Cruises
MV Aquamarine anchored off Patmos, Greece in July 2008.
MV Sea Diamond was acquired in 2006, but sank off Santorini in 2007.
Image: Celestyal Discovery