The cruiseship Athena, flagship of the Classic International Cruises fleet, made her inaugural call over the weekend when she arrived for a brief cruise call at the end of her Baltic Capitals cruise that started and ended in Dublin. The three stars rated cruiseship will be a familiar caller during the next couple of years as she makes Falmouth her base port for a series of important cruises.

The visit was tinged with sadness when the body of an elderly lady passenger, who died a few hours before the ship's arrival, was landed to a local undertaker.

Built as the Trans Atlantic liner Stockholm in 1948 for the Swedish Amerika Line, the vessel has had many former names Caribe, Valtur Prima, Italia Prima, Italia I, Positano, Surriento, Fridtjof Nansen, Volker, and Volkerfreundschaft.

She changed ownership in 1994, was virtually stripped to her hull and re-constructed during a $150 million refit. The ship now has a unique sponson-type stern constructed to increase her water plane area to give additional stability.

Captain Jose Vilarinho, Athena's jovial Portuguese master, invited me to lunch aboard after anchoring in the Cross Channel.

In the dining room Irish passengers sang the praises of the ship. One couple from Cork said: "We have had the most fantastic cruise and excellent weather. The crew are kind, polite and the food has been very good."

This ship will, I am sure, be a firm favourite for people wanting to cruise out of Falmouth. First impressions count and Athena certainly impressed me. The internal dcor gives a warm ambience for passengers.

Of course she is not a four or five star cruiseship but she certainly holds her own against ships in her sector of the industry where she holds second position out of 14 such three star rated ships in the Berlitz Cruising Guide.

According to Berlitz: "Athena is best suited to adults of senior years seeking an inexpensive first cruise in really traditional ship surroundings with only limited facilities, food and simple entertainment."

Her enhanced facilities include convenient one sitting dining arrangements in the Oilissipo Restaurant with an alternative buffet dining facility.

The ship boasts an impressive show lounge, bars, a nightclub, cinema, casino, shopping boutique, photoshop, library, fitness and health centre and outdoor swimming pool.

The ship will naturally go to her grave as "the ship that sank the Italian liner Andrea Doria."

In my archives I still have the faded newspaper cuttings relating to that fateful day in July 1956 when the ships collided with a combined speed of 42 knots in fog 100 miles from New York, off the Nantucket light vessel. The Andrea Doria sank 12 hours later.

In the 1990's the ship returned to Genoa, homeport of the Andrea Doria, for a refit.

The Italian press wrote: "E arrivata la nave della morte" - the ship of death has arrived.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that one day I would stand on the bridge of this famous ship that has been the subject of many books written about the classic radar assisted collision, including Alvin Moscow's fascinating tome "Collision Course".