Following the damage to Bahamas Celebration last year, the ship has remained laid up while an assessment was carried out. The damage to the 1981-built former car ferry was sufficiently serious to render the ship not worth repairing, and it seems that the 36,000gt vessel has been sold for scrap. Her operator, Celebration Cruise Line, has rebranded itself as Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line and acquired, under charter, the former Carnival Cruise Lines’ vessel Celebration.
The ship has been acquired by associates of FleetPro Ocean, formerly International Shipping Partners, and after arrival at Palm Beach at the start of January she had a small refit before entering service on 1 February between West Palm Beach and Grand Bahama on year-round two-night cruises. Grand Celebration had been absorbed into the Costa fleet after Iberocruceros was closed down, but was disposed of before entering service.
