The former Ocean Diamond, renamed Diamond XI, was intentionally beached in Aliaga, Turkey after 50 years of service to be dismantled at a ship recycling yard.
Bridgeman Services Group (Bridgemans) operated the vessel as a floating hotel before deciding to retire it to acquire a larger vessel for a new contract in the LNG industry.
The Diamond XI underwent a retrofit earlier this year and visited ports in Israel, Cyprus, and Turkey before being retired to make way for a new floatel in Bridgemans’ fleet.
Originally built as a ro-ro freighter in 1973, the Diamond XI was converted into a boutique cruise ship in the mid-1980s, serving various cruise lines during its four-decade cruising career.
Brian Grange, president of Bridgemans. “With the emergence of new business opportunities, we recently made the difficult decision to retire the Diamond XI early and acquire a significantly larger vessel to serve a new floatel contract. We plan to add another 100-300 pax floatel to our fleet in the new year,”
