Celebrity Meredian

[cruiseflyer38]

Has anybody out there sailed on the Celebrity Meredian back in 1996 and would you know the departure date from San Juan in late November or early Deember for the wonderfull south Caribbean cruise and the fabulous visit to the San Blass Islands.

 

I would appreciate any info.

 

Thanks,

 

Cruiseflyer38

[gacruisergal]

My husband and I were on the Celebrity Meridian San Juan Round trip So. Caribbean for 13 nights in November of 1993. We visited the San Blas Islands off the Panama coast and many of the islands. Can I help you with a question?

[natshala]

Never heard of this ship. Why not google it on the internet?

[gacruisergal]

This was the very first Celebrity ship that was transfered from Chandris a Greek linethe original X) to Celebrity.

[Petoonya]

Sailed this ship in 1993 and it is lovely. Only about 1400 passengers, lots more interior woodwork at that time. Google it. :)

[natshala]

My earlier response wasn't very helpful. Try this link....

http://parnami.tripod.com/Meridian.html

[BKFlowerMound]

My earlier response wasn't very helpful. Try this link....

http://parnami.tripod.com/Meridian.html

 

I think you might have misread the OP's post. The OP isn't asking about the ship; the OP is asking about a specific cruise on that ship. My guess is that the OP or someone close to the OP was on the cruise. Perhaps there is a missing cruise credit? Memories that need confirmation? Etc.

[CRUZBUDS]

My earlier response wasn't very helpful. Try this link....

http://parnami.tripod.com/Meridian.html

]

The link has out of date info --- here's the last line from Wikipedia:

 

In 1997, following Royal Caribbean International's acquisition of Celebrity Cruises, the ship was sold to Sun Cruises, which operated her as SS Sun Vista. On 20 May 1999, the vessel suffered an engine room fire, which cut all power and caused her to sink on 21 May 1999 at 0121 hrs. All 1,090 passengers and crew were safely evacuated

 

Good luck finding the date you want... it sounds like a heck of a long shot :)

[TWELVEOHONE]

This was the very first Celebrity ship that was transfered from Chandris a Greek linethe original X) to Celebrity.

 

Under Chandris Fantasy Cruises it was call the Galeo. Economy cruise line with a ship that has seen better days.

 

When Chandris started a more upscale cruise line, Celbrity Cruises the Galeo went into drydock, fixed up to the at a cost of $30 million and renamed the Meridian. It was a completly different ship than it former Galeo

 

Eventually the ship was sold to an Asian company for unheard of price of $65 million

The Asian company made a gambling cruise out of it and sailed 2, 3 night gambling siailings. This lasted for a very short time when the ship caught on fire and sunk.

 

The Meridian was the first ship in the Celebrity Cruise lines followed by the Horizon which was the first new build for celebrity.

[gacruisergal]

We were on the Meridian twice and although Celebrity had no record of Meridian passangers, we requested credit and were given credit for both cruises. I had the dates but nothing else.

[Petoonya]

Sailed this ship in 1993 and it is lovely. Only about 1400 passengers, lots more interior woodwork at that time. Google it. :)

 

Sorry Cruiseflyer. I DID misread your post. Hope you find the info you need.

[richsea]

I have a 1996 Celebrity Bermuda brochure which lists their Caribbean sailings for the fall/winter of '96. Meridian sailed 10/11 night sailings from San Juan. The 11 night sailings had 4 sea days, with stops in Aruba, La Guaira, Panama Canal, San Blas Cartegena, Martinique, St. Johns (service call, weather permitting)/St. Thomas, & back to San Juan. She stopped at San Blas from 7 to 4 PM, her sail dates for 1996 were: 1/1, 22, 2/12, 3/4, 11/11, 12/2, 12/23.

Sounds like a great itinerary! I don't know anything about San Blas or La Guaira, or even where they are! The fact that they stopped in St. John (8 to 9AM) before continuing to St. Thomas is amazing, can you imagine a ship stopping there today?

 

Meridian was our first cruise (Bermuda) way back in 1996. In fact, when my brochure was printed, in August 1995, Celebrity only had 3 ships: Meridan, Horizon, & Zenith. Hope this helps! And my wife asked why I keep this crap!

 

If they duplicated this itinerary today, people would say how innovative they are, instead of sailing the same tired Caribbean routes.

[gacruisergal]

Brings back memories. San Blas is the home of the Cuna Indian Tribe. The were very independent and did most of their travels in dugout canoes. They had no toilets or electricity. They would row to the ships that visited and dive for coins or the women would hold umbrellas upside down for you to throw coins into. The chief was the head of the tribe and about the only one who had a motorized boat. He or another higher up would bring his boat to the ship and sell "snowcones" with shaved ice and fruit juice to the divers and coin collectors. The women do fantastic handiwork that involves many layers of fabric folded back and stitched to made 3-D pictures that are very colorfuland called molas. You will see many Cuna handicrafts today in Panama and Venezuela.

 

La Guaira is the port for Caracas, Venezuela. When we were there it was very poor with cardboard houses. Caracas is high in the mountains above.

[shipgeeks]

We cruised on Meridian on January 13, 1997 through January 24 (I keep things, too). One of the best cruises ever, on one of our all-time favorite ships. Maybe you can work out the dates by figuring backwards from ours.

[CKBob]

We did the first cruise out of NYC to Bermuda on the Meridian in 1990. It was for six days. We went because the special introductory offer was kids went for free . Took both are young sons at the time. They are now elite members in the Captains Club. Interestingly we are all going to Bermuda on the Summit for a six day cruise this coming weekend,

 

Bob

[Essiesmom]

Under Chandris Fantasy Cruises it was call the Galeo. Economy cruise line with a ship that has seen better days.

 

When Chandris started a more upscale cruise line, Celbrity Cruises the Galeo went into drydock, fixed up to the at a cost of $30 million and renamed the Meridian. It was a completly different ship than it former Galeo

 

Eventually the ship was sold to an Asian company for unheard of price of $65 million

The Asian company made a gambling cruise out of it and sailed 2, 3 night gambling siailings. This lasted for a very short time when the ship caught on fire and sunk.

 

The Meridian was the first ship in the Celebrity Cruise lines followed by the Horizon which was the first new build for celebrity.

 

Actually, she was built as the Galileo Galilei. EM

[dkjretired]

We did the first cruise out of NYC to Bermuda on the Meridian in 1990. It was for six days. We went because the special introductory offer was kids went for free . Took both are young sons at the time. They are now elite members in the Captains Club. Interestingly we are all going to Bermuda on the Summit for a six day cruise this coming weekend,

 

Bob

 

Same here, we did the Meridien in the early 90s and will be with you this Sunday....

[TeaBag]

I am a hoarder too. I even have my "seapass card" or whatever it was called then tucked into the nice album with a picture of the Meridian on the front. We sailed Feb 4,1994, so I guess I'm no help either to the OP. Sorry. I hope you find what you're looking for.

[takemewithyou]

We were on the Meridian twice and although Celebrity had no record of Meridian passangers, we requested credit and were given credit for both cruises. I had the dates but nothing else.

 

Same thing with us. We sailed first on Meridian RT from Charleston, SC to Bermuda in the early 90's. We fell in love with Celebrity back then in the 90's. For some reason, that seems really stupid and shortsighted to me now, we let others that we sailed with dictate which lines we would sail and didn't come back to X for a long time......I really regret that. :(

 

When we did come to our senses and decide to book a second X cruise many years later, we called CC and they honored our past cruise on Meridian. What a beautiful ship and what great service we had! Great memories...:)

[richsea]

I see that the OP has not been back, so don't know if they ever received their info, but it appears that the sailing they are interested in is the one leaving on December 2, 1996.

 

When we sailed Meridian, it being our first cruise, we had no way to know what to expect from a cruise. We were amazed at the attention to detail, & the fantastic food & service that we experienced. We had an interior room on the lowest deck all the way aft, & were lulled to sleep by the droning of the engines while at sea. I'll never forget the feeling of sailing past the Statue of Liberty at sail away, & of standing on an open deck while at sea, watching the world slip by. Needless to say, we were hooked, & have been cruising ever since then.

 

While Meridian was a small ship, her draught was, I think 28 or 29 feet, so we stayed at King's Wharf at the Dockyard, while Zenith, though larger, docked in Hamilton & St. George. Horizon was in Alaska that summer, I believe.

 

Cruising, & cruise ships have changed quite a bit since then, both for the good & the bad.

[cruiseflyer38]

Thanks all for your reply. We do not remember it as a great ship but we do remember the San Blas Islands as the best ever stop in the Caribbean and we have been fortunate enough to see most of it.:).

[cruiseflyer38]

Thanks all for your info. :D:)

[Trainer]

I sailed solo from Ft. Lauderdale to Bermuda in April 1992. I had an inside cabin on an upperdeck, but the bathroom was the funny thing. It was huge! with a full size bathtub, a long counter and enough floor space to hold a party of 6-8 people, as well as standard stuff. My dinner companions couldn't believe it when they got the bathroom tour. They had suites with small bathrooms and I had a single inside cabin with the big bathroom. Still can't figure out why or how it got designed that way.

Good memories though I thought Bermuda was sort of boring if you didn't play golf.

[TenerifeSharon]

Another fan of Meridian!

 

Our first cruise ever was in 1993 (February 8-20) to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Actually we had booked a med. cruise on another Chandris ship for that time. We received a registered letter on December 31st that the ship had been sold and our cruise canceled. BUT, they offered us a substitute caribbean cruise -- for the same price -- from San Juan for the 12 nights on Meridian. Since the med. cruise prices had been so cheap on the Victoria (?), which was a 3* ship, we had booked a suite. Due to the suite booking, we were given a fantastic suite on Meridian (which was almost 3 times the suite price on the Victoria). Our first and -- to date -- last suite, but it was a phenomenal cruise for us and beginning of our "love affair" with X.

[mrsmagnolia]

We were on the Meridian out of NY to Bermuda, 1995, it was our first cruise.,our daughter accompanied us., there was a hurricane (Felix) brewing, but we were assured we would have a safe cruise.

Well let me tell you that it was anything but that, and to our credit, we have been on many more and exclusively booked Celebrity cruises, NEVER again, however out of NY, give me Fla or San Juan's quieter waters, even though flying is $$$ and not hassle free.

I love Celebrity and find there is no other reason for sailing any other line, however we may look to see about Azmara for Europe some time in my future retirement yrs.:rolleyes: