happy ship industry cruise line fate bankrupt founded 1966 defunct 2001 headquarters hollywood florida united states key people sanford chobol edwin stephan parent 1981 1990 rederi ab sally 1990 1995 effjohn 1995 2001 jemj financial services subsidiaries 1999 2001 crown cruise line website commodorecruise.com commodore cruise line was a united states based cruise line that was in operation from 1968 until 2001 . it was founded in 1966 by sanford chobol and edwin stephan . following multiple changes in ownership the company declared bankruptcy in 2001 due to rising fuel costs and increased competition from other cruise lines . 1 2 3 it had its headquarters in hollywood florida . 4 contents 1 history 1.1 1966 1981 1.2 1981 1995 1.3 1995 2001 2 ships 3 references 4 external links history edit 1966 1981 edit commodore cruise line was founded in 1966 the same year that norwegian caribbean line begun operations by sanford chobol and edwin stephan . 1 2 chobol a florida hotelier had previously operated the brazilian ocean liner princess leopoldina on a series of cruises out of florida in 1962 . 2 in order to operate a ship that could successfully compete against ncl s ms sunward 1966 commodore reached an agreement with the sweden based wallenius lines who acquired the build contract of a half complete ferry under construction at w rtsil turku shipyard in finland . the ship in question had been ordered by the sweden based lion ferry as a combined ferry cruise ship but lion ferry had subsequently cancelled the order . wallenius lines named the incomplete ship ms boh me and had her completed as cruise ship . 5 following delivery the boh me was chartered to commodore 2 and she set on her first cruise from miami to saint thomas on 7 december 1968 . with the boh me commodore cruise line became the first company to operate week long cruises out of florida around the year . 5 by 1973 lion ferry and fred . olsen had acquired interests in commodore . as a result lion ferry s ms bolero joined the boh me in commodore fleet for the northern hemisphere winter seasons 1973 1976 the bolero spent summers in united states canada ferry service for lion ferry . 2 6 in 1976 the bolero was replaced by another ferry ms caribe that was also used by commodore during the winters and usa canada ferry service during the summers . like the boh me the caribe was registered in west germany during her service with commodore . 2 1981 1995 edit in 1981 commodore cruise line was acquired by the finland based rederi ab sally who also acquired the boh me from wallenius lines . 2 5 as a result of the change of ownership the boh me was re registered to panama . 5 during the same year sally acquired two ships for conversion into service with commodore . 2 7 the first karageorgis lines ms navarino had recently been damaged in a grounding . however during rebuilding she suffered a fire followed by capsizing of the drydock which left the ship so badly damaged that sally decided to abandon their plans for the ship . 7 the second acquisition the former greek line ship ss olympia was rebuilt with diesel engines and entered service for commodore in 1983 as ms caribe i. 2 following the caribe i s entry into service the boh me was also rebuilt re entering service in 1984 . however in 1986 the boh me was sold to the church of scientology and commodore reverted to operating just one ship . 2 5 by the mid 80s rederi ab sally was in financial difficulties and in 1987 the company was sold to its main competitors effoa and johnson line based in finland and sweden respectively . two years later the passenger operations of sally effoa and johnson were merged into effjohn . 8 in 1990 effjohn decided to merge the operations of bermuda star line into commodore cruise line bringing bermuda star line s ss bermuda star and ss queen of bermuda to the commodore fleet under the names ss enchanted isle and ss enchanted seas respectively . promotional material from 1991 advertised the addition of two further ships in 1992 1993 but these did not materialise . instead the caribe i was sold to regal cruise line in 1993 . 2 in 1994 the enchanted isle became a floating hotel in saint petersburg russia returning to the commodore fleet the following year . 9 1995 2001 edit by the mid 90s effjohn in turn was in financial difficulties and decided to concentrate on its core market in the baltic sea . 10 as a result commodore cruise line was sold in 1995 to the new york based jemj financial services . the new owners continued operations with the enchanted isle and enchanted seas until 1996 when the enchanted seas was sold to world explorer lines . 11 in 1998 ms island holiday was chartered from a ukrainian company and renamed ms enchanted capri . 2 12 both the enchanted capri and enchanted isle were based in new orleans at the time . in 1999 the commodore fleet grew again to three ships for the first time with the acquisition of ms enchanted sun . 2 in 1999 commodore reactivated the crown cruise line brand which had also been previously owned by effjohn but ceased operations in 1997 as a more upscale brand . 1 2 during the following years commodore was facing harsh competition from larger cruise lines that were beginning to push down their prices . as a result commodore filed for bankruptcy in january 2001 . 3 ships edit ship built in service for commodore tonnage status as of 2008 ms boh me 1968 1968 1986 10 328 grt since 1986 ms freewinds for the church of scientology ms bolero 1973 1973 1976 winters only 11 344 grt since 2004 laid up as ms mirage i ms caribe 1968 1976 1981 winters only 10 448 grt since 1994 ms discovery sun for discovery cruise line ms navarino 1957 never entered service 17 392 grt sunk 2001 as ms sea ms caribe i 1953 1983 1993 22 979 grt scrapped 2009 ss enchanted isle 1958 1990 1994 1995 2001 23 395 grt scrapped 2003 ss enchanted seas 1958 1990 1996 23 500 grt scrapped 2004 ms enchanted capri 1975 1998 2001 16 331 grt since 2003 used as an hotel ship for demar instaladora y constructora ms enchanted sun 1974 1999 2001 7 764 grt since 2006 ms casino royale for royale prime co references edit a b c ward douglas 2006 . complete guide to cruising & cruise ships . singapore berlitz . pp. 26 29 . isbn 981 246 739 4 . a b c d e f g h i j k l m n boyle ian . commodore cruise line . simplon postcards . retrieved 2008 04 15 . a b motter paul 2006 09 15 . budget cruising a short history . cruise mates . retrieved 2008 04 15 . commodore holdings ltd 10 k for 9 30 98 ex 10 . v. securities and exchange commission . retrieved on january 15 2010 . a b c d e m s boh me cruise ship chronicles . fakta om fartyg . retrieved 2008 04 18 . asklander micke . m s bolero 1973 . fakta om fartyg in swedish . retrieved 2008 04 18 . a b othfors daniel . gripsholm ii navarino regent sea . the great ocean liners . retrieved 2008 04 18 . koski sami . valkeat kaunottaret saapuvat . valkeat laiva in finnish . retrieved 2008 04 18 . miller william h. jr. 1995 . the pictorial encyclopedia of ocean liners 1860 1994 . mineola dover publications . p. 8 . isbn 0 486 28137 x. malmberg thure ; stampehl marko 2007 . siljan viisi vuosikymment in finnish . espoo frenckellin kirjapaino oy . p. 165 . isbn 978 951 98405 7 4 . boyle ian . brasil . simplon postcards . retrieved 2008 04 15 . asklander micke . m s azerbaihzan 1975 . fakta om fartyg in swedish . retrieved 2008 04 18 . external links edit commodore cruise line archive retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title commodore cruise line & oldid 729874136 categories defunct cruise linesdefunct shipping companies of the united statescompanies established in 1966hollywood floridacompanies disestablished in 2001defunct companies based in florida1966 establishments in floridahidden categories cs1 swedish language sources sv cs1 finnish language sources fi navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants 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