The ship initially operated in Israel as the Nili and later as the Helsinki Express on the Baltic Sea. Later, as the Jamaica Queen, she sailed in the Caribbean as a cruise ship. She came to Greece in 1975 and received her final name. The ship was destroyed in 1981 by a bomb blast in Haifa, Israel. She was towed out of port and burned completely. Finally, she was sold for scrap in 1984.[1]
Arion had lounges, swimming pool, night club and double-bed cabins with bathrooms.[1]
The ship was launched on 11 August 1964 and completed in June 1965[1] and originally operated in Haifa, before being renamed Helsinki Express and launched in the Baltic. Then (1966), she became Queen of Jamaica and set sail for the Caribbean for cruises, under the Pan American Cruise Lines.[2] Finally, in 1969, she returned to the Mediterranean and returned to her original name.
In 1975, she was bought by the Lesvos Shipping Company and renamed Arion, for $2.95, while on 7 November she made her maiden voyage to Mytilene, with captain Giannis Kaldis.[1] Immediately, she was launched on the line Piraeus-Chios-Mytilene-Thessaloniki, while she also secured the line Piraeus-Rhodes-Limassol-Haifa, thus connecting Greece with Cyprus and Israel. The company advertised her as "The Floating Hotel".[1]
On 20 December, while sailing off Haifa, Arion was attacked by terrorists. A bomb exploded in the hands of Coast Guard bosun Stavros Goumas, who was killed, while the ship caught fire. This attack was never clarified and the individuals or the organization that carried it out were never clarified. The prevailing view is that the Israeli Mossad secret service blew up the ship, in order to avoid any help to the Palestinians. No other casualties were reported, as the crew managed to dock her in Haifa, disembarking all passengers. The fire brigade, however, failed to control the fire, so the ship burned completely. For almost three years she laid-up in Israel, with the fire extinguished on its own, and the ship was transported to Eleusis. The ship was never repaired, and was eventually sold in Barcelona, Spain for scrap. NEL replaced her with a similar ship, the Odysseas Elytis, which, however, was not considered as successful as the Arion.[1]