''Carnival Fascination'', originally ''Fascination'', was a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...

built at

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 in 1994. For most of her service with

Carnival Cruise Lines 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 shaped like a whale's tail, with a red, white, and blue color scheme. This ...

she operated out of

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

. In 2017 ''Carnival Fascination'' was chartered to the US Government to assist with hurricane relief work in the

Virgin Islands The Virgin Islands ( es, Islas Vírgenes) are an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. They are geologically and biogeographically the easternmost part of the Greater Antilles, the northern islands belonging to the Puerto Rico Trench and St. Croix ...

. During the 2020

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 ...

the ship was withdrawn from service and in November that year sold for conversion to a hotel ship for Century Harmony Cruise Ltd, that renamed her ''Century Harmony''. However in October 2021 she was sold for scrapping, arriving at Gadani, Pakistan as ''Y Harmony'' in February 2022.

Carnival Cruise Line

The ship was the fourth of

' 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, f ...

in Finland. She was floated out on July 1, 1994, and christened ''Fascination'' by Jeanne Farcus. The ship was registered under the Panamanian flag and mostly home-ported in

, sailing in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

year-round. In 2000 her port of registry was changed to

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

, under the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

flag. During 2007, in common with all of her ''Fantasy''-class sisters, she had the prefix ''Carnival'' added to her name. After the destruction caused in the

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

by Hurricanes Irma and

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

, ''Carnival Fascination'' was chartered to the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...

(FEMA) from October 15, 2017 until February 3, 2018 to house relief workers at

St Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorpo ...

. This charter cost FEMA $74.7 million. At the end of the charter, the ship was given a further refit prior to returning to Carnival's services out of Puerto Rico. In July 2020, as a result of Carnival Cruise Line reducing fleet capacity, ''Carnival Fascination'' entered a long term lay-up, with no planned date for the ship to return to service. In November 2020, the cruise line announced that the ship had been sold to Century Harmony Cruise Ltd.

Refits

''Fascination'' was given a multimillion-dollar refurbishment while in dry dock during September 2006. In January 2010 ''Carnival Fascination'' was again dry docked to be refurbished. In January 2013, ''Carnival Fascination'' underwent another dry dock.

Areas of operation

''Fascination'' sailed from New York between July 24 and September 4, 1994 before moving to

. As ''Carnival Fascination'', she sailed from

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, Florida to the Bahamas. In 2013 and 2014,

Coco Cay CocoCay or Little Stirrup Cay is one of the Berry Islands, a collection of Bahamian cays and small islands located approximately 55 miles north of Nassau. It is used for tourism by Royal Caribbean Group exclusively. Little Stirrup Cay is adjacen ...

replaced Key West on some of ''Carnival Fascination''s itineraries. Coco Cay is a private island in the Bahamas owned by rival cruise line

Royal Caribbean International Royal Caribbean International (RCI), also formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), is a cruise line brand founded in 1968 in Norway and organised as a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group since 1997. Based in Miami, Flo ...

. In April, 2016, ''Carnival Fascination'' re-positioned to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she undertook Southern Caribbean cruises.

Incidents

Power loss

In June 2010, ''Carnival Fascination'' lost engine power due to a technical malfunction while returning to Jacksonville, Florida. Power was restored after several hours, and the ship was able to return to Jacksonville, Florida under her own power.

Health inspection failure

In April 2013, it was reported that on February 21, 2013 ''Carnival Fascination'' failed a U.S.

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

health inspection after inspectors found insects in food preparation areas, dried food waste, insufficient chlorination in the pools, and insufficient sneeze guards at the salad bars. A satisfactory rating from the CDC is a score of 85 or higher. ''Carnival Fascination'' scored 84.

SARS-CoV-2

In February 2020, the ship canceled a call to

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian ...

over a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

scare, after a crew member reported illness, with flu like symptoms. The ''Carnival Fascination'' docked in

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

but was not allowed to disembark passengers until the individual was declared negative 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 ...

Century Harmony Cruise

When the ship was sold by Carnival to Century Harmony Cruise Limited and renamed ''Century Harmony'', it was reported that the ship would be converted into a hotel ship in Asia. Although the ship was taken to China for refurbishment, news reports subsequently indicated that the ship's owners were considering scrapping the ship instead. In October 2021, ''Century Harmony'' was sold to Nina Services Corp, managed in Singapore, reportedly for demolition in Alang, India, and then renamed ''Y Harmony''. However, she arrived at a scrapyard at Gadani, Pakistan on 9 February 2022. She was subsequently beached for scrapping on 18 February 2022.

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Official website
{{Carnival Cruise Line Ships built in Helsinki Fascination Fascination 1994 ships