Horizon: scrapped at Aliağa in August 2022, after thirty-two years and five names

Horizon can no longer be booked. The brand that ran her, Croisières de France, closed in early 2017, and the hull was beached at the Aliağa demolition yard, in Turkey, on 29 August 2022. This page stays online because the name still circulates and a 404 answers nobody.

A hull ordered by a line that never took delivery

Chandris Cruises ordered her. Meyer Werft built her at Papenburg as hull 619, floated out on 19 November 1989. Between order and delivery, Chandris launched an upmarket brand and moved the ship across to it: christened on 11 April 1990, Horizon became the first newbuild for Celebrity Cruises. Two hundred and eight metres by twenty-nine, twelve decks of which ten were open to guests, 721 cabins, 1,506 to 1,828 people depending on occupancy, 620 crew. Sources give between 46,811 and 47,427 gross tons depending on the measurement used, and we would rather say so than settle it on their behalf.

Five houses, five names, one hull

Celebrity ran her for fifteen years, New York to Bermuda in summer and Alaska after that, joined by her sister Zenith in 1992. September 2005: Island Cruises, as Island Star. May 2009: Pullmantur, as Pacific Dream. In 2012 she reached Croisières de France and took the name Horizon again, replacing the Bleu de France the brand had just sold. In 2017, when CDF closed, she went back to Pullmantur.

What this page will not do

It will not describe the cabins or the restaurants. Five operators followed one another on this hull and each refitted her their own way; the text that lived here before praised an intimate atmosphere and Mediterranean flavours aboard a ship cut up four years earlier. What stays verifiable is short: a 1990 hull, ten guest decks, fewer than two thousand people aboard, and a generation in which the private balcony was the exception rather than the rule.

The end, in order

Out of service in 2020, laid up in Elefsis Bay, in Greece, from July of that year. Pullmantur filed for insolvency the following month and Royal Caribbean recovered the hull. She sat at anchor for two years. On 26 August 2022, towed by Vernicos Sifnos and Christos XL, she left Elefsis. By 29 August she was on the beach at Aliağa.

What can be booked instead

No line picks up exactly what Croisières de France did: a mid-sized ship run in French, in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Ponant comes closest on language and on scale, with smaller ships and a higher position in the market. It is a different trip, and it is better to know that before comparing.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. Horizon was beached at the Aliağa demolition yard, in Turkey, on 29 August 2022. The brand that ran her had closed five years earlier. No agency can sell her.
Out of service in 2020, she was laid up in Elefsis Bay, in Greece, from July of that year. Pullmantur filed for insolvency the following month and Royal Caribbean recovered the hull. She sat at anchor for two years, then left Elefsis on 26 August 2022, towed by Vernicos Sifnos and Christos XL. By 29 August she was on the beach at Aliağa.
Because the name still circulates and a 404 answers nobody. We keep it to say what happened and where to turn.
Royal Caribbean launched CDF Croisières de France in September 2007 for the French-speaking market. The brand closed in early 2017 and its two ships went back to Pullmantur, which filed for insolvency in July 2020.
Three names in ten years: Bleu de France, in service from May 2008 until her sale to Saga Cruises in November 2010; Horizon, which arrived in 2012 to replace her; and Zenith, which arrived in 2014.
By Meyer Werft, at Papenburg, as hull 619. She was floated out on 19 November 1989 and christened on 11 April 1990.
Chandris Cruises ordered her. Between order and delivery, Chandris launched an upmarket brand and moved the ship across to it: Horizon became the first newbuild for Celebrity Cruises.
Two hundred and eight metres by twenty-nine, twelve decks of which ten were open to guests, 721 cabins, 1,506 to 1,828 people depending on occupancy and 620 crew.
Sources disagree: between 46,811 and 47,427 gross tons depending on the measurement used. We give the range rather than settle it on their behalf.
Five in thirty-two years. Horizon for Celebrity from 1990 to 2005, Island Star for Island Cruises from September 2005, Pacific Dream for Pullmantur from May 2009, Horizon again for Croisières de France from 2012, then Horizon for Pullmantur after 2017.
In 2012, replacing the Bleu de France the brand had just sold. One source gives November 2010; we keep 2012, which attaches to a dated event.
Fifteen years of service: New York to Bermuda in summer, Alaska after that. Her sister Zenith joined her in 1992.
This page does not describe them, and that is deliberate. Five operators followed one another on this hull and each refitted her their own way: describing an interior would mean inventing one. What stays verifiable is a 1990 hull, ten guest decks, fewer than two thousand people aboard, and a generation in which the private balcony was the exception.
None, and that zero is accurate. We measured it.
Your agency, and it alone. Voyages AquaTerra operates under a licence from Quebec's Office de la protection du consommateur, your payments pass through a trust account, and the compensation fund for travel agency clients covers your departure. That applies to the cruise you book instead of this one.