Astor was one of two similar ships with the same name built in West Germany for an East German management company but destined to work for Safmarine and intended to provide the mail service to South Africa after Union Castle withdrew from the contract when they were accused of sanctions busting by calling at Beira for Rhodesia. Unfortunately, the first Astor could not make the contact mail speed average for the run and so this Astor was built to a stretched design with more powerful engines but by the time she arrived in South Africa, aircraft had taken over the mail service. The first Astor was renamed Astoria and after a short time running cruises from South Africa both were sold and worked as US dollar earning cruise ships for Eastern Bloc countries. The two ships were eventually re-united under Transocean Tours but Astoria was sold to Saga Shipping and re-named Saga Pearl II and Astor was leased to Cruise & Maritime Voyages until they ceased trading in 2020.