Ateliers et Chantiers de Bretagne built her original engines, which were two sets of steam turbines, four driving each screw.

This rendered her essentially "dead in the water" for four hours while her fuel filters were cleaned out and her boiler furnaces restored to normal.

On arrival at the Quarantine Station at New York, she suffered a short circuit in her main electrical switchboard causing a near-complete loss of power.

[4] Unlike most ocean liners' maiden arrivals, where they receive the traditional fireboat welcome while sailing under their own power, Flandre arrived in New York Harbor and received the traditional welcome while under tow by four Moran tugs, and running only one of her own twin propellers.

It was at this time that a set of producers originated the idea of the popular television-series The Love Boat aboard Carla C. Consequently, the first scripts were written on board the ship.

In 1974 and 1975, Costa replaced the boilers with Stork-Werkspoor diesel engines[1] and Carla C was returned to service around the Caribbean, where she served until 1992.

Carla Costa was a common sight on the San Juan ship dock on Saturdays in that era, and her regularly scheduled route included Curaçao, Caracas, Grenada, Martinique, and Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Flandre or Antilles appeared as stock footage in the 1964 Perry Mason episode Nautical Knot, set near Acapulco, Mexico.