PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In August 1953, Erma Mulrine of Newark, Delaware, hopped aboard the SS United States for a five-day voyage from New York to Le Havre, France.
"We had beautiful weather and the ocean was not rough,” remembered the now 93-year-old.
Mulrine says the amenities were luxurious with an indoor and outdoor pool and a dining room that could be compared to ones in the finest restaurants.
They had a beauty shop for women, a barbershop for men and an option to buy or rent an evening gown.
"Well, their dining room was exactly like the Waldorf Astoria,” she said, adding that there were celebrities on board like Four Lads, Pearl Bailey, Sarah Vaughn, Tony Martin and “his lovely wife Cyd Charisse” who would make appearances at dances that would follow dinner.
And the cost of her ticket? Nearly $300.
"It was an experience that I will never forget," she said.
Mulrine says she hoped that one of the proposals over the years, like transforming the vessel into a floating luxury hotel, would have come to fruition instead of its sale to Okaloosa County and its plan to become an artificial reef.
The ocean liner, which has been berthed at Pier 82 in South Philadelphia for nearly 30 years, will be towed to Mobile, Alabama, instead of Norfolk, Virginia, to be stripped of hazardous materials in preparation for it to become the world's largest artificial reef in the Florida panhandle.
Okaloosa County says the decision to move it to Mobile was made to reduce costs and streamline operations. There's still no word when the vessel will leave Philadelphia.