The MV Serenade was a French ocean liner

Ocean liner

An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes .Cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes referred to as...

 and later cruise ship

Cruise ship

A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...

, operating until 2008 when she was sold for scrap.

Ocean liner service

The Serenade was built for service on the Marseilles to West Africa route as the Jean Mermoz, named after the famed aviator

Jean Mermoz

Jean Mermoz was a French aviator, viewed as a hero by many in both Argentina and his native France, where many schools bear his name...

. For eight uneventful years she went on the same voyage, departing France and calling at Casablanca

Casablanca

Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...

, Dakar

Dakar

Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

, Conakry

Conakry

Conakry is the capital and largest city of Guinea. Conakry is a port city on the Atlantic Ocean and serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea with a 2009 population of 1,548,500...

, Monrovia

Monrovia

Monrovia is the capital city of the West African nation of Liberia. Located on the Atlantic Coast at Cape Mesurado, it lies geographically within Montserrado County, but is administered separately...

, Abidjan

Abidjan

Abidjan is the economic and former official capital of Côte d'Ivoire, while the current capital is Yamoussoukro. it was the largest city in the nation and the third-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris, and Kinshasa but before Montreal...

, Tema

Tema

Tema is a city on the Atlantic coast of Ghana, lying east of the Ghanaian capital city, Accra, in the region of Greater Accra. As of 2005, Tema had a population of 209,000. The Greenwich Meridian passes directly through the city...

, Lomé

Lomé

Lomé, with an estimated population of 737,751, is the capital and largest city of Togo. Located on the Gulf of Guinea, Lomé is the country's administrative and industrial center and its chief port. The city exports coffee, cocoa, copra, and palm kernels...

, Cotonou

Cotonou

-Demographics:*1979: 320,348 *1992: 536,827 *2002: 665,100 *2005: 690,584 The main languages spoken in Cotonou include the Fon language, Aja language, Yoruba language and French.-Transport:...

, Lagos

Lagos

Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...

, Duala

Duala

Duala or Douala can refer to:* Duala people, an ethnic group in Cameroon* Duala language, part of the Bantu languages* Douala, the largest city in Cameroon, founded by the Duala people...

, Libreville

Libreville

Libreville is the capital and largest city of Gabon, in west central Africa. The city is a port on the Komo River, near the Gulf of Guinea, and a trade center for a timber region. As of 2005, it has a population of 578,156.- History :...

, Port Gentil, and Pointe Noire. In 1965 she was transferred to Nouvelle Cie de Paquebots. As competition grew fierce with Greek and Italian shipping companies, who offered less expensive voyages, Jean Mermoz was sold to the Paquet Cruises, who converted her into a full time cruise ship.

Cruise service

Jean Mermozs appearance changed drastically after the 1969-1970 rebuilding at the T. Marriotti Shipyard, as her superstructure

Superstructure

A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships...

 was expanded and her traditional looking round funnel was replaced with a streamlined cylinder like one. With the conversion her name was changed to Mermoz. Mermoz operated cruises along the South American coast, through the Galápagos Islands

Galápagos Islands

The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...

 and around the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

. In 1985 her first South Pacific cruise was delayed three days due to pay disputes with crew members. Then tugboat operators declared her "black" in protest against the French nuclear tests in the Pacific. In 1993, Costa Cruises

Costa Cruises

Costa Cruises is a British-American owned Italian cruise line, based in Genoa, Italy.Founded in 1924, the company originally operated cargo ships, until the introduction of passenger services in 1947, with regular services between Italy and South America...

 bought Paquet and all of its assets, but continued to operate Mermoz under the Paquet brand name on cruises targeted at the French market. In 1996 Carnival Cruise Line bought Costa. Carnival subsequently dissolved Paquet and laid up Mermoz. In 1999 Carnival sold Mermoz to the Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

 based Louis Cruise Lines

Louis Cruise Lines

Louis Cruises is a Cyprus-based cruise line that operates cruises from Cyprus, France, Italy, India and Greece . The company also charters several ships to Thomson Cruises...

, who renamed her Serenade. Serenade operated two-night cruises, starting in Limassol

Limassol

Limassol is the second-largest city in Cyprus, with a population of 228,000 . It is the largest city in geographical size, and the biggest municipality on the island. The city is located on Akrotiri Bay, on the island's southern coast and it is the capital of Limassol District.Limassol is the...

 and calling in Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 and Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

. Due to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...

 she was switched to a two-night cruise from Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 to Italy. Serenade later served as a floating hotel for the 27th G8 summit

27th G8 summit

-Overview:The Group of Seven was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada starting in 1976. The G8, meeting for the first time in 1997, was formed with the addition...

 in Genoa

Genoa

Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

. Throughout the rest of her career with Louis she spent considerable amounts of time laid up at Eleusis Bay. In 2003 she began an itinerary of short cruises from Cyprus to the Greek Islands and Egypt.

Demise

In 2008 she was renamed Serena and sailed to scrapyards at Alang where she was beached and scrapped.