Celebration Cruise Line was a small

cruise line A cruise line is a company (law), company that operates cruise ships that operate on Cruising (maritime), ocean or River cruise, rivers and which markets cruises to the public. Cruise lines are distinct from Passenger ship, passenger lines whic ...

that operated two-day voyages out of

Port of Palm Beach The Port of Palm Beach is located in Riviera Beach, Florida, United States, in Palm Beach County. The port is an independent taxing district, with a five-member board of commissioners elected at large by voters within the district. The port dist ...

Grand Bahama Island Grand Bahama is the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas. It is the third largest island in the Bahamas island chain of approximately 700 islands and 2,400 cays. The island is roughly in area and approximately long west to east and at it ...

. The company was founded in late 2008, and began operations on March 9, 2009. The company moved the ship's operations from

Port Everglades Port Everglades is a seaport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, located in Broward County. Port Everglades is one of South Florida's foremost economic engines, as it is the gateway for both international trade and cruise vacations. In 2022, Port Eve ...

to the Port of Palm Beach in March 2010.

History

The cruise line began operation in March 2009 with the ''Bahamas Celebration'', which was formerly a cruise ferry, built in 1981 and converted to a cruise ship in 2008. The cruise line replaced

Imperial Majesty Cruise Line Imperial Majesty Cruise Line was a budget cruise line that had operated 2 and 3 day voyages out of Port Everglades, Florida to Nassau, Bahamas. The company was founded in 1999. The cruise line attracted both vacationers and vintage ship fans fr ...

. In 2010, Celebration Cruise Line announced it would be moving to the

due to being overshadowed by larger cruise lines at

. The Port of Palm Beach has a passenger terminal that was built to accommodate smaller cruise ships. In 2010, they stopped sailing to

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of The Bahamas. It is on the island of New Providence, which had a population of 246,329 in 2010, or just over 70% of the entire population of The Bahamas. As of April 2023, the preliminary results of ...

. Their two-night cruises then departed every other day at 6:00 pm. to

Freeport, Bahamas Freeport is a city, district and free trade zone on the island of Grand Bahama in the northwest part of The Bahamas. In 1955, Wallace Groves, a Virginian financier with lumber interests in Grand Bahama, was granted of pineyard with substant ...

. On October 31, 2014, the struck an unknown object while departing from Freeport, creating a small hole in the ship's hull and resulting in the vessel listing 10 degrees to port. All passengers and crew were unharmed. Celebration Cruise Line ceased operations following the grounding incident. Former Celebration Cruise Line executives formed

Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line Margaritaville at Sea (formerly Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line) is a cruise line that operates cruises out of Florida to the Bahamas and the Caribbean. The company was incorporated in 2018 as Classica Cruise Operator Limited Incorporated. Origina ...

and purchased the ''

Grand Celebration MS ''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 of cruise ships. She last sailed for Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line ...

'' to take over the route formerly operated by the ''Bahamas Celebration''.

Former fleet

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.bahamaships.com/ Defunct cruise lines Transport companies established in 2008 Transport companies disestablished in 2015