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Louis Cruise Lines , fifth largest cruise operator in the worldLouis Cruise Lines : is a Cyprus-based shipping company that operates cruises from Cyprus, France, Italy and Greece (the operations from Greece were previously marketed under the name Louis Hellenic Cruise Lines, but as of 2008 there is no mention of the brand on Louis' website. The company also charters several ships to Thomson Cruises. It was established in 1987 as a daughter company of Louis plc. The Louis : fleet consist mainly of older second- or third-hand ships. One of them, the SS The Emerald, is the last ocean liner built in the United States still in service. The Cruise Line : is a subsidiary of the Cyprus-based travel and tourism group Louis plc, that was founded in 1935 as the first travel agency in Cyprus. During the 1970s the company began chartering ferries for short cruises Cyprus, which eventually led to the purchase of the cruiseferry MV Prinsessan from the Finland-based Birka Line for $4 million in 1987. Renamed MV Princesa Marissa, the ship started making cruises from Limassol to the Greek Islaes, Egypt and Israel under the newly-established Louis Lines band.By 1994 the company had acquired three more ships, all of which were used in the short cruise market from CyprusIn April 2008 purchased MV Norwegian Dream and MV Norwegian Majesty from Star Cruises. The ships will be chartered back to Star Cruises/Norwegian Cruise Line until November 2008 and December 2009, respectively. The following month the Cruise Line purchased Thomson Destiny and Thomson Spirit that had previously been operated under charter.
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