The T.S.S. Queen Anna Maria was originally built as the RMS Empress of Britain – a transatlantic ocean liner built by Fairfield Shipbuilding at Govan on the Clyde in Scotland in 1955-1956 for the Canadian Pacific Steamships (CP).
In November 1964, the former CP Empress was sold to the Greek Line; and the ship was renamed T.S.S. Queen Anna Maria. This Queen was rebuilt with a new lido area at the stern and provided accommodation for 168 first-class passengers and for 1,145 tourist-class passengers.
After the Greek Line went bankrupt in 1974, the Queen Anna Maria was laid-up, eventually being sold in 1976 to the newly-formed Carnival Cruise Lines and was renamed the Carnivale.