End of the road (sea) for Horizon.

[Downdie]

Some sad news for many old time Celebrity cruisers. Celebrity’s very first new build the Horizon is heading to Turkey for scrapping, after sailing for Pullmantur. Sovereign and Monarch are finished as well.

[kelmac]

2 minutes ago, Downdie said:

Some sad news for many old time Celebrity cruisers. Celebrity’s very first new build the Horizon is heading to Turkey for scrapping, after sailing for Pullmantur. Sovereign and Monarch are finished as well.

Makes you feel old when our first Celebrity ship, which was brand new then, is headed to the ship bone yard.  We did a nine night holiday cruise in 1993.  My girlfriend (wife now) and I were invited to the Captain's table by Lisa, who was a young/beautiful social hostess, before they became the Captain's Club hostess.  She was from the US and the greek officers seemed a bit infatuated with her.  

Great memories,

Kel

[Oceangoer2]

37 minutes ago, Downdie said:

Some sad news for many old time Celebrity cruisers. Celebrity’s very first new build the Horizon is heading to Turkey for scrapping, after sailing for Pullmantur. Sovereign and Monarch are finished as well.

What a lovely ship she was;  this was in Nov. '96.......invited as well to the Captains Table but I think the attraction was our DD.  She was a cruise ship entertainer but not with Celebrity.  Tried to read the captain's signature on a card he 'signed' for our anniversary but it was unreadable...LOL.

[phoenix_dream]

My very first Celebrity ship in 1992.  Became addicted to Celebrity - completed my 50th earlier this year, and would have had 5 more had they not been cancelled.  She was a beauty.

[Miaminice]

6 hours ago, Downdie said:

Some sad news for many old time Celebrity cruisers. Celebrity’s very first new build the Horizon is heading to Turkey for scrapping, after sailing for Pullmantur. Sovereign and Monarch are finished as well.

Heard about the insolvency of Pullmantur. But where does the info about scrapping come from?

[helby]

Horizon was my first Celebrity ship in May 1995. It was New York to Bermuda return and the food and service were amazing. We moved from Hamilton to St George's part way through so had two ports easily explored on foot. Sorry to hear she will be gone.

[Cruising89143]

13 hours ago, Miaminice said:

Heard about the insolvency of Pullmantur. But where does the info about scrapping come from?

 

Here is one post about this.

 

[Miaminice]

20 minutes ago, cruisingator2 said:

 

Here is one post about this.

 

Thanks, but selling and scrapping are two different things.

 

Two M class ships have been advertised for sale for many years already - nobody would talk about scrapping.

 

Not saying it’s impossible, but for now it seems nothing but a rumor started ny threads like this one.

[Bruin Steve]

I have actually seen conflicting reports in different places.  One website had a report yesterday that said Royal Caribbean would use the three ships for short cruises when they start operating again.

 

The "for sale" notice from yachtworld.com is actually three weeks old...and from before the most recent developments with Pullmantur.

 

The stuff about the ships being "stripped" I have only seen on message board posts--and wonder if the reports are rumor--or from actual knowledge.  Obviously, if they ARE, in fact, being stripped, it would indicate a likelihood that they are being scrapped...However, it also depends on what they are being stripped of...If it's all valuable materials that might be sold or used elsewhere, that's a clear indication of scrapping...However, if it's being stripped of things like Spanish Language signage or items peculiar to Pullmantur's operation, then it could just be an indication that the next step is a minor refurbishment.

 

It would be nice to hear--or read--some indication directly from Royal Caribbean as to their intent with the ships.

[Cruising89143]

37 minutes ago, Miaminice said:

Thanks, but selling and scrapping are two different things.

 

Two M class ships have been advertised for sale for many years already - nobody would talk about scrapping.

 

Not saying it’s impossible, but for now it seems nothing but a rumor started ny threads like this one.

From that thread.......

From cruisenews.es (translated by Google):

______________

The Monarch has left Naples, where she was stripped of all valuable machinery, and will be followed by the Sovereign, which is still disembarking goods in the Italian city. The final destination of both is the scrapping at the Aliaga naval scrapping platform in Turkey.

The Horizon, meanwhile, will stop in the next few days in Athens to land all the valuable material and will also head towards Aliaga, where it will be dismantled.

Pullmantur sources comment that despite the loss of their current ships, which are owned by Royal Caribbean, they will continue to seek viability for the company. This viability could come from operating with other ships that the Royal Caribbean group could make available to it, or exploring other business opportunities.

 

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=https://www.cruisesnews.es/Portal/2020/06/30/los-barcos-de-pullmantur-camino-al-desguace/&prev=search&pto=aue

___________

 

[Bruin Steve]

Then there was THIS news story from yesterday:

 

https://www.cruisehive.com/pullmantur-ships-heading-back-to-royal-caribbean/40392

[Cruising89143]

On one of the ship salvage FB pages a person with full access to one of the tracking sites shows the entire track for the Monarch and Sovereign. Right now they have departed Naples and show “waiting for orders”. The entire track takes them to the Turkey scrap yard. RCI will have enough issues trying to fill newer ships. The SOS is now 32 years old and the MN and Horizon have hit 30. They have served their purpose.

[nycruiser80]

Sad to see this happen. I sailed the Horizon back in 1990 on her 9th cruise. She was a beautiful ship back then. Prior to that, I sailed Chandris Fantasy Cruises which was the parent company of Celebrity Cruises. Chandris had old ships with great prices and had wanted to create a new ship for their line to replace one of their old vessels. In any event, the Bermuda government had a few spare contracts for exclusive docking rights of cruise ships in the two main ports but would only offer it to a premium cruise line which Chandris was not. So the powers that be at Chandris decided to use the new ship under construction and create an entirely new cruise ship and that is how Celebrity Cruises was born with Horizon being their first new ship. They also used one of the older Chandris ships and renovated her and used that ship as well for Celebrity and named her Meridian. I have many fond memories of the Horizon. Sailed her twice and as well as the Zenith once. Celebrity was a different line back then. I still like them but it was different. 

 

I keep going back to this channel on YouTube where they have old videos of these ships. Here is one of the Horizon in happier times.

 

[cruznjan]

So sad. We sailed on her twice. A lovely ship with a great crew.

[Cruising89143]

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23180-pullmantur-fleet-will-likely-be-scrapped.html

[greydog]

On 6/30/2020 at 6:08 PM, kelmac said:

Makes you feel old when our first Celebrity ship, which was brand new then, is headed to the ship bone yard.  We did a nine night holiday cruise in 1993.  My girlfriend (wife now) and I were invited to the Captain's table by Lisa, who was a young/beautiful social hostess, before they became the Captain's Club hostess.  She was from the US and the greek officers seemed a bit infatuated with her.  

Great memories,

Kel

Lisa was very nice hostess who organized our Captain's dinner also in that timeframe.  I hope she and other staff from that time are doing well now.  How the years roll by 😷

[MISTER 67]

Never will forget sailing on the  Horizon in 2001 to Bermuda, took some great photos as we sailed down the Hudson including the World Trade Center. 9 days after we returned to NYC the twin towers were gone. As far as the ship itself, it was OK but I liked the next ship built by Celebrity, the beautiful Century who we sailed on in 1996.

The ship I always wanted to sail on was the Meridian which was originally a sister ship of the Marconi which became the Costa Riviera, a ship that was one of our favorites.

 

Edited July 3, 2020 by MISTER 67

[cruise47]

They would great ship sailing from Florida to Bermuda or to Cuba. If our government would opening up travel again to Cuba. IMHO.

Edited July 4, 2020 by cruise47