 Following refit she was used to revive the Southampton–Cape Town service, also making cruises out of South Africa and the United Kingdom between liner voyages.However, in service the "Astor" was found not to have enough speed to maintain the liner schedule and Safmarine ordered a replacement ship based on the same design from Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft in Kiel, also to be named .In preparation for the delivery of the new ship, the first "Astor" was sold to the East German Deutsche Seerederei via a West German intermediary, becoming MS Arkona.