Former Marella Spirit that had until recently been operated by TUI AG’s British cruise line Marella Cruises on charter, has reportedly been sold for demolition in India.

A report on the sergiocruises.blogspot.com website said that the sale was concluded on 29 October and the ship had been renamed Mare S for a voyage from Athens to Alang. The ship had been owned by the Cyprus based Louis Group since 2003.

The 33,930 gross ton ship had been built as Nieuw Amsterdam for Holland America Line at Chantiers de l’ Atlantique in France in 1983.

It was the first major passenger ship built for the company since the Rotterdam of 1959. Its design was based on the 8,566 gross ton Prinsendam of 1973 that had been lost in a fire in 1980. A second ship of the same class called Noordam followed in 1984 (not to be confused with present ship of the same name).

In 2001-02 the ship operated as Patriot for American Classic voyages and after the collapse of this company, it was chartered by Thomson Cruises in the UK as Thomson Spirit. The company changed name to Marella Cruises in 2017.

The two Holland America ships were notable also for the fact that they marked the yard’s return into the construction of major passenger tonnage – the previous large passenger vessel built at the yard had been the Trans-Atlantic liner France in 1962.