MS Celebration explained

The Celebration (also known as Grand Celebration) was a cruise ship originally built for Carnival Cruise Line. She was the last of three ships to be built in Carnival's Holiday Class of cruise ships. She last sailed for Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line between 2015 and 2020.

The Grand Celebration was sold for scrap in 2020 with her sister ship, MS Holiday, precipitated in part by the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] [2] A third sister ship, the MS Jubilee, was last operated by HNA Tourism. Jubilee was retired and scrapped in 2017.

History

The ship was built as the Celebration in 1986 by Kockums Varv in Malmö, Sweden for Carnival Cruise Lines. The Celebration began operating for Carnival on 14 March 1987. She remained in their fleet for over 20 years until she was retired in April 2008. She underwent an extensive refit and re-entered service with Carnival's subsidiary, Iberocruceros, as the Grand Celebration in the summer. The refit included new hull artwork and updated interiors.

In May 2014, as a result of the discontinuation of the Iberocruceros subsidiary, Carnival announced that the ship would be transferred to another of its lines, Costa Cruises, and renamed Costa Celebration in November 2014.[3] Another refurbishment and refit was performed at that time. On 21 November 2014, on the day before the ship was scheduled to depart on her inaugural voyage, it was announced that the vessel had been sold to an unnamed buyer.[4] The next day, the Costa Celebration was removed from Costa's fleet and all bookings were cancelled. Passengers who had booked on Costa Celebration's future cruises were either refunded or rebooked on other ships.[5]

On 23 December 2014, it was revealed that the ship had been purchased by the newly formed Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, who would reuse the name Grand Celebration and sail out of the Port of Palm Beach in Riviera Beach, Florida, beginning in February 2015.[6] [7] Bahamas Paradise was formed by former executives from defunct Celebration Cruise Line that had operated the .[8]

On 6 January 2015, the Grand Celebration arrived at the Port of Palm Beach for refit into Bahamas Paradise livery. During arrival, it was noticed that her Costa Celebration name was painted over with the Grand Celebration name, but the funnel retained the Costa livery.[9]

The Grand Celebration departed on 3 February 2015 on her inaugural cruise, two days later than anticipated due to last-minute repairs.[10]

The ship continued to sail for the cruise line until March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic halted the cruise line industry. In November 2020, there were reports the ship had been sold to scrap.[11] The company shortly thereafter announced the ship had been sold to a undisclosed buyer.[12] [13] She left Freeport, Bahamas, on 12 November 2020 and arrived at Port Louis Anch, Mauritius, on 30 December 2020 for refueling. At the same time, she was renamed Grand during refueling and her flag was changed to Saint Kitts and Nevis. The ship later set sail for Bhavnagar, India, near the Alang shipbreaking yard. The ship was beached in Alang for scrapping on 14 January 2021, which commenced on 9 March 2021.[14] [15] [16]

Incidents

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Was the Magellan Sold for Scrap? . Cruise Industry News . 15 January 2021 . 18 January 2021.
  2. Web site: CMV Becomes the Third Cruise Line To Go Out of Business in a Month . The Maritime Executive . 29 January 2021.
  3. Web site: Grand Celebration to become Costa Celebration Later This Year . Cruise News . Cruise Industry News . 9 May 2014 . 20 May 2014.
  4. Web site: Costa Celebration Moves Elsewhere - Cruise Industry News Cruise News. www.cruiseindustrynews.com. 20 November 2014 . 4 June 2016.
  5. Web site: Costa Cruises sells the ship and cancels the trip - The Medi Telegraph. www.themeditelegraph.com/en/. en. 4 June 2016.
  6. Web site: UPDATE: Celebration ship will launch Sunday Protecting Your Pocket. 4 June 2016.
  7. Web site: New Cruise Line Postpones First Cruise; Sets Sail Two Days Late. Cruise Critic. 4 June 2016.
  8. Web site: Port of Palm Beach to get new cruise ship in February. South Florida Sun-Sentinel. 24 December 2014. Sun-Sentinel.com.
  9. Web site: Port of Palm Beach welcomes Grand Celebration cruise ship. Arlene. Satchell. Sun-Sentinel.com.
  10. Web site: Grand Celebration to set sail Tuesday, cruise line says. WPTV. 3 February 2015. 25 April 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150311090124/http://www.wptv.com/news/region-c-palm-beach-county/riviera-beach/grand-celebration-to-set-sail-tuesday-cruise-line-says. 11 March 2015. dead.
  11. Web site: Staff. C. I. N.. 2020-11-16. Bahamas Paradise's Grand Celebration Likely Getting Scrapped. 2020-11-17. www.cruiseindustrynews.com. en-gb.
  12. Web site: What's Happening to Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line?. 2020-11-18. www.cruisecritic.com. en-us.
  13. Web site: 2020-11-18. Bahamas Paradise confirms the sale of Grand Celebration. 2020-11-18. seatrade-cruise.com. en.
  14. Web site: GRAND CELEBRATION . MaritimeTraffic . 9 January 2021.
  15. Web site: The Last Six Cruise Ship Secondhand Transactions . Cruise Industry News . 6 January 2021 . 9 January 2021.
  16. Web site: Gohil . Viramdevsinh . ALANG SHIP BREAKING YARD GUJARAT INDIA . Facebook . 14 January 2021.
  17. News: Cruise Ship, Freighter Collide. 11 February 1989. Sun Sentinel. 20 March 2012.

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