''Carnival Imagination'' (formerly ''Imagination'') is a operated by

Carnival Cruise Line Carnival Cruise Line is an international cruise line with headquarters in Doral, Florida. The company is a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Its logo is a funnel (ship), funnel shaped like a whale's tail, with a red, white, and blue colo ...

. Built by Kværner Masa-Yards at its

Helsinki New Shipyard Hietalahti shipyard (also known as Helsinki New Shipyard, fi, Helsingin uusi telakka) is a shipyard in Hietalahti, in downtown Helsinki, Finland. Since 2019, it has been operated by a company named Helsinki Shipyard. History The shipyard, fi ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, Finland, she was floated out on July 1, 1995, and christened ''Imagination'' by Jodi Dickinson. During 2007, in common with all of her ''Fantasy''-class sisters, she had the prefix ''Carnival'' added to her name. The ship underwent an extensive multimillion-dollar renovation in September 2016. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Carnival Cruise Line suspended all North American itineraries from March 14 to April 10, 2020. In July 2020, as a result of Carnival Cruise Line reducing fleet capacity, ''Carnival Imagination'' entered a long term lay-up status, with no planned date for the ship to enter back into service. By August 26, 2020, the vessel had filed a cruise plan for

Aliağa Aliağa is a town and a district of Izmir Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. The town is situated at about north of Izmir. Aliağa has a large port, mainly for oil and bulk cargo. Its economic activity is based on tourism, shipbreaking, ...

, Turkey, the location of several

ship breaking Ship-breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships for either a source of parts, which can be sold for re-use, or for the extraction ...

facilities. Some industry sources indicated that the vessel would be scrapped. The vessel arrived in Aliağa on September 14, 2020 and was beached on 16 September. As of November 2022 she remains beached awaiting scrapping some sources claim that an unnamed hotel is currently trying to acquire some of her fittings that would otherwise be damaged or destroyed during the scrapping process. Carnival Imagination PortMiami 2011

Areas of operation

Prior to entering into a long term lay-up in July 2020, she sailed three- and four-day itineraries from

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, to Catalina Island, California, and to Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. 3 day cruises departed every Thursday, with a stop in Ensenada, Mexico, 4 day cruises departed every Sunday, with stops in Catalina Island, California and Ensenada, Mexico.

Incidents

Collision with Carnival Fantasy

In July 2011, ''

Carnival Fantasy ''Carnival Fantasy'' (formerly ''Fantasy'') was a cruise ship operated by Carnival Cruise Line. She was the first ship of her namesake class, which was the largest by number of ships, before the scrapping of the Fantasy, Inspiration, Imagination, ...

'' struck ''Carnival Imagination'' while performing a maneuver for mooring. ''Carnival Imagination'' was docked when the incident occurred. Minor hull damage was sustained to both ships' sterns, and no injuries were reported.

Coronavirus Pandemic

During the

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...

, the

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency, under the United S ...

reported, as early as April 22, 2020, that at least one person who tested positive for

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

had tested positive within 14 days after disembarking.

Sale of the vessel

Carnival announced to investors in late July 2020 that it planned to remove the "less efficient" of its ships from the fleet; most of the 15 would be sold and a few would be "recycled". While the ''Carnival Imagination'' had been said to be heading for long-term layup, some industry insiders believed that Carnival would dispose of this vessel. In late August, media reports indicated the ship had filed a plan to travel to Aliağa, Turkey, where she would likely be scrapped. ''

'' and ''

Carnival Inspiration ''Carnival Inspiration'' (formerly ''Inspiration'') was a operated by Carnival Cruise Line. Built by Kværner Masa-Yards at its Helsinki New Shipyard in Helsinki, Finland, she was floated out on April 1, 1996, and christened as ''Inspiration' ...

'' were already at the scrap yards in that city. She arrived at

on September 14, 2020. Based on a photograph accompanying an article in ''The New York Times'' October 30, 2020 entitled
Where Cruise Ships Go to Die
the Carnival Imagination is being scrapped in Aliaga, Turkey.

Citations

References

External links

Carnival Imagination official website
{{Authority control

Imagination Imagination is the production or simulation of novel objects, sensations, and ideas in the mind without any immediate input of the senses. Stefan Szczelkun characterises it as the forming of experiences in one's mind, which can be re-creations ...

Ships built in Helsinki 1994 ships