The TSS Festivale was one of the first three cruise ships owned and operated
by Carnival Cruise Lines (the others were the Mardi Gras and the Carnivale).
All three were built as ocean liners and later retrofitted into cruise ships. These
were the boats that helped revolutionize the cruise industry in the 1970's --
you could say they were the prototypes for The Love Boat.

According to Cruise Radio.net, the Festivale was purchased by Carnival in the
70's from the South African Marine Corporation. She saw many years service
with Carnival and a couple other cruise lines. The ship ultimately ended up with
the Premier Cruise Line sailing under the name Big Red Boat III. Premier went
bankrupt in 2000 - by then the ship was so old, no other cruise line wanted her
and she was scrapped in 2003... kind of a sad ending, don't you think?