The South African Marine Corporation (Safmarine) bought the ship in February 1984 and, after a refit in Hamburg during which the passenger capacity was reduced to 530, they began a programme combining cruises in Europe and southern Africa with Southampton–Cape Town voyages, reviving the ocean liner route. However, Safmarine discovered that Astor did not have enough speed to maintain the liner schedule. So a new ship was ordered that could meet those requirements, also to be named , and the existing ship was sold on 29 August 1985.
