The ‘Princess Mahsuri’ was a luxury cruise liner chartered by the Straits Steamship Company (Steamers for short), through its subsidiary firm Blue Funnel, to operate cruise vacations in waters around the South Pacific and Southeast Asia. The 8,000-tonne, four-deck vessel was built in 1980 at the Kiel shipyard located in what was then West Germany and could carry up to 330 passengers. The liner was cruising in the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas prior to being chartered by Steamers in late 1982. With cruise prices starting from around $3,700, the liner was targeted at affluent customers at the high end of the cruise market. Facilities on board the luxury liner included a restaurant, lounge, library, casino, fitness centre, cinema, sauna, swimming pool and air-conditioned suites. Despite the ‘Love Boat’ cruise holiday craze started by an American television series of the same name, the ‘Princess Mahsuri’ was a loss-making venture for Steamers due to overcapacity in the industry. The company decided to terminate its charter contract with the vessel’s owner in November 1984, a year earlier than expected, to cut its operating losses.
