celebration has a new home

[kybluecruiser]

I know this is the carnival boards. There is a good discussion going on the celebration boards about the former carnival celebration finding a new home in flordia. I never got to to sail on the holiday class so this is appealing to me. Any way it is now official the celebration is replacing the bahamas celebration and will be home ported in Palm beach.

 

http://www.bahamasparadisecruise.com/index.html

[k2excursion]

Very interesting. For those who have never cruised a Holiday class ship, this might be quite a let-down to sail. But for those who got their start on Celebration (like I did), returning to this ship would bring back great memories, and it would be so interesting to see the changes. Still, it would seem so tiny, and there is no atrium. I'm happy that it has returned to the U.S. But for only a 2-day cruise, it would need to be cheap & fit in with other things I'm doing for me to go on it.

[jimbo5544]

Very interesting. For those who have never cruised a Holiday class ship, this might be quite a let-down to sail. But for those who got their start on Celebration (like I did), returning to this ship would bring back great memories, and it would be so interesting to see the changes. Still, it would seem so tiny, and there is no atrium. I'm happy that it has returned to the U.S. But for only a 2-day cruise, it would need to be cheap & fit in with other things I'm doing for me to go on it.

 

 

During a recent press conference the president of Celebration said they were getting a new ship (it has been said here for a while that it was the Celebration) and that they were talking of expanding their cruise schedule and length. Be interesting to watch.

 

 

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[SkyMaster]

I too, had lots of FUN cruises aboard "Celebration". As noted above, it'd be lots of fun to sail on her again. I'm going to check into doing exactly that. ;)

 

"SKY"

[FlaMilkman]

It will be interesting to see how this ship does out of Palm Beach. Palm Beach certainly is a smaller, more laid back port. It is convenient to the West Palm Beach Airport but not really to either Fort Lauderdale or Miami. Getting in and out of the port should be simple.

 

Given that it is considerably larger than the ship it is replacing I wonder what the break-even point will be for it to be profitable. Hopefully they will market themselves appropriately within the South Florida / Treasure Coast region rather than going head to head with the giants based further south.

[loubetti]

As one who has cruised for 30 years on ships from 20,000 tons to 150,000 tons, I do not believe bigger is always better, and have often had my best times on smaller ships.

 

We had a great time on the line's former ship "Bahamas Celebration", and she was 35,000 tons. At 47,000 tons the new Celebration is a large ship (larger than Titanic), and it will be great to have her a 1/2 hour away at Palm Beach.

 

I believe most, if not all, of her obnoxious Joe Farcus interiors are gone.

 

My only issue is that I really think she will be wasted on 2-night cruises simply to be a "ferry" for Freeport resort stays, and I think she could accomplish the same doing 3 and 4 night cruises. I've done several 2-night cruises, and rarely are they a good value.

 

Anyway, nice to have her back!:)

[Butterbean1000]

My first cruise was on the Celebration. That is where i feel in love with cruising.

 

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[Jamman54]

I sailed on the Celebration when she was new in 1987, and a couple of other times during her Carnival career. I would love to sail her again just to check her out, but the pricing is not that attractive.

[LMaxwell]

I sailed on the Celebration when she was new in 1987, and a couple of other times during her Carnival career. I would love to sail her again just to check her out, but the pricing is not that attractive.

I live locally and the pricing isn't attractive. Perhaps it is like Bimini Superfast in Miami advertising a 2 night for 129 to 199 and then always putting them on sale for 25 to 50 bucks

[Tapi]

I would love to sail her again just to check her out, but the pricing is not that attractive.

 

 

If it's anything like with the former Bahamas Celebration, you'll be able to snag all sorts of discounts online. Just sign up for alerts from discount websites. I've received emails for $99pp in an oceanview cabin. And if everything else fails, you can always sign up for a "free cruise" through the timeshare company and just pay port taxes and gratuities. And you can get that deal without having to sit through the presentation.

 

 

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Edited December 26, 2014 by Tapi

[Tapi]

Very interesting. For those who have never cruised a Holiday class ship, this might be quite a let-down to sail .

 

 

We sailed on the Holiday from Mobile and went expecting the absolute worst cruise ever (but we needed a quick easy getaway from our closest port of embarkation, and the price was too good to pass up). Don't know if it's because we set the bar too low, but to this day, it has been one of the absolute best cruises that we've ever taken. The ship was old and run down (it looked stuck in the 80's), but we had so much fun. The ship just felt nice and cozy, fellow passengers were absolutely a pleasure, we actually got to know several crewmembers (the smaller ship size allowed for that), and the southern hospitality from the Mobile port hasn't been matched to this date from any other port that we have ever sailed from.

 

She lacked so much, but we didn't care. She didn't even have modern stabilizers. I remember sailing back to Mobile on our sea day, and I noticed that the ship was tilting very noticeably to one side (if you looked to one side, you had a view of the sky and could barely see the horizon, and if you looked to the other side, you had a direct view of the water :eek:). I asked one of the officers walking around the ship to see if this was normal, and he chuckled and said yes. We were sailing in a strong crosswind and tide condition and since the ship lacked modern stabilizers, that was its way of staying on course.

 

 

 

 

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Edited December 26, 2014 by Tapi

[2Shoes2Go]

So exciting to see her docked in Freeport last week! We had some nice trips and memories. We will be checking for a reasonable rate to do a couple of the shorty cruises. Wonder if b2bs would work?! Anyone find any pictures of the new interior?

[loubetti]

So exciting to see her docked in Freeport last week! We had some nice trips and memories. We will be checking for a reasonable rate to do a couple of the shorty cruises. Wonder if b2bs would work?! Anyone find any pictures of the new interior?

 

For photos try Googling Costa Celebration. I do not expect any major changes as to interior. Also as to a B2B, I would want a very discounted rate, especially if I have to go through customs in between, as customs send few officers, and it can take over an hour to get through that mess.

 

 

 

 

[mawvkysc]

For photos try Googling Costa Celebration. I do not expect any major changes as to interior. Also as to a B2B, I would want a very discounted rate, especially if I have to go through customs in between, as customs send few officers, and it can take over an hour to get through that mess.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Lou for the photos. Are you going to post them on the Celebration forum? I love the decor.

[2Shoes2Go]

Thanks for finding and posting the pictures. I wasn't having much luck. I suspect the ship will be barely recognizable inside. The cabins seemed to be roomy enough, back then. The decor looks elegant and intimate. Thanks too, for info about b2b concerns. We will certainly check out the rates. :)