Cruising to Grand Turk Resumes
Cruising is back in Grand Turk following a closure due to Hurricane Fiona. The Grand Turk Cruise Center, which is operated by Carnival Corporation, welcomed Carnival Sunrise on Tuesday — the first ship to dock there in several weeks.
Carnival Cruise Line canceled nearly a dozen calls to the island due to the hurricane and the damage it caused. Ships that had itineraries impacted were Carnival Sunrise, Legend, Freedom, and Mardi Gras, as well as Celebrity Cruises’ ship Infinity.
Grand Turk is part of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and is most often included on eastern Caribbean itineraries.
9 Celebrity Ships to Sail the Caribbean This Winter
This coming winter season, Celebrity Cruises is scheduled to have nine ships sailing in the Caribbean.
Celebrity Summit and Silhouette will sail from Miami, while Constellation will operate voyages out of Tampa. Celebrity Millennium will split her time sailing from both Puerto Rico and Fort Lauderdale.
Fort Lauderdale will have the largest number of vessels from the line, as Celebrity Equinox and Reflection plus the newer Edge-class vessels Celebrity Edge, Apex, and Beyond will sail from Port Everglades.
What happens to a cruise ship before it heads to the scrapyard?
And finally, if you ever wondered what happens to a cruise ship before it heads to the scrapyard, we have the answer. On Tuesday, the captain of Carnival Ecstasy spoke to guests during a Q&A to detail the beaching process.
After Ecstasy leaves Mobile on October 15th, it’ll sail three days to Miami to offload proprietary equipment like slot machines and computers. After a few days there, it’ll begin a 17-day sailing to Turkey, where it’ll arrive on November 7th.
The next day, a pilot boards the ship and with the captain, they will run the ship onto the beach. 100 crew members will take the vessel on its final voyage, while others are being reassigned to other ships or going on vacation.
Carnival Ecstasy has been sailing with Carnival since debuting in 1991 and is the sixth Fantasy-class ship to be sold off since 2020.