Man bought cruise ship and spent $1 million to restore it only to find a major issue

After purchasing a cruise ship in 2008, this US man spent $1 million to restore it – but one major issue put an end to the entire project.

Chris Willson purchased a historic cruise ship on Craigslist with his partner, Jin Li.

The vessel was 293 feet (89 meters) long with 85 cabins.

However, after investing 15 years in addition to a small fortune, he was forced to abandon ship on his endeavors.

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The cruise ship

The German-built vessel was a retired ‘pocket’ cruise ship – far smaller than the world’s largest cruise ship that is five times bigger than the Titanic.

The vessel was built in 1955 by the Blohm and Voss shipyard.

After signing on the dotted line, Willson managed to get it moved over to California.

It had originally been named Wappen von Hamburg, per CNN reports, however, Willson renamed it ‘Aurora’.

His ultimate goal was to turn the cruise ship into a museum for the public, uploading the progress on his YouTube channel, Aurora Restoration Project.

“I’d gotten quite a ways,” he told CNN.

“I think we had 10 areas solidly restored and refurnished meticulously.

“These were kind of major areas. So we were pretty proud of that.

“So we were doing a pretty good job. We had marine engineers involved. There was no lack of people coming out to loan a hand.”

He continued: “We were working on the swimming pool and the forward decks, and replating all of the steel.”

This timelapse shows the construction of another huge cruise ship over six years.

The issue with the restore

After huge leaps forward, Willson was sadly forced to sell the cruise ship in October 2023 after one major setback set him adrift.

The problem began in 2023 when a 1940s military tugboat, Mazapeta, was stationed next to his ship and sank.

This created a ‘pollution issue’.

While you might think relocating was a quick fix, it would have cost a ‘million dollars worth of dredging for us to get out’.

“Everything kind of changed from that point on,” said Willson.

Sadly in May, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said the Aurora was starting to sink.

“It has been determined the ship has suffered a hole and is taking on water and is currently leaking diesel fuel and oil into the Delta Waterway,” said a statement on X.

A statement was also shared by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response.

“Over the last several weeks, response contractors, Global Diving and Salvage and subcontractors, successfully refloated the vessel and removed an estimated 21,675 gallons of oily water, 3,193 gallons of hazardous waste, and five 25-yard bins of debris was removed from the vessel.”

Connie Cochran, community relations officer for the City of Stockton, said they are now ‘figuring out how to dispose of the vessel’.

Willson said: “It selling was probably the hardest thing I’ve done in my life,”

“It haunts me and I lose sleep over it. I’m not happy about it.”

Fancy a life at sea? This luxury cruise ship will allow residents to permanently live at sea.