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Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line which was founded in 1988 by the
Greece-based Chandris Group2 In 1997, Celebrity Cruises Ltd. merged with Royal
Caribbean International to become Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which operates
Celebrity, Royal Caribbean International, Azamara Club Cruises, Pullmantur
Cruises and CDF Croisieres de France. The signature "¦¶" displayed on the funnel
of Celebrity ships is the Greek letter chi, for "Chandris".34 The company has
its headquarters in Miami, Florida.5 Common features on board Celebrity brand
ships are aft-glass dining rooms, formal foyer areas, alternate dining venues,
balcony and suite staterooms, large pools and lounging areas, signature bars and
lounges, libraries, elegant spas and gyms, and relaxation areas.
Celebrity
Cruises was founded in April 1988 as a subsidiary of the Greece-based Chandris
Group to operate upmarket cruise ships to Bermuda.2 Chandris had been involved
in cruise traffic since the 1960s,4 and during the late 1980s the company
operated in the United States market under the brand name Chandris Cruises.
Chandris Fantasy Cruises targeted the lower end of the cruise passenger market,
with fleets consisting of second-hand ocean liners.6 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 of sail to the islands in exchange for the ships sailing to Bermuda
between April and October each year. Although these contracts 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 access. Chandris
wanted to acquire the contracts, but the Government of Bermuda was only willing
to award them to upmarket cruise lines, which Chandris Fantasy Cruises was not.2
In order to gain the Bermuda Government contracts, Chandris created Celebrity
Cruises and immediately began 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 beginning in 1990 2 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 1990.23 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 1990.27 In late 1990 Celebrity
Cruises placed an order for a sister ship of the Horizon, delivered in 1992 as
Zenith.
In 2007-2008, all of Celebrity Cruises' ships were renamed with a
"Celebrity" prefix added to the pre-existing ship names.818 Celebrity Solstice,
the first ship in the new Solstice class, was delivered to Celebrity on 24
October 2008.19 In May 2009 Galaxy was transferred to the fleet of TUI Cruises,
a joint venture between Celebrity Cruises' owner Royal Caribbean International
and TUI AG and renamed as Mein Schiff.20 Two more Solstice Class ships entered
service - the Celebrity Equinox in 2009 and the Celebrity Eclipse in 2010.
In
2011, Celebrity Mercury was sold by Celebrity fleet to become Mein Schiff 2 for
TUI Cruises.21 The fourth Solstice Class ship the Celebrity Silhouette entered
service in 2011. The Celebrity Reflection was recently delivered in 2012. After
the Solstice class ships were released, Celebrity renovated all their older
ships to make them more modern, they also put features that were only in the
Solstice class. Therefore, they called the renovations "Solsticising"
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