Chandris Fantasy Cruises

[rosinryanz]

When did they go out of business?

[bcc99]

Not sure of an exact date when the last Chandris Fantasy cruise would have sailed...but I know it would have been in the early to mid-90s when Chandris reinvented itself as Celebrity. Fantasy's Galileo became Celebrity's first ship as Meridian. Oh, and Celebrity itself came under Royal Caribbean ownership in the late-90s.

[dougnewmanatsea]

No. Chandris Fantasy Cruises was the lower-end version of what was then Chandris Celebrity Cruises, now just plain Celebrity Cruises.

 

Chandris - once the world's largest cruise line - started Celebrity as an upscale division in 1989. From then on they began phasing out the lower-end Fantasy product. Both Fantasy and Celebrity dropped the Chandris name when Chandris sold 50% of their cruise business to bulk carrier owners OSG.

 

Fantasy Cruises was completely eliminated in 1997. In that same year, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean merged; Chandris and OSG became major Royal Caribbean shareholders. OSG subsequently sold their stock in Royal Caribbean, however Chandris remains a major shareholder. John Chandris is a member of Royal Caribbean's board of directors.