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MS Celebration

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This article is about Carnival Cruise Line's former cruise ship. For the 2022 vessel, see Carnival Celebration.

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
BuilderKockums 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 typeHoliday 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.

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

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Celebration in 1994
Celebration (Carnival Cruise Line) at Cozumel in March 2004.
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

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.

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.

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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  • On the morning of 10 February 1989, MS Celebration collided with the Cuban freighter Captain San Luis, causing the latter to break in half and sink in 13 minutes. Three crew members of the Captain San Luis, including her captain, were missing and presumed dead. The freighter was hauling cement at the time of the collision and had been experiencing electrical problems which left the ship without lights, navigational equipment, or steering. The Celebration remained on-site, rescuing 42 survivors and transferring them to Cuban vessels before continuing to Miami.[17]

References

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