Island Breeze (ship)

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Island Breeze (formerly RMS Transvall Castle and Festivale) was an ocean liner and cruise ship.

Constructed for the UK based Union Castle Line, and operating from construction to 1966 as the RMS Transvaal Castle, the vessel was the second largest in the Union-Castle fleet. She was 760 feet long, 90 feet wide and measured over 32,000 gross tons.

In 1966, the vessel was transferred to the South African Marine Corporation, before it was sold to Carnival Cruise Lines in October 1977. Carnival converted the vessel into a cruise ship at the cost of $30 million, doubling the vessel's passenger capacity and installing discoteques, lounges and casinos. The vessel became one of Carnival's "First Generation" cruise ships.

With Carnival creating substantially larger cruise liners, the Festivale became redundant. There was still a market for passengers who preferred "traditional" looking ships, and after a brief charter with a British travel firm, Premier Cruises purchased her in 1998. They named her Island Breeze: Big Red Boat III, as she was their third liner, and like all of their ships, had her hull painted a bright and somewhat garish red.

Premier Cruises went bankrupt in 2000, and their ships were seized in various ports in the Caribbean, North America, and Europe. By now, old, out-of-date and in need of repairs, the ship could find no work and was sold to the shipbreakers in Alang, India in the summer of 2003.