The former Bitcoin cruise ship Satoshi, now owned by Ambassador Cruise Line, entered Viktor Lenac shipyard in Croatia for an extensive refurbishment.

Satoshi arrived at the shipyard yesterday from the port of Bar, Montenegro where the vessel was docked since March 2021. The new startup cruise line Ambassador has ambitious plans to bring the former glory of this magnificent cruise ship who was originally built for Princess Cruises as Regal Princess, and later sailed for P&O Australia as Pacific Dawn.

Considering the current condition of Satoshi the refurbishment will last until February 2022, when the ship will be renamed to Ambassador Ambience. During the refurbishment, extensive work will be carried out, including installation of new equipment, scrubbers, water purification system and wastewater treatment system, as well as ballast water. Extensive interventions will have to be done on the ship in order to renew all expired certificates.

Ambassador Ambience maiden season is scheduled for 6th April 2022, sailing out from her home port London, Tilbury to Hamburg. The cruise ship will offer variety of cruises ranging from 7 to 14 nights sailings to the British Isles, the Norwegian Fjords, Iceland and Baltic Cruises and the Mediterranean.

This 245-meter-long ship, which can accommodate 1,400 passengers, along with 600 crew members gained the world's attention last year when it was bought by the start-up company Ocean Builders. Back then three cryptocurrency enthusiasts bought the vessel in order to convert it into a floating crypto-community, renaming it "Satoshi" (Crypto cruiser project) in honor of the founder of bitcoin Satoshi Nakamoto. They hoped Satoshi will become home to people just like them: digital nomads, startup founders and early bitcoin enthusiasts.

The idea was to rent residential apartments on board, with all payments made in virtual currency, bitcoin. The ship was to be anchored off the coast of Panama City, from where residents can go ashore using tender boats. However, the pandemic did its thing and the shipowners couldn’t get assurance that his entire projects would pay off.

However, the cruise industry gradually recovered in 2021, and in May 2021, a new company, Ambassador Cruise Line, bought “Satoshi” and the vessel was saved from the scrapyards in Alang, India.