Cost US$130 million Launched 9 August 1986 Draft 7.75 m Builder Kockums Varv | Yard number 597 Length 223 m Beam 28 m | |
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Name 1987–2008 Celebration
2008–2014 Grand Celebration
November 2014 Costa Celebration
2014–present Grand Celebration Owner 1987–2014 Carnival Corporation & plc
2014–present Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line Operator 1987–2008 Carnival Cruise Lines
2008–2014 Ibero Cruises
November 2014 Costa Cruises
2014–present Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line Port of registry 1987–2000 Monrovia, Liberia
2000–2008 Panama City, Panama
2008–2014 Madeira,
2014 onwards Nassau, | ||
The Grand Celebration is a Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line cruise ship, originally built for Carnival Cruise Line. It entered service with Bahamas Paradise Cruise Lines on February 3, 2015 to replace the ill-fated MS Bahamas Celebration.
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The Grand Celebration has 2 sister ships. The Magellan, which is operated by Cruise & Maritime Voyages , and the Henna, which was operated by HNA Tourism, but has since been sold for scrap in June 2016.
Unlike her sister "Henna", the trademark whale tail funnel on Grand Celebration was painted over but not altered or removed.
History
The ship was built as the Celebration in 1986 by Kockums Varv in Malmö, Sweden for Carnival Cruise Lines. The Celebration was retired from the Carnival fleet in April 2008 and underwent an extensive refit before re-entering service with Iberocruceros as the Grand Celebration that summer. The refit included new hull artwork and updated interiors.
In May 2014, it was announced that the ship would be renamed Costa Celebration and transferred to Costa Cruises in November 2014. After service with Iberocruceros had ended, the ship underwent refurbishment and was renamed the Costa Celebration. On November 21, 2014, on the day before the ship was scheduled to depart on its inaugural voyage, it was announced that the vessel had been sold to an unnamed buyer. The next day, the Costa Celebration was removed from Costa's fleet and all bookings were cancelled. Passengers who had booked on Costa Celebration's future cruises were either refunded or rebooked on other ships.
On December 23, 2014, it was revealed that the ship had been purchased by the newly formed Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line, who would use the name Grand Celebration and sail out the Port of Palm Beach in Riviera Beach, Florida starting in February 2015. Bahamas Paradise was formed by former executives from the defunct Celebration Cruise Line that operated the Bahamas Celebration.
The Grand Celebration departed for its first cruise on February 3, 2015.