Astor

The ocean-going cruise ship Astor, built in 1987 and bearing IMO number 8506373, operated for a time under the name Fedor Dostoyevskiy. Its construction, naming and charter history spans from its order in 1985 to the end of its cruise operations in 2020.

Construction, names and charter operations

The South African Marine Corporation ordered the ship in 1985. Before the keel was laid, the construction contract was transferred to the Marlan Corporation in Mauritius. Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel laid the keel on January 21, 1986, launched the ship on May 29 that year, and delivered it on January 14, 1987. Astor was 176.25 metres long and 22.60 metres wide, with a gross tonnage of 20,606 GT. It was designed to carry 590 passengers in double occupancy. The ship is listed as having 295 cabins and a crew of 300.

In November 1988, the ship was sold to the Black Sea Shipping Company and renamed Fedor Dostoyevskiy. A charter to Transocean began on December 23 that year. Neckermann Seereisen took over the charter in March 1990 for four years. On November 27, 1995, the ship was renamed Astor; in 1996, it was registered to Astor Shipping and chartered long-term to the Bremen-based operator Transocean Tours. In 2009, Transocean operated not only Astor but also Marco Polo and seven river cruise ships.

Astor was on display in Hamburg during Cruise Days on September 2 and 3, 2008. On May 15, 2009, Astor ran aground in Copenhagen and was refloated with only minor damage.

In September 2019, the ship collided with a quay in Nantes. It then sailed to Saint-Nazaire for urgent repairs. On May 27, 2020, Astor was laid up in Tilbury after cruises had been suspended as a result of the pandemic. The companies of Cruise & Maritime Voyages ceased operations on July 20, 2020. Astor was subsequently auctioned. In November, it left Tilbury bound for Aliaga in Turkey. The ship reached Aliaga on November 21 and was beached there on November 23, 2020.