Celebrity Cruises

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Celebrity Cruises
Type	Public
Founded	1989
Headquarters	Miami, Florida
Industry	Transportation
Products	Cruises
Website	http://www.celebrity.com/

Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line founded in 1989 by the Greek Chandris Group. In 1997 Celebrity Cruises Ltd. merged with Royal Caribbean International to become Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which operates Celebrity and the Royal Caribbean International lines. Today the company is headquartered in Miami, Florida in the United States. The signature "X" on Celebrity ship funnels is the Greek letter chi, for "Chandris".^[1][2] Common features on board are aft-glass dining rooms, formal foyer areas, alternative restaurants, balcony and suite staterooms, large pools and lounging areas, signature bars and lounges, libraries, elegant spas and gyms, as well as relaxing areas.

Contents 1 History 2 Fleet 2.1 Current fleet 2.2 Future ships 2.3 Retired Ships 3 References 4 External links

[edit] History

The Greece-based Chandris Group had been involved in cruise traffic since the 1960s,^[2] under two brands: Chandris Fantasy Cruises, that operated in the Caribbean, and Chandris Cruises, that operated in Europe. Both of these companies mainly catered for the lower end of the market, their fleets consisting of second-hand ocean liners.^[3] In 1988 Home Lines, at the time one of the world's leading premium cruise lines, was sold to Holland America Line, and Chandris saw a chance of creating a premium line of their own. With this in mind, Chandris Fantasy Cruises' Galileo was rebuilt at Lloyd Werft, Germany in 1989, re-entering service as Meridian for Chandris' new Celebrity Cruises brand in February 1990.^[1] Just two months later Celebrity Cruises' first newbuilding, Horizon, entered service.^[4] A third ship, Zenith, followed in 1992.^[5]

In 1997 the Chandris family sold their interests in Celebrity cruises to Royal Caribbean International.^[6] During the same year Celebrity Cruises took delivery of the first Century class vessel, Century, that was followed by Galaxy in 1996 and Mercury in 1997.^[5] Following the delivery of the Mercury, the Meridian was sold to Singapore-based Sun Cruises.^[1] Between 2000 and 2002 Celebrity took delivery of a quartet of new ships, the gas turbine -powered and aptly named Millennium class ships Millennium, Infinity, Summit and Constellation.^[5] The Celebrity Expeditions sub-brand was lauched in 2004 with the acquisition of Celebrity Xpedition, a small boutique ship offering specialized cruises around the Galápagos Islands.^[7] In 2005 the Horizon was transferred to the fleet Royal Caribbean's United Kingdom -based subsidiary Island Cruises.^[4] In the same year the first ship of what was to be named Solstice class was ordered from Meyer Werft.^[8] By 2007 three more ships of this class were on order.^[9]

In 2006 plans were made to transfer Blue Moon and Blue Dream from the fleet of Pullmantur Cruises to Celebrity Cruises under the names of Celebrity Quest and Celebrity Journey. The ships would have joined the Celebrity Expeditions sub-brand,^[10][11] but in the end the decision was made to form an entirely new line, Azamara Cruises, to operate these ships in 2007.^[12] Also in 2007 the Zenith was transferred to Pullmantur Cruises 'in exhange' for the Azamara ships.^[10]

[edit] Fleet

[edit] Current fleet

Ship	Entered service for Celebrity	Class	Capacity	Tonnage1	Flag	Notes
Celebrity Century	1995	Century class	1778	70606 GRT	Malta	Previously Century
Celebrity Galaxy	1996	Century class	1896	76522 GRT	Bahamas	Previously Galaxy. Will transfer to TUI Cruises in March 2009.[13]
Celebrity Mercury	1997	Century class	1896	76522 GRT	Panama	Previously Mercury.
Celebrity Millennium	2000	Millennium class	2460	90228 GT	Bahamas	Previously Millennium.
Celebrity Infinity	2001	Millennium class	2499	90280 GT	Bahamas	Previously Infinity, renamed 2007
Celebrity Summit	2002	Millennium class	2499	90280 GT	Bahamas	Previously Summit.
Celebrity Constellation	2002	Millennium class	2038	90280 GT	Bahamas	Previously Constellation, renamed 2007
Celebrity Xpedition	2004	Xpedition class	96	2329 GT	Ecuador
1May be specified in gross tonnage (GT) or gross register tons (GRT).

[edit] Future ships

Celebrity Cruises has ordered five new ships, the Solstice, the Equinox, the Eclipse, and two still to be named ships.^[9] These will be Celebrity's largest vessels at 122,000 GT, holding 2,850 passengers each, and measuring 1,033 ft (314.86 m) in length, with a beam of 121 ft (36.88 m).

Ship	Planned delivery date	Shipyard	Projected capacity	Projected gross tonnage	Planned flag
Celebrity Solstice	Fall 2008	Meyer Werft, Papenburg	2850	122000 GT
Celebrity Equinox	Summer 2009	Meyer Werft, Papenburg	2850	122000 GT
Celebrity Eclipse	Summer 2010	Meyer Werft, Papenburg	2850	122000 GT
Name unknown	Fall 2011	Meyer Werft, Papenburg	2850	122000 GT
Name unknown	Fall 2012	Meyer Werft, Papenburg	2850	122000 GT

[edit] Retired Ships

Ship	Years in service	Tonnage1	Status as of 2007
Meridian	1990—1997	30440 GRT	Burnt and sank at the Straits of Malacca, 1999
Horizon	1990—2005	46811 GRT	Since 2005 Island Star for Island Cruises
Zenith	1992—2007	47255 GRT	Since 2007 sailing for Pullmantur Cruises
1May be specified in gross tonnage (GT) or gross register tons (GRT).

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Celebrity Website
• Celebrity Cruises UK Website

v • d • e Members of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Fully-owned subsidiaries Royal Caribbean International • Celebrity Cruises • Pullmantur Cruises • Azamara Cruises • CDF Croisières de France (begins service 2008) Joint ventures with TUI Island Cruises • TUI Cruises (begins service 2009)