celebrity cruise ships

Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line founded in 1988 by the Greek Chandris Group. In 1997 Celebrity Cruises Ltd. merged with Royal Caribbean International to become Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which operates Celebrity, Royal Caribbean International, Azamara Cruises, Pullmantur Cruises and CDF Croisieres de France. 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". 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.

History
Meridian was Celebrity Cruises' first ship.

Celebrity Cruises was founded in April 1988 as a subsidiary of the Greece-based Chandris Group to operate upmarket cruise ships to Bermuda. Chandris had been involved in cruise traffic since the 1960s, and during the late 1980s they operated in the United States market under the band name Chandris Fantasy Cruises. Chandris Fantasy Cruises mainly catered for the lower end of the market, their fleets consisting of second-hand ocean liners. Celebrity Cruises came into existence when, in April 1988 Home Lines, at the time one of the world's leading premium cruise lines, was sold to Holland America Line. Home Lines' ships had held two of the five contracts offered by the Government of Bermuda to cruise lines, giving the ships priority berthing arrangement and unlimited access to sail to the islands in exchange for the ships sailing to Bermuda between April and October each year. Although these contract were highly valued, Holland America Line decided to withdraw the former Home Lines ships from this service, leaving an opening for two new ships to gain the contract. Chandris wished to gain these contracts, but the Government of Bermuda was only willing to award them to upmarket cruise lines, which Chandris Fantasy Cruises was not.

In order to gain the Bermuda Government contracts, Chandris created Celebrity Cruises and immediately begun negotiating with the Bermuda Government in April 1988. As a result of the negotiations Celebrity Cruises was awarded the contract for two ships for a five-year period from 1990 onwards. In order to fulfill the contract Chandris Fantasy Cruises' Galileo was rebuilt at Lloyd Werft, Germany in 1989, re-entering service as Meridian for Celebrity Cruises in February 1990. As the second ship Horizon, that had been ordered in 1988 as a replacement for Amerikanis in the Chandris Fantasy fleet, was transferred to Celebrity Cruises fleet, entering service in May 1990. In late 1990 Celebrity Cruises placed an order for a sister ship of the Horizon, delivered in 1992 as Zenith.
Summit, a Millenium class ship, renamed Celebrity Summit in 2008.

In 1997 the Chandris family sold their interests in Celebrity Cruises to Royal Caribbean International. 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. Following the delivery of the Mercury, the Meridian was sold to Singapore-based Sun Cruises. 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. The Celebrity Expeditions sub-brand was launched in 2004 with the acquisition of Celebrity Xpedition, a small boutique ship offering specialized cruises around the Galápagos Islands. In 2005 the Horizon was transferred to the fleet Royal Caribbean's United Kingdom -based subsidiary Island Cruises. In the same year the first ship of what was to be named Solstice class was ordered from Meyer Werft. By 2007 three more ships of this class were on order.

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, but in the end the decision was made to form an entirely new line, Azamara Cruises, to operate these ships in 2007. Also in 2007 the Zenith was transferred to Pullmantur Cruises 'in exchange' for the Azamara ships. Transfer of the Zenith also meant the end of Celebrity Cruises' association with Bermuda for the time being, as no ship was brought in to replace her on the cruises to Bermuda.

In 2007-2008 all Celebrity Cruises' ships were renamed with a "Celebrity" prefix added in front of the pre-existing names. Celebrity Solstice, the first ship in the new Solstice class, was delivered to Celebrity on 24 October 2008.

Fleet

Current fleet
Ship Entered service
for Celebrity Class Capacity Gross tonnage Flag Notes
Celebrity Century 1995 Century class 1778 70,606 GT Malta Previously Century
Celebrity Mercury 1997 Century class 1896 76,522 GT Malta Previously Mercury.
Celebrity Millennium 2000 Millennium class 2460 90,228 GT Malta Previously Millennium.
Celebrity Infinity 2001 Millennium class 2499 90,280 GT Malta Previously Infinity, renamed 2007
Celebrity Summit 2002 Millennium class 2499 90,280 GT Bahamas Previously Summit.
Celebrity Constellation 2002 Millennium class 2038 90,280 GT Malta Previously Constellation, renamed 2007
Celebrity Xpedition 2004 Xpedition class 96 2,329 GT Ecuador
Celebrity Solstice 2008 Solstice class 2850 122,000 GT Malta

Future ships

Celebrity Cruises has ordered five new ships, Celebrity Solstice, Celebrity Equinox, Celebrity Eclipse, and two still to be named ships. 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 Equinox Summer 2009 Meyer Werft, Papenburg 2850 122,000 GT
Celebrity Eclipse Summer 2010 Meyer Werft, Papenburg 2850 122,000 GT
Name unknown Fall 2011 Meyer Werft, Papenburg 2850 122,000 GT
Name unknown Fall 2012 Meyer Werft, Papenburg 2850 122,000 GT

Retired ships
Horizon, since 2005 sailing as Island Star
Ship Years in service Tonnage1 Status as of 2009
Meridian 1990—1997 30,440 GRT Burnt and sank at the Straits of Malacca, 1999
Horizon 1990—2005 46,811 GT Since 2005 Island Star for Island Cruises
Zenith 1992—2007 47,255 GT Since 2007 sailing for Pullmantur Cruises
Galaxy
Celebrity Galaxy 1996—2008
2008—2009 76,522 GT Due to enter service with TUI Cruises as Mein Schiff in May 2009.[18]
1May be specified in gross tonnage (GT) or gross register tons (GRT).