This ship had her planned Costa cruising programme cancelled at very short notice last month which upset a lot of passengers who had booked cruises.

It now looks as if she is going to be replacing the holed ' Bahamas Celebration ' on the two day cruises between Palm Beach and the Bahamas.

At present she retains her winged Carnival funnel so it will be interesting to see if that is chopped, as has happend to her sister ship which was recently sailing as the ' Grand Holiday ' for Ibero Cruises.

[ 12-19-2014: Message edited by: DAMBROSI2 ]

In the Bahamas the reports are that they will be launching a new firm to run the ship as opposed to having her strictly replace the Bahamas Celebration. Also there's still talk of repairing the Bahamas Celebration and running her from northern Florida to the Bahamas as well.

[ 12-19-2014: Message edited by: SSTRAVELER ]

Costa Celebration will now serve Grand Bahama from West Palm Beach, replacing the damaged Bahamas Celebration.

She will reclaim her former entirely appropriate Iberocruceros name - Grand Celebration.

This is from the Bahamas press regarding Balearia and the cargo side of things (17.12.14):

Meanwhile, the Balearia – a $100 million new vessel – will arrive in Grand Bahama this weekend. Built in Spain four years ago, it is one of the newer of the vessels in the company’s fleet...

The ship has a capacity for 1,000 passengers and 200 containers. The ship sails from Freeport at 7 pm and from Fort Lauderdale at 8 am.

[ 12-21-2014: Message edited by: Kevin Griffin, London ]

Carnival Corp has been making very attractive deals and even holding the financing on ship sales, so between Bahamian interests and Carnival Corp, Celebration Cruises probably got quite a deal on the Costa Celebration. As the ship very quickly made its way to the Bahamas, I am going to guess that Carnival probably agreed to a very attractive lease-purchase. I'm going to bet Carnival held the note and various Bahamian entities provided certain guarantees and any cash that needed to be put up.

I wonder if anything has happened yet with the GRAND HOLIDAY, as she is still in lay-up at Genoa, awaiting a refit I guess:

http://www.naviearmatori.net/eng/foto-206373-dHg9Z3JhbmQgaG9saWRheSZuYT0xJmltbz0wJmRjPTAmY2w9MCZhcj0wJmNhPTAmc209MA==.html

Does anyone really know what she hit or who hit her?

Did she ground somewhere between Grand Bahama and Palm Beach, so badly that it wrecked her future?

Bearing in mind that her engine room was flooded no doubt all her electrical machinery and generators are now useless and would need to be replaced which is why she will be sold for breaking.

Patching a hole in a ships hull is not a problem and was done about two years ago on the nearly 50 years old cruise ship ' Marco Polo ' which has a part rivited hull from her days as an Atlantic service liner !

A thirty meter hole in her hull was also patched before they raised the ex P &O Cruises ship ' ss Oriana ', and pumped her dry again, after she was damaged and flooded when torn off her berth and hitting something on the harbour floor, at the chinese port of Dalain, during a cyclone.

quote:

---

On Friday 31st October, at 20:10 hours, the Bahamian ship “Bahamas Celebration” left its berth at Freeport accompanied by the tug Grand Bahama after a short safety delay to allow a heavy squall to pass. Initial reports indicates that as the ship continued to manoeuvre in the port a further squall, accompanied by winds of 35 knots, was experienced causing the ship to be pushed into contact with rocks. At 20:20 the engine room reported that seawater was entering the auxiliary engine compartment. Passengers were immediately called to muster stations as a safety precaution and a decision was made to return to port.

However, all propulsive and electrical power was lost shortly afterwards and the ship was forced to call on the assistance of additional tugs. The ship was safely brought back into port and made fast alongside by 22:00 hours where all passengers were safely disembarked.

There are no reports of any injuries to passengers or crew. The flooding in the auxiliary engine space was contained by watertight doors and was not so severe as to place the ship in any danger of sinking.

The incident is the subject of a Marine Safety Investigation by a Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) Investigator with the participation of the US Coastguard and the National Transportation Safety Board.

---

"Costa Celebration" has now been renamed "Grand Celebration" and has been registered under the Bahamas flag.

Best,

Raoul

[ 01-01-2015: Message edited by: r.fiebig ]

[ 01-01-2015: Message edited by: r.fiebig ]

and here is the aft shot:

[ 01-05-2015: Message edited by: joe at travelpage ]

If her engine room was in any way flooded it is possible that repairs or replacing any water damaged electrical equipment, such as her generators is too expensive, or no parts are available due to her age, and so she could be scrapped.

[ 02-10-2015: Message edited by: DAMBROSI2 ]