Carnival Fantasy Explained

Carnival Fantasy (formerly Fantasy) was a cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. She was the first ship of her namesake class, which was the largest by number of ships, before the scrapping of the Fantasy, Inspiration, Imagination, and the selling of the Fascination in 2020. Built by Kværner Masa-Yards at its Helsinki New Shipyard in Helsinki, Finland, she was floated out on December 9, 1988, completed on January 27, 1990 and formally named on March 1, 1990, as Fantasy by Tellervo Koivisto, wife of the then President of Finland, Mauno Koivisto. During 2007, in common with all of her Fantasy-class sisters, she had the prefix "Carnival" added to her name.^[1]

In July 2020, Carnival Corporation & plc confirmed that it had sold Carnival Fantasy for scrap.^[2]

Service history

Fantasy entered service in 1990 and was by 2020 the oldest ship in the fleet.^[3] Until 1993 she cruised from the Port of Miami when she relocated to Port Canaveral.

In the Fall of 2006, Fantasy was the first Carnival ship to move back to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina with New Orleans becoming its home port, undertaking cruises to Mexico.

Carnival Fantasy spent a month in drydock being refitted in the Fall of 2008.^[4]

On September 17, 2009, Carnival announced that Carnival Fantasy would be based out of Mobile, Alabama.^[5] Subsequently, she was relocated to Charleston, South Carolina.

Carnival Fantasy was refitted in February 2016. The upgrades included being fitted with diesel engine scrubbers as well the alteration of some of the restaurants and child care areas on the ship.^[6] In November 2016, she moved back to Mobile.^[7]

Carnival Fantasy was again refitted in January 2019.^[8] The ship assisted the US Coast Guard in rescuing 23 people at sea in April 2019.^[9] On March 14, 2020, Carnival announced suspension of service for all of its ships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was previously announced that service would resume on April 10, but the suspension was extended to October 1, 2020. On July 23, 2020, Carnival announced the sale of Carnival Fantasy and Carnival Inspiration.^[10] She was beached in Aliağa, Turkey for scrap on July 29, 2020.^[11] A report on August 26, 2020 indicated that the scrapping process had begun.^[12] Scrapping was completed in September 2021.

References

Bibliography

External links

Official website

Notes and References

Dake . Shawn J. . Cruise Ships 2007 the year in review . Ocean Times . January 2008 . 12 . 1 . 2–8 . Steamship Historical Society of America: Southern California Chapter .
Web site: Carnival Sells Two Ships and Two Enter Long Term Layup. 2020-07-23. Talking Cruise. en. 2020-08-19.
News: Most Popular . USA Today . Gene . Sloan.
Web site: Carnival Fantasy to Under Full Evolutions of Fun Upgrades This Fall . January 28, 2008 . Carnival Cruise Lines . https://web.archive.org/web/20090106160056/http://www.carnival.com/CMS/Articles/fantasyeof_2008.aspx . January 6, 2009.
Web site: AL.com . Carnival's Fantasy cruise ship coming to Mobile . August 18, 2008 . Kaija Wilkinson . August 18, 2008 . Press-Register .
Carnival-news.com
News: Cruises return to Mobile with move of Carnival Fantasy ship, AL.com reports. NOLA.com . November 30, 2018. en-US.
Web site: Carnival Cruise Line's Cruise Ship Dry Dock Schedule and Upgrades . cruisefever.net . en-US . July 11, 2018.
Web site: Coast Guard worked with Carnival cruise to rescue 23 illegal Cubans adrift for days in Gulf of Mexico . USA TODAY . en . April 15, 2019.
Web site: Carnival Cruise Line Announces Update to Fleet Plan - Carnival Cruise Line News. carnival-news.com. July 23, 2020. July 23, 2020.
Web site: Carnival Corporation to Sell More Ships as First Arrives at Scrapyard. 2020-07-29. Maritime Executive. en. 2020-08-19.
Web site: Carnival Cruise Line Announces Update to Fleet Plan - Carnival Cruise Line News. Cruise Radio. August 26, 2020. August 27, 2020.