CLASSIC cruise ship SS Ausonia has completed a successful season of voyages out of Southampton.

The vessel, built in 1957, is now back in more familiar waters. Cruising in and out of the port of Limassol in Cyprus, having left Southampton Docks far behind, she completes her 2000 charter programme for high street holiday company First Choice.

Owned by Louis Cruise Lines, which purchased the ship in 1997, the Cyprus-registered 12,609-ton liner became a familiar sight in the port, with its distinctive and colourful logo of First Choice on its hull, superstructure and funnel.

Completely refurbished for her First Choice charter, Ausonia doubled the number of European and Mediterranean cruising destinations offered by the holiday company with its Southampton season.

The refit resulted in upgraded cabins, bigger public rooms, the addition of completely new facilities and restoration of much of the ship's original wooden decking.

Throughout the programme Aus-onia regularly sailed from the city's port with a full capacity of more than 500 passengers on 14-night voyages to and from Southampton and Cyprus.

Passengers had the option of leaving from Southampton and then flying back from Cyprus or setting sail from the Eastern Mediterranean island and returning to the city's docks by sea.

A spokesman for First Choice said: "In fact, we had a number of passengers who decided to do both directions by sea and stayed on the ship for a month.

"We are delighted how the South-ampton season went for Ausonia, it was a good decision to bring the ship to the port.''

First Choice is one of the relatively new group of big tour companies which have moved into cruising, helping to generate the present boom in holidays afloat.

The voyages appealed strongly to people looking for ex-UK departures together with value-for-money prices which also attracted many first-time cruise passengers fuelling the strong growth in this sector.