''Costa neoRomantica'' 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 ...

completed for Costa Cruises in 1993 by

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

in Italy as ''Costa Romantica'', and a

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

to . She was refurbished in 2003, renamed ''Costa neoRomantica'' in 2011, and from 2017 assigned to the Asian market. The ship was sold in 2020 to

Celestyal Cruises Celestyal Cruises (formed in 2014) is a succession to Louis Cruises and Louis Cruise Lines. The Cruise line was a subsidiary of Louis plc (Founded in 1935 as the first travel agency in Cyprus) until November 2021 when Searchlight Capital Partners ...

as ''Celestyal Experience.'' She never operated for Celestyal and was sold again and renamed ''Antares Experience'' in September 2021, then beached for demolition at Gadani, Pakistan in December 2021.

Design and description

The vessel as built had a

gross tonnage Gross tonnage (GT, G.T. or gt) is a nonlinear measure of a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage. Neither gross tonnage nor gross register tonnage should be confused with measures of mass or weigh ...

of 53,049 tons and . ''Costa Romantica'' measured

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...

and

between perpendiculars Length between perpendiculars (often abbreviated as p/p, p.p., pp, LPP, LBP or Length BPP) is the length of a ship along the summer load line from the forward surface of the stem, or main bow perpendicular member, to the after surface of the stern ...

with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of . The vessel was powered by four

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s with two

propellers A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

creating . This gave the ship a maximum speed of . In November 2011, ''Costa Romantica'' underwent a refurbishing. Two new half decks were added as a part of the refurbishment, as well as 111 new cabins, 120 cabins and suites with a balcony and several new amenities including bars and lounges. This increased the

of the ship from 53,000 to 56,769 tons. The length was increased to . The cruise ship had capacity for 1,578 passengers in 789 cabins. Cabins ranged in size from of which 74 had a balcony. The ship had a crew of 662.

Construction and career

The vessel was constructed by

at their yard in

Marghera Marghera is a ''municipalità'' (borough) of the ''comune'' of Venice, Italy. It includes the industrial area known as Porto Marghera (English: Marghera Port) or Venezia Porto Marghera. Etymology The name Marghera is said in popular myth to come ...

, Italy with the

yard number __NOTOC__ M ...

5899. The cruise ship's

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 23 April 1992 and the vessel was launched on 28 November 1992. ''Costa Romantica'' was completed on 25 September 1993 and entered service in November of that year. The vessel was registered in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, Italy and was owned and operated by

Costa Crociere S.p.A. (), operating as Costa Cruises, is an Italian cruise line founded in 1854 and organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc since 2000. Based in Genoa, Italy, the cruise line primarily caters to the Italian cruise ...

. On 25 February 2009, a small fire erupted in one of the engines and in one of the electric generators of ''Costa Romantica'' off the coast of Uruguay, about from the city of

Punta del Este Punta del Este () is a seaside city and peninsula on the Atlantic Coast in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. Starting as a small town, Punta del Este later became internationally known as a resort for the Latin and North American j ...

. After the incident, the vessel was stalled for more than 24 hours and for a long period there was no electricity or running water. ''Costa Romantica'' was partially repaired and was able to sail to approximately from the coast where she was then evacuated by landing ships. The passengers were sent home and ''Costa Romantica''s next scheduled cruise was cancelled. ''Costa Romantica'' underwent a 90 million refurbishing at San Giorgio del Porto shipyard in Genoa in November 2011. After the contract was awarded to San Giorgio del Porto, the shipyard workers at Fincantieri began a week of

strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Labor (economics), work. A strike usually takes place in response to grievance (labour), employee grievance ...

. After the refurbishing, the ship was renamed ''Costa neoRomantica'' and started her first voyage with the new name in March 2012. In early 2017, ''Costa neoRomantica'' arrived in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

to operate cruises in the Asia market. In February 2018, ''Costa neoRomantica'' served as The J Winter Fashion Show 2018 setting in Hong Kong. During 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 ...

, cruises from China aboard ''Costa neoRomantica'' were cancelled at the end of January and early February 2020. This was later extended through the end of February. While awaiting permission to sail, the vessel remained in Vietnam. On 26 March the ship with no passengers on board, anchored at the roadstead of

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea ...

, Russia to refresh the ship with water, fuel, and food. However, it was denied entrance as the Russian sanitary officials stipulated the dock workers to be quarantined for 14 days. No

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 ...

cases on board were reported. In July 2020, the ship was sold to

, renamed ''Celestyal Experience'' and laid up at

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

, later at

Eleusis Elefsina ( el, Ελευσίνα ''Elefsina''), or Eleusis (; Ancient Greek: ''Eleusis'') is a suburban city and Communities and Municipalities of Greece, municipality in the West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is situated about northwest ...

. In September 2021, due to the pandemic, Celestyal sold the ship, while still in lay-up, to Beacon & Bay Shipping Services of

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

, who renamed her ''Antares Experience'', reportedly for on-sale for future trading. It was later reported that she was sold for scrap. In November 2021, the ship sailed to the

Gadani Ship Breaking Yard Gadani ship-breaking yard is the world's third largest ship breaking yard located across a long beachfront at Gadani, Pakistan. The yard consists of 132 ship-breaking plots."Record 107 ships dismantled at Gaddani" by Parvaiz Ishfaq Rana, ''Daw ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

for scrapping and was beached on 3 December.

Citations

References

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External links

* {{Costa Cruises 1992 ships Cruise ships Ships built in Venice Ships built by Fincantieri Maritime incidents in 2009