MV ''Horizon'' was a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

that sailed from 1990 to 2020, and was the first new build for

Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Miami, Florida, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group. Celebrity Cruises was founded in 1988 by the Greece-based Chandris Group, and merged with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in ...

. She was sent for

scrapping Scrap consists of Recycling, recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have Waste valorization, mone ...

Aliağa Aliağa () is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 379 km2, and its population is 104,828 (2022). The town is situated at about north of İzmir. Aliağa has a large port, mainly for oil and bulk cargo. Its e ...

, Turkey, in 2022.

Service history

The vessel was ordered on April 28, 1988 at

Meyer Werft Meyer Werft (; ) is a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Papenburg at the river Ems. It was founded in 1795, as a builder of small wooden vessels. It has been owned and managed by the Meyer family for seven generations. Since ...

by Chandris Cruises as a replacement for in the Chandris Fantasy fleet. However, upon the formation of

after an agreement with the government of Bermuda, it was transferred while under construction, and entered service for the new upscale brand. The ship was significant as it was the first new build ordered by parent company Chandris and the new Celebrity brand, both of which only had operated second hand ships prior. The exterior of the ship was designed by

Jon Bannenberg Jon Bannenberg, RDI (1929 – 26 May 2002) was an Australian-English yacht designer. Biography Bannenberg was born in Sydney, Australia, and educated at Canterbury Boys High School and later at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. In the ear ...

while the principal designers for the interiors were Athens based Michael Katsourakis, Patricia Hayes & Associates, and British Designer John McNeece. The ship was christened by Myrto Chandris, the wife of company founder Dimitri Chandris, and was delivered on April 11, 1990. The ship was built for New York to

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

cruises sailing in tandem with the ''

Meridian Meridian or a meridian line (from Latin ''meridies'' via Old French ''meridiane'', meaning “midday”) may refer to Science * Meridian (astronomy), imaginary circle in a plane perpendicular to the planes of the celestial equator and horizon * ...

,'' calling at

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

and St. George's during the summer, and spent the winter sailing Caribbean cruises. The ''Horizon'' was joined by an identical sister ship, the ''

Zenith The zenith (, ) is the imaginary point on the celestial sphere directly "above" a particular location. "Above" means in the vertical direction (Vertical and horizontal, plumb line) opposite to the gravity direction at that location (nadir). The z ...

,'' in 1992. The ''Horizon'' would continue the Bermuda routes, and would also be Celebrity's first ship to sail Alaska cruises. The vessel's service with Celebrity ended after 15 years in September 2005, when it was transferred to

Island Cruises Island Cruises was a cruise line that was founded as a joint venture between Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and First Choice (travel firm), First Choice Travel PLC, each of whom owned 50% of the company. The company operated in Europe, the Caribbea ...

, a then subsidiary of Royal Caribbean. The ship underwent refits over the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006 and was operating out of

Palma de Mallorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...

in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

as ''Island Star'' in summer and from Caribbean in winter season of 2008. It advertised cruising as "relaxed, friendly, and informal". On 6 October 2008,

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Royal Caribbean Group, formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., is a cruise holding company based in Miami, Florida, United States and incorporated in Liberia. It is the world's second-largest cruise line operator, after Carnival Corpor ...

(RCL), the owner of ''Island Star'', sold their 50% interest in Island Cruises to

First Choice Holidays First Choice Holidays Limited (trading as First Choice) is a British online travel agency and tour operator, headquartered in Luton, England. It is a subsidiary of TUI UK, itself a subsidiary of TUI Group, and its holidays are sold solely online. ...

. ''Island Star'' was reported to be transferred to the fleet of RCL's

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

-based subsidiary

Pullmantur Cruises Pullmantur Cruises was a cruise line headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It began operations in the late 1990s as an offshoot of the Madrid-based travel agency Pullmantur. In 2006, Pullmantur Cruises, through its parent company, was purchased by U ...

, although reports in May 2009 said that the ship would go to another Royal Caribbean company,

CDF Croisières de France CDF Croisières de France was a cruise line that catered to the France, French cruise market, with French as the primary language used on board. CDF was a subsidiary of Pullmantur Cruises, and offered cruises to the Mediterranean operating from m ...

. Pictures in May 2009 showed the ship in Pullmantur Cruises colors and renamed ''Pacific Dream'', although the trademark “X” of Celebrity Cruises, while painted-over, could still be seen. ''Horizon'' sailed European and Caribbean itineraries. In November 2010, it was reported that ''Pacific Dream'' would be replacing their ship . She was renamed ''L'Horizon'' in 2012. In late 2016, it was announced that the CDF Croisières de France brand was to be discontinued, with ''Horizon'' returning to the fleet of Pullmantur Cruises. An anonymous crew member of the ''Horizon'' reported on 28 March 2020 that a member of the crew had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

on 26 March 2020. With about 250 crew members and contractors aboard, the ship had docked at

Port Rashid Mina Rashid (; ), also referred to as Port Rashid, is a man-made cruise terminal in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was Dubai's first commercial port; in 2018 cargo operations moved to Jebel Ali Port. It is a seafront coastal destination, touris ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

on 15 March 2020, and the crew has been isolated and placed under lockdown. In June 2020, as a result of the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Pullmantur Cruises filed for financial reorganization under Spain's insolvency laws. The following month, Royal Caribbean International's CEO Richard Fain stated that ''Horizon'', along with the other ships in Pullmantur's fleet, had been or will be sold. Since 18 August 2020, the ship was laid up in Elefsis Bay,

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. On 25 August 2022, the ship left Eleusis towed by the tugs ''Vernicos Sifnos'' and ''Christos XL'' towards Aliaga for scrapping.

Gallery

File:Model horizon2.jpg, A model of the ''Horizon'' as built. File:MS Horizon MS Costa Marina (4198206014) (cropped).jpg, ''Horizon'' and ''Costa Marina'' File:"Horizon" - Norfolk.jpg, ''Horizon'' at

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

. File:Islandstaratbrazil2008.JPG, ''Horizon'' as ''Island Star'' at

Ilhabela Ilhabela (Portuguese language, Portuguese for ''Beautiful Island'') is an archipelago and city situated in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of São Paulo (state), São Paulo state in Brazil. The city is from the city of São Paulo and from the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. File:Pacific Dream in Saint Lucia.JPG, ''Horizon'' at

Castries Castries () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Saint Lucia, an island country in the Caribbean. The urban area has a population of approximately 20,000, while the eponymous Castries Quarter, district has a population of just under ...

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

while still with Pullmantur Cruises. File:Horizon in the Port of La Guaira.jpg, ''Horizon'' in Pullmantur Cruises livery before being transferred to CDF Croisieres de France. File:AliagaPanoramaJanuary2023.jpg, ''Marella Celebration'' and ''Horizon'' being scrapped at

, January 2023

References

External links

*
Meyer Werft: Horizon

Horizon
at

*
Professional photographs
from shipspotting.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Horizon 1989 ships Ships built in Papenburg Ships of Celebrity Cruises Ships of Royal Caribbean International Ships of Croisières de France Cruises

Service history

Gallery

See also

References

External links