Cruise ship Celestyal Crystal: Last trip ends in Alang

Cruise ship Celestyal Crystal: Last trip ends in Alang

Alang, Indien - The cruise ship Celestyal Crystal is scrapped in Alang in Indian. The former luxury steamer was placed on the beach on the beach of the scratch yard on Thursday. Before the final scrapping, last furnishings are taken off and resold. The Celestyal Cruises' Cypriot shipping company sold two cruise ships over 40 years old for scrapping within a year, including the Celestyal Olympia, which was also sent to Alang at the beginning of the year.

The Celestyal Crystal has a ship length of 162 meters and a width of 26 meters. It offers space in 476 cabins for up to 1,200 guests. The ship was originally put into service in 1980 on a shipyard in Turku, Finland, under the name Viking Saga before it was converted into a cruise ship in 1988. Since 2007 the ship initially drove as a MS Crystal for Louis Cruise Lines and from 2014 as Celestyal Crystal for Celestyal Cruises. The last trip with guests ended in Thessaloniki, Greece.

fate of former ships

like the Celestyal Crystal, the former Song of America cruise ship is also scrapped in Alang, Indian. This ship was put into service in 1982 and last drove until 2023 under the name Celestyal Olympia. The ship had a tonnage of 37,584 BRT and was able to promote up to 1,575 passengers. It was baptized on December 3, 1982 in Miami by the American opera singer Beverly Sills. On their maiden voyage, former US President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalyn were on board.

After the retirement by Royal Caribbean in 1999, the Song of America in Sunbird was renamed and used for the British market. Later she changed operators and names several times until she came to Greece in 2012 and drove under the Celestyal Cruises brand as Celestyal Olympia. At the end of 2023, Celestyal Cruises decommissioned the ship and replaced it with the former Aidaaura, which drives as Celestyal Discovery. In January 2024 the Celestyal Olympia was sold, renamed Bella Fortuna and flagged to Liberia. Finally she started her last way to Alang in India under the name Fortu.

These two cases illustrate the fate of older cruise ships, which, due to their age and changed market conditions, can often no longer be operated profitably. You will get a final end in particular in scrap -ups like Alang after having been on the world's oceans for many years. The fate of the Celestyal Crystal and the Celestyal Olympia shows how dynamic and fast -moving the cruise industry is.