The former Celebrity Cruises and Pullmantur ship Zenith has arrived at the shipyard in Alang, India. The 30-year-old cruise ship, currently moored off the coast of Alang, will be scrapped in the coming months. The ship follows her sister Horizon, which arrived at the scrapyard in Aliaga, Turkey, just over three weeks ago, also for scrapping. Both ships were sailings for Celebrity Cruises and the Spanish cruise opertor Pullmantur.
Built in 1992 at the world-famous Meyer shipyard in Papenburg, Germany, after nearly thirty years of work, the Zenith has arrived at its final destination. The former Celebrity Cruises and Pullmantur cruise ship has arrived at the Alang Shipyard in Alang, India, where it will be scrapped.
The 47,413-gross-ton cruise ship is currently anchored off the coast of Alang, awaiting the moment it will be pushed ashore in preparation for work to begin.
Since 2021, Zenit has been waiting for its fate in Greece, where it stayed until recently. She then sailed to Oman, where she was renamed TSM Singapore, until it was time to set a course for Alang.
Zenith was built by the Meyer shipyard in Germany for Celebrity Cruises and began her career sailing from Florida to the Caribbean and Bermuda. She was operational for Celebrity Cruises until 2007. In 2007, Zenith was transferred to Pullmantur Cruises, a Spanish cruise line owned by Royal Caribbean Group.
From 2007 she spent most of her time sailing around the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands until she was transferred to CDF Croisieres de France, joining her sister ship L'Horizon in 2014.
Her career at French Cruise Line, also owned by the royal Caribbean Group, did not last long. In 2017, the company was disbanded and Zenith returned to service with Pullmantur Cruises.
However, by this time, the Spanish cruiser was already having problems. Royal Caribbean Group announced in July 2019 that Zenith will be sold to Peace Boat in early 2020. She was last active as Peace Boat in 2020-2021 before being replaced by Sun Princess.
The Celebrity Zenith was an exact copy of its sister, the Celebrity Horizon. Both ships have a thirty-year sailing career, mostly sailing on the same cruises.
At the time she was built, Celebrity Horizon was the first new-build cruise ship. Celebrity Horizon arrived at the Aliaga shipyard in Turkey in August 2022, also for scrapping.
Celebrity Zenith and Horizon marked the beginning of Celebrity Cruises becoming a global giant in the cruise industry. The same cannot be said for Pullmantur Cruises. Although the company was popular at the beginning, the last few years before the pandemic showed a definite decline in profitability.
