In the late 1970s, DFDS began to investigate the idea of running a cruise-ferry service from New York to Florida, saving the long car journey which many Americans made each year. The ship would then continue to the Bahamas. Market research was favourable, and in 1980, a DFDS subsidiary Scandinavian World Cruises was formed to develop these plans. A large cruise-ferry was ordered from Dubigeon-Normandie, Nantes, for the new service, which was named the Scandinavia. Prior to this, two car-ferries were acquired and converted to run shorter cruises from Florida to the Bahamas. These became the Scandinavian Sea and Scandinavian Sun. The February 1982, these two ships began operations to Freeport from Miami and Port Canaveral (and later also Jacksonville). The service was not a success, since p***enger numbers were low, and rebuilding costs in Hamburg had been higher than anticipated. They were joined by the new Scandinavia October 1982, late delivery resulting in the summer season being missed. Early crossings also met extremely bad weather, generating poor publicity. In early 1985, Scandinavia was transferred briefly to the DFDS Oslo-Copenhagen ferry route, whilst a buyer was sought. She moved to Sundance Cruises in April 1985. The remaining two ships were not profitable either, and were transferred to a new company, Sea Escape Ltd, in which DFDS had a small share until 1987. The company has led a fairly precarious existence since then, facing bankruptcy in 1991.
In 1996, a new company bought certain ***ets of the previous company, and operations continue under the SeaEscape name, using the ex-Soviet ship Ukraina, later renamed Island Adventure.
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