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SS United States Won't Be Rehabbed, Cost Too High Cruise Line Says

Don't buy tickets quite yet for a luxury sail on the SS United States.

Plans to return the historic ocean liner to the high seas are being abandoned for a second time as a cruise company concludes it's not feasible.

Los Angeles-based Crystal Cruises will instead make a $350,000 donation to the conservation group that owns the ship, which has been sitting idle at a Philadelphia wharf for two decades.

The company had hoped to return the ship, which is bigger than the Titanic, to its glory days as a luxury ocean liner.

Crystal Cruise officials on Friday say the 65-year-old ship is structurally sound, but they say it would cost too much to restore.

Norwegian Cruise Lines announced a similar overhaul in 2003 that did not materialize for similar reasons.

Copyright The Associated Press
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