MS Saga Pearl II was a cruise ship of about 18,700 GT that was built in Germany by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft as the Astor in 1981. After short unsuccessful operations with two owners, she was bought by the East German government in 1985 and renamed Arkona. After 1990 the ship was operated by Seetours, which was acquired by P&O Princess Cruises in 1999, and then chartered to Transocean Tours as Astoria in 2002. From 2009 until 2019 she was owned by Saga Cruises as Saga Pearl II (and a short period as Quest for Adventure), then withdrawn from service, laid up as Pearl II, and scrapped in 2022.

Astor was built in 1981 as Yard no. 165 in the shipyard of Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, Werk Ross, Hamburg for the newly-formed German company Hadag Cruise Line, owned by the City of Hamburg. Originally intended to be named Hammonia, the female personification of Hamburg, she was launched as Astor on 16 December 1980. As built, she measured 18,834 gross tonnage (GT) and her hull dimensions were 164.35 m (539 ft 2 in) length overall, 22.6 m (74 ft 2 in) beam and 16.1 m (52 ft 10 in) depth, with a service draught of 6.1 m (20 ft 0 in). She was powered by four 6-cylinder MAN 6L40/45 medium-speed diesel engines rated 3,300 brake horsepower (2,500 kW) each. They were geared to two controllable-pitch propellers, which gave a speed of 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). The ship's initial capacity was for 638 passengers.

During fitting out she was damaged by an onboard fire, leading to a delay in delivery of over three months.

Astor's maiden voyage had been scheduled for 22 August 1981 but could only begin after her delayed delivery on 4 December. Her schedule of winter cruises in the Caribbean region and summers in Europe did not prove to be profitable, so Hadag decided in October 1983 to sell her.

The South African Marine Corporation (Safmarine) bought the ship in February 1984 and, after a refit in Hamburg during which the passenger capacity was reduced to 530, they began a programme combining cruises in Europe and southern Africa with Southampton–Cape Town voyages, reviving the ocean liner route. However, Safmarine discovered that Astor did not have enough speed to maintain the liner schedule. So a new ship was ordered that could meet those requirements, also to be named Astor, and the existing ship was sold on 29 August 1985.

It has been alleged that the sale of Astor to East Germany, via a West German intermediary, was part of a secret three-way arrangement through which South Africa received submarine technology transfer, in defiance of the international arms embargo, as well as the replacement Astor. At the same time the HDW shipyard, desperate for new work, would build the ship, and East Germany, which lacked the foreign currency to buy Astor, could pay the intermediary in its national Ostmark.

On 29 August 1985, Astor was acquired by Deutfracht/Seereederei Rostock (DSR), the East German state shipping company, and was renamed the Arkona. The vessel was used to give favoured party officials cruises for part of the year, and was chartered to western operators for the remainder. During the process of the reunification of Germany, DSR was privatised in 1990. DSR acquired Seetours of Bremen and cruises on the Arkona were marketed under the Seetours franchise.

P&O Princess Cruises acquired Seetours in 1999 and retired Arkona in 2001 (Seetours was rebranded as AIDA Cruises in 2004). The Arkona was renamed Astoria in 2002 and bareboat chartered to Transocean Tours of Bremen. Under Transocean, Astoria specialized in cruises in Europe, particularly to Norway. The vessel then operated on coastal itineraries, providing low-cost cruises for German, Norwegian and Swedish passengers.