MS Celebration

Last updated

Carnival Celebration, Nassau (cropped).jpg
Celebration at Nassau in December 2005.
History
Name
  • 1987–2008: Celebration
  • 2008–2014: Grand Celebration
  • 2014–2015: Costa Celebration
  • 2015–2020: Grand Celebration
  • 2020–2021: Grand
Owner
Operator
Port of registry
Builder Kockums Varv, Malmö, Sweden
CostUS$130 million
Yard number597
Launched9 August 1986
Completed1987
AcquiredFebruary 1987
Maiden voyage14 March 1987
In service1987–2020
Out of serviceMarch 2020
Identification
FateScrapped at Alang, India in 2021
General characteristics
Class and type Holiday Class
Tonnage
Length223.37 m (733 ft)
Beam28.20 m (93 ft)
Draught7.75 m (25 ft 5 in)
Decks10 (passenger accessible)
Installed power
  • 2 × 7-cylinder Sulzer diesels
  • combined 23510 kW
Propulsion2 propellers
Speed21.7 knots (40.2 km/h; 25.0 mph)
Capacity1,496 passengers
Crew670

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.

Contents

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

Celebration in 1994 Carnival Celebration 1994 Cruise 005 (cropped).jpg
Celebration in 1994
Celebration (Carnival Cruise Line) at Cozumel in March 2004. Carnival Celebration docked in Cozumel 03-2004 (cropped).jpg
Celebration (Carnival Cruise Line) at Cozumel in March 2004.
Celebration at Nassau in June 2006. Nassau-cruise-ships (celebration).JPG
Celebration at Nassau in June 2006.

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.

Grand Celebration (Ibero Cruises) at Rhodes in May 2012 Grand Celebration Rhodes 2012 (2).jpg
Grand Celebration (Ibero Cruises) at Rhodes in May 2012

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]

Grand Celebration at Venice, July 2014. Insula Tronchetto13 (cropped).jpg
Grand Celebration at Venice, July 2014.

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 Bahamas Celebration. [8]

Grand Celebration with original Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line livery in Freeport, Bahamas in 2016. MS Grand Celebration, Freeport, Bahamas.jpg
Grand Celebration with original Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line livery in Freeport, Bahamas in 2016.

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

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