She started life as a ferry but later as Ariadne, Bon Vivant and Ariane became a popular cruise ship

The Swedish Svenska Lloyd or the Swedish Lloyd needed additional capacity for their very profitable ferry service between Gothenburg to London (Tilbury). They operated the Britannia, Saga and Secia at the time but to satisfy demand a fourth ship was needed. So they ordered a newbuilding from the Swan Hunter shipyard in Newcastle.

They named her Patricia, the third ship to bear this name. The 7,500GRT vessel was launched on November 8, 1950 and delivered to Swedish Svenska Lloyd on May 4, 1951. She immediately started as a ferry on the Gothenburg to London (Tilbury) service.

She sailed on this route as a three-class ferry. Patricia had gorgeous, classic interiors, very high standard for a ship mostly operated as a ferry. Her first class bar featured a carved front showing famous English characters figures, among them Winston Churchill. Her smoking room was done in fine English oak while her first class main lounge on this deck had two stairs on either side of her dance floor, leading to the observation lounge on Boat deck.

Also on A deck starboard, a library was located.  On this deck most second class public spaces could be found like a second grand lounge, bar and smoking room.

Third class only had a bar-smoking room to its disposal on A deck aft.

All three dining rooms (one for each class) were placed on B deck. Part of the galleys was placed one deck down because there was no room for all three dining rooms on A deck as well as their galleys, so waiters serving second and third class had to navigate the stairs with their trays of food no doubt giving them plenty of exercise…

Staterooms for first class passengers were located on A deck (suites aft) as well as on B deck and C deck forward, second class passenger accommodation was on C deck and finally third class cabins were on D deck aft, while dormitories were placed forward on this deck, portside for men and starboard for women.

In the winter of 1951, Swedish Lloyd sent Patricia to New York to sail out of New York as cruise ship to the Caribbean. It was a great success and she continued this service for the next 3 years. For the 1955 she was to be chartered to Hamburg America Line for Mediterranean a couple of cruises, but this was considered too high a risk because of political instability in the region and so she stayed on her regular route as a ferry. Later that year she was again cruising from New York to the Caribbean.

Now Swedish Line saw that Patricia was really more suited for cruise service and she did not fit in with their other ships serving the Sweden – UK route which originally was the service she was ordered for. She was considered to large compared to her fleetmates, not fitting in. They decided to sell her. So in January 1957 she was acquired by the Hamburg-based HAPAG (Hamburg Amerikanische Paketfahrt Gesellschaft) which wanted to revive their former luxury cruise service.. She was delivered at the end of her last ferry-season in October 1957 and HAPAG immediately sent her to the Blohm & Voss shipyard where she was thoroughly refitted. Now, on February 1, 1959, Ariadne as she had been renamed, was ready for her new role as a full-time cruise ship.

Ariadne sailed in European, Caribbean and South American waters and even up the Amazon river as far as Manaus, earning herself an impeccable reputation. But after just two seasons was suddenly sold in November 1960 to Eastern Shipping Corp. (better known under their later name of Eastern Steamship Corp. after the line had changed hands). Eastern Steamship Corp. was based in Miami and is known for being one of the pioneer lines of Caribbean cruising from Florida. She mostly sailed three and four-day cruises from Port Everglades – Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas, but also went farther afield sailing eastern and western routes to different Caribbean isles.

In 1972, Eastern Steamship Lines made a deal with Greek-based Chandris Lines to exchange their Ariadne for Chandris’ Atlantis. Eastern renamed Atlantis Emerald Seas and she would become a much loved cruise ship sailing from Florida in the following years.

Chandris at once chartered the Ariadne out to Bahama Cruise Line as the Freeport II from May 1973 until the end of the year. So she stayed in familiar territory.

She returned to Piraeus in December 1973 and was extensively refitted. Over a year later she was in April 1974 she returned to service having been renamed Bon Vivant. She now sailed for Chandris mostly the Mediterranean on 10- and 11-day voyages. In 1975 she was once again chartered for a year to Bahama Cruise Line, but was not renamed this time.

After a season cruising in the Mediterranean for Chandris again, in December 1976 she was sold to the March Corp., Panama for use as a hotel ship in Dubai. She was used as a hotel and accommodation for construction workers and airline personel as well as a convention ship and social centre. Her name was shown in Arabic characters on her bow just before her original name of Bon Vivant (I do not know if it is a translation or that she had been renamed for the duration). After exactly one year she was laid-up in Elefsis Bay, Greece. However, in September 1978, Chandris re-purchased her and refitted her for cruise duties once more. She was renamed Ariane.

She started in June 1979 with a schedule of shorter 3, 4 and 7 night cruises out of Piraeus. However, in October already, she disappeared in lay-up again. ( some sources indicate she never actually operated as Ariane for Chandris and spent al her time in lay-up near Perama, Greece). Apart from a one month charter in 1982, Ariane remained in lay-up in Elefsis Bay until 1989.

In 1989 a Cyprus-based company Dafne Shipping acquired her and she was given a much needed technical refit in Piraeus. Her interiors were meticulously restored and kept their classic atmosphere with acres of wood paneling.

Renamed Empress Katerina, now the rest of her career is not very clear, as sources differ. Some mention in March, she departed Piraeus for a long voyage to Singapore an once arrived in Singapore soon continued on to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) in Vietnam. There she was used as an accommodation ship.

In January 1995 she passed hands again, this time to Fortune Regent Maritime Ltd of Panama, and she was now stationed  in Subic Bay in the Philippines where she continued her role as acoommodation vessel.

However, other sources state after having been restored by her Cypriot owners, she was to embark on short cruises from Cyprus ro Israel and Egypt. SOme of the pictures shown above are of the Cyprus Sea Cruise Line which describes these cruises. But this cruise schedule never materialized and instead she was chartered for cruise service out of Singapore to Thailand. These cruises reportedly took place until 1991. After a period of lay up in Hong Kong she served as a flating prop in a film in Ho Chi Minh City before returning into lay up again, this time in Sungapore……

Whatever the truth may be, having reached the respectable age of 46 , in 1997 was sold to a company from Kingstown, St. Vincent. With her name shortened to Empress 65, she departed for Alang, India, where she arrived on Decmeber 18 and was scrapped in the months thereafter.