Post by Logan on Feb 5, 2016 5:03:55 GMT -6
NEW YORK - The deal announced here Thursday was the one nobody expected - an attempt to restore the aged, rusting SS United States to a glamorous ocean liner and sail it across the world.
The luxury operator Crystal Cruises has signed an option agreement with the ship's owner, the SS United States Conservancy, that its chief executive said could see the iconic vessel ferrying passengers to faraway ports as early as 2018, thus ending the liner's two-decade docking in South Philadelphia.
The Washington-based conservancy had long sought to make the ship a floating hotel, museum, and retail venue, a destination for tourists and ship lovers. But a new vision emerged after the conservancy issued a save-it-or-scrap-it deadline last fall, and a strong response came from Los Angeles-based Crystal.
"It is our aspiration that the ship returns to the seas as America's flagship once again," Crystal CEO Edie Rodriguez told about 100 people at a news conference here.
Read more: www.philly.com/philly/news/20160205_Report__Cruise_ship_company_in_deal_to_buy_SS_United_States.html
The luxury operator Crystal Cruises has signed an option agreement with the ship's owner, the SS United States Conservancy, that its chief executive said could see the iconic vessel ferrying passengers to faraway ports as early as 2018, thus ending the liner's two-decade docking in South Philadelphia.
The Washington-based conservancy had long sought to make the ship a floating hotel, museum, and retail venue, a destination for tourists and ship lovers. But a new vision emerged after the conservancy issued a save-it-or-scrap-it deadline last fall, and a strong response came from Los Angeles-based Crystal.
"It is our aspiration that the ship returns to the seas as America's flagship once again," Crystal CEO Edie Rodriguez told about 100 people at a news conference here.
Read more: www.philly.com/philly/news/20160205_Report__Cruise_ship_company_in_deal_to_buy_SS_United_States.html