The former Celebrity cruise ship Celebrity Horizon has arrived at the Aliaga ship-breaking yard in Turkey to be broken up as scrap metal. The vessel with the distinctive shape has been sitting at an anchorage in Greece for the last two years, awaiting her fate.
Horizon, as she was called for the last couple of years, was last operational in 2020 for Pullmantur Cruises. As the Royal Caribbean part-owned cruise line filed for financial reorganization in 2020, CEO Richard Fain stated that the vessel, along with the other ships in Pullmantur’s fleet, would be sold.
Celebrity Horizon Arrives In Turkey To Be Scrapped
After a week’s journey, the 1990-built cruise ship Celebrity Horizon arrived in Aliaga, Turkey, where she will slowly be broken up as scrap metal. She becomes the next in a long line of cruise ships that have been scrapped in the last two years.
The cruise ship with the distinctive and unusual exterior sailed for Celebrity cruises for fifteen years. Built in 1990 at the world-famous Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany, she was the first-ever new-build ship for Celebrity Cruises.
The 46,811 gross tons Celebrity Horizon had space for some 1,828 passengers at double occupancy. The vessel had played a role in several initiatives for parent company Royal Caribbean. This includes undergoing five name changes, and sailing for several different operators focused on the European cruise markets.
Busy Service After Celebrity Cruises
After sailing from 1990 to 2005 for Celebrity, she was transferred to a newly formed cruise line, Island Cruises, which focussed on the UK-family market. After some extensive refits, the Horizon operated in the Caribbean and Mediterranean through 2008, when Royal Caribbean Group pulled out of Island Cruises.
The vessel was transferred to Pullmantur Cruises, focused on Spanish-speaking guests, for the first time in 2009, a company she sailed for as Pacific Dream from 2009 to 2010, and renamed Horizon again in 2010. In 2012, the ship was transferred again.
Another new venture for the Royal Caribbean Group, CDF Croisières de France, operating under Pullmatur Group, took over operations from Pullmatur in 2012. Sailing as l’Horizon with a focus on the French market, she operated in the Caribbean and Northern Europe through 2017.
In 2017, Pullmatur closed offices in France and CDF Croisières de France ceased operations. Sailing again for Pullmantur, Horizon operated for a short period in the middle east before the pandemic simultaneously brought the end to Pullmantur and Horizon.
Since the start of the pandemic, Horizon has been sitting at anchor in Greece, awaiting a new operator. With record-high steel prices, the choice was made to scrap the 32-year-old cruise ship.
On August 25, 2022, the ship left her anchorage in Eleusis under tow from two tug boats sailing toward Turkey. She joins several other cruise ships that have been sold for scrap in the last two years. Most recently, this included the former Cunard Princess, which arrived in Aliaga in July of this year.
Earlier this year, the former Norwegian Cruise Line ship Seaward was beached; Carnival Sensation was beached, and Carnival Cruise Line announced it had started preparations for the departure of Carnival Ecstacy.
