Carnival Fantasy entering in Aliaga to be scrapped
In the video, the Carnival Fantasy is being beached at the Aliaga scrapyard in Turkey. Next to it are two other cruise ships, the Sovereign and the Monarch, which had been operated by Pullmantur Cruises, a joint venture controlled by Royal Caribbean. The three ships waiting to be scrapped are among the first “mega” cruise ships, which had a huge impact on the cruise industry.
The Sovereign and the Monarch were originally the Sovereign of the Seas and the Monarch of the Seas, the first of a new generation of “mega” cruise ships built by Royal Caribbean. When the Sovereign of the Seas was launched in 1988, it was the largest cruise ship in the world, at 74,000 GT, more than twice as large as the next largest ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet. It featured a five-story internal atrium with glass elevators, a first in cruise ships.
The Monarch of the Seas, a near sister ship to the Sovereign of the Seas, was launched in 1991. In 2007, Monarch of the Seas became the first major cruise liner in the world to be captained by a woman, Karin Stahre Janson.
The third ship on the beach at Aliaga, the Carnival Fantasy was launched in 1990. At just over 70,000 GT and featuring a multi-story atrium, the ship was built as a direct response to Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Seas. Other cruise lines would follow suit and build ever-larger ships to compete with the new “mega” ships.
The more than 70,000 GRT ships triggered an “arms race” in cruise ship construction. Soon the Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Sea class and Carnival’s Fantasy class ships were themselves out-classed by the newer and larger ships that they inspired. Today, the largest cruise ship in the world is Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas, which at 228,081 GT, is three times larger than any of the three ships about to the scrapped in Turkey.
I see this as a waste. With all the homeless that are out there. If one of these were beached near a city with a high homeless population. The homeless could be allowed to move on and be able to stop cluttering the streets. Train them on how to maintain the ship. Let them do crowd funding to get resources to fuel the generators. It could give them a way out of the misery they are in because of the way society is now.
Interesting idea Willy. However between all the IMO, USCG regulations not to mention the Seamans Unions this would never be workable. Then of course there are politics and funding.
Good Watch
It must be very strange as a skipper to plot a course ending like this example.
Refining Willy’s idea and addressing Denis’ points, it seems as though it would be possible to dock such as ship, attach it to shore facilities.
Leaves a lot of unsolved problems regarding fire safety and other matters incorporated in rules pertaining to ships, plus some practicalities.
But (at least temporarily) better than on a grate, beneath a bridge, or trying to live in a car?
In terms of thinking about net results an interesting idea to ponder.
At thirty years old I would imagine that maintenance costs are escalating depending on when they last had a refit. As soon as they don’t have paying customers they become a heck of a liability especially if they were trying to keep them up to scratch for the anticipated but sadly delayed upturn.
@ Doug, those ships are towed there, I doubt the skipper is even in the area.
As one can see in the video, the ship’s engines are being run hard right until she takes the ground. They’re driven, not towed (what sort of tug could crawl up onto land to tow a ship onto the beach?) Of course there’s a crew on board, including a skipper.
Look carefully at these films and you can often see radar antennas sweeping per regulation– right up until the last moment. 🙂