Pam Paflas couldn’t help but to get emotional the first time she had seen the massive ocean liner since her parents took her on a vacation about 62 years ago.

Paflas was 11, and her family wanted to go somewhere warm. They boarded the SS United States for a 16-day cruise to the Bahamas and into the warmth of the sunny Caribbean.

“They had to use an ice cutter to cut away the ice in the harbor in New York City,” Paflas, a Foley resident recalled while aboard the Perdido Queen paddleboat during a tour Wednesday to the SS United States. The ship was a marvel in 1963, a desirable ocean liner offering elaborate cruises, a far cry from the deteriorated and stripped-down vessel it has long since become.

“They would dress for dinner. Mother wore a sweater with fur on it,” Paflas recalled. “It was a very classy ship.”

The nearly 1,000-foot-long ship is docked at a recycling center within the Port of Mobile. It is at its final stop before being relocated to the Florida Gulf Coast, sunk and then turned into the world’s largest artificial reef. The vessel’s final resting place is expected to be about 20 miles offshore from Destin-Fort Walton Beach, though a final resting spot has not yet been determined.

Until then, the ship’s presence south of downtown Mobile is drawing renewed energy and interest to the Port of Mobile. It has also led to a surge of interest for harbor cruises aboard the Perdido Queen and through Blakeley State Park. Both are seeing a surge of interest and sold-out cruises through the month of May.

“The response has been phenomenal,” said Jon Robitaille, the tour guide aboard the Perdido Queen who has been narrating SS United States tours since the ship arrived at Mobile on March 3. “We’ve had a lot of people from Mobile actually get reinvigorated with the port itself. It amazes me the people who have been on the tour to see this ship who have never been on the Mobile River to see this side of Mobile.”

Anna Jones, who along with husband Willie, are the owners of the Perdido Queen, said the SS United States has drawn more people to the Port of Mobile to learn more about the various businesses and industry that occurs along it.

“This has been a huge hit,” said Jones. The Perdido Queen offers murder mystery, ghost, and live music and dinner cruises that include voyages to the SS United States as well.

“It’s exciting and wonderful to be part of this experience,” she said.

It’s unclear how long the tourism bump related to SS United States curiosity seekers will last in Mobile. The ship is expected to remain docked at the Modern American Recycling & Repair Service (MARRS) facility six months to a year.

The ship is being prepared for its final destination at the bottom of the Gulf, where it will continue to be a tourist attraction for divers and fishermen. The ship’s two distinctive smokestacks will be removed and will be displayed as part of a Florida Gulf Coast museum dedicated to a ship long referred to as “America’s flagship.”

Okaloosa County, Fla., bought the ship last year for $1 million, and spent close to $10 million in getting it prepared and relocated from Philadelphia to Mobile.

Robitaille said he’s already encountered some passengers who are upset over the ship’s fate. For years, preservationists have attempted to save the ship and have it repurposed into a museum, similar to the USS Alabama Battleship in downtown Mobile.

Some of those efforts are expected to last until the ship is sunk. The New York Coalition to Save the SS United States has even called on President Donald Trump to issue an executive order preventing the ship’s sinking. A representative with the organization has said they are continuing to build support for their efforts through political, legal and financial means.

“It’s owned by Okaloosa County,” Robitaille said. “There is not much we can do here unless someone were to purchase it from the county.”

Okaloosa County officials are hoping the ship will be an economic draw. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, every dollar invested in artificial reefs in the Florida Panhandle generates an estimated $138 in economic benefits, including job creation and increased activity in tourism-related industries.

Other counties are banking on the ship as being a money maker and are angling to get some of the benefits. The Bay County Tourist Development Council TDC recently approved a request to spend up to $3 million over two fiscal years for the promotion and marketing of the SS United States.

The hope is to have the ship ultimately placed closer to Panama City Beach, though Okaloosa County Commissioners will have the final say.

While negotiations over its final resting spot occur east of Mobile, the city is handling a bit of newfound intrigue to its waterfront and an unexpected storytelling assignment for guides like Robitaille.

“There are a lot of interesting facts I’ve learned such as what the difference is between an ocean liner and a cruise ship,” he said. “I’ve always associated those as the same. But an ocean liner is designed for speed. A cruise ship is designed for comfort.”

Built in the early 1950s, the SS United States is the largest ocean liner to be entirely constructed in the U.S. It is the fastest ship of its kind to cross the Atlantic Ocean in either direction.

It’s also extremely large, something that’s noticeable on the up-close trips to the ship aboard the Perdido Queen.

“If you took the SS United States and stood it on its end, that is 990 feet, which means it’s 200 feet taller than the RSA Tower,” Robitaille said, referring to the largest building in Alabama that is located in downtown Mobile.

The ship transported celebrities and immigrants between 1952 and 1969. Four U.S. presidents and some of Hollywood’s biggest stars sailed aboard the SS United States. During its prime, the ship hosted luminaries such as Walt Disney, Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, Walter Cronkite, Judy Garland, Bob Hope, and John Wayne.

Four U.S. presidents have sailed aboard the SS United States, including Bill Clinton, who was just another passenger when he sailed aboard the ship. At the time, he was a student fresh out of Georgetown on his way to study at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

“They say the Mona Lisa traveled on this ship, too,” Robitaille said.

Leonardo Da Vinci ’s masterpiece did travel to the U.S. aboard the ship for a special exhibition in Washington, D.C. and New York. That voyage occurred in 1963, around the same time Paflas sailed aboard the ship with her parents during that memorable family vacation.

She still has some of the memorabilia from that trip, including programs, menus and photos. Most of it is in mint condition, a far cry from the deteriorated shape of the actual ship. The ship was retired in 1969 and docked along the Delaware River in Philadelphia from 1996 until it departed last month.

“It’s sad,” said Paflas, when asked to describe the ship’s appearance up close. She, unlike preservationists, believes it will be put to better use as an artificial reef.

“It’s just a part of history,” she said.