With the help of Mark Lighterman some of the history of the Texas Treasure ship has been tracked down. Discovery Cruise Lines had a ship, the Scandinavian Dawn, which was bought by SeaEscape. It sailed from Tampa, FL to Mexico. It was being converted to a 'day cruise ship' when it was sold again and renamed the Discovery Dawn. It sailed from the port of Miami. During merger talks between Discovery Cruise Lines and SeaEscape which were eventually called off, the Discovery Dawn was put in dry dock. It has now emerged as the "Texas Treasure". Scandinavian Dawn--Discovery Dawn--Texas Treasure = The same ship!
In today's San Antonio paper is an article about the U.S. Immigration refusing to allow more than 130 foreign-born crew members on the Texas Treasure to come ashore in Texas. They say the boat has to "go somewhere". They said if the ship would vist a foreign port at least once every 29 days, the crew members would be eligible for visas. "Viva Gaming and Resorts Inc., a Las Vegas company that owns the ship, said the situation is being resolved and that immigration issues won't affect gambling". And that's the gambling story from Texas! Doug