She was joined by the identical GUGLIEMO MARCONI on 18 November of the same year. Both ships resembled smaller, more streamlined versions of Italian Line's famous LEONARDO DA VINCI of 1960, although they sported the distinctive flared "Cantieri bows" that would later be emulated by Home Line's OCEANIC of 1965, Costa's EUGENIO C of 1966, and scores of ferries and smaller Mediterranean cruise ships. In under three weeks, their itineraries would include Naples, Messina, Port Said, Aden, Fremantle, Melbourne, and Sydney.
Later in their career, the return leg was made via Panama and billed as a "world voyage." The usual factors of union labor strife, competition from the jumbo jet, and high fuel costs contributed to their early demise, and in 1977 both ships were laid up at Genoa, terminating Lloyd Triestino's 140 years of passenger service.
GALILEO GALILEI arrived at Cantieri Navali Riuniti's Palermo yard for conversion to a one class cruise ship on October 21, 1977. With her tonnage revised to 28,083 and her name shortened to GALILEO, she arrived at Genoa on 24 March 1979 for Mediterranean cruising under the Italian Line Cruises International banner.
Her new career was short-lived, however, and she was laid up at Genoa on the following 29 September. With on and off charters keeping her intermittently employed, the GALILEO was finally sold to Chandris Lines on 22 October 1983. A white "X" (Greek for "CH") was emblazoned on her now black-topped blue funnel (by the way, it's dome was telescopic!), and GALILEO was reregistered in Panama.
Another refit at Genoa, saw the installation of additional accommodation by expanding her forward superstructure, but curiously her tonnage was "remeasured" at 17,634, reflecting a difference in international measuring standards more than an actual physical change in size.
With a new capacity of 1,262, GALILEO entered Caribbean cruise service from New York in 1984 and ultimately became a popular liner in the Chandris-owned Fantasy Cruises' fleet. With the demise of the Greek-owned, Italian-operated Home Lines in the late 1980s, the powers at Chandris decided to experiment in the premium cruise market and formed their more upscale Celebrity Cruises division. The GALILEO became their guinea pig, and she was sent to Bremerhaven in October of 1989 for a complete $45 million rebuilding by Lloyd Werft.
Her charming 1960s "retro" linoleum, Formica, and wooden Italian interiors would be replaced with stunning and vibrant fittings under the direction of AMK, the famous Greek Katzourakis design team responsible for the CROWN ODYSSEY, and later ROYAL MAJESTY (among scores of other contemporary cruise ships). She was delivered to Celebrity Cruises on 22 February 1990 with a new capacity of 1,428 and a more realistic gross tonnage of 30,440.
As the stylish MERIDIAN, she departed Bremerhaven on a positioning voyage to the Caribbean on 1 March.
