All Leisure cuts its losses and sells cruise ship Discovery for $5m

The cruise ship Discovery – one of the original locations for filming TV series Love Boat – has been sold for $5 million.

On paper, owners All Leisure Group have made a substantial loss on the deal, because the 43-year-old vessel was valued at £9.9 million.

But they made a loss of £3 million operating the 710-passenger ship in 2013. After sailing the ship under their Voyages of Discovery brand, All Leisure chartered it to Cruise & Maritime Voyages two years ago, and ran it as a joint venture.

A company statement said: "Although the consideration received is less than the current book value of the vessel, the board's decision to sell MV Discovery also took into account the absence of the future liabilities and other uncertainties associated with many other bids."

The ship’s future under new owners Liberty Resources, of Nassau, Bahamas, is unclear. Discovery left Avonmouth for the last time on October 9. It was handed over to a new Indian crew in Falmouth the next day, and was reportedly re-named Amen. It is currently in the Mediterranean, heading east, although its AIS automated tracking system has not been updated to show its next port of call.

UPDATE: According to its AIS, Discovery, now named Amen, has been re-classified as a cargo ship and is expected to reach Dubai before the end of the month.

Time Spent at Sea has moved and can now be found at World of Cruising. You can follow World of Cruising on Twitter and Facebook for the very latest in cruise news.

If you haven't already, subscribe to the World of Cruising magazine today.