''Carnival Fantasy'' (formerly ''Fantasy'') 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 ...

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

. 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, and the selling of the Fascination in 2020. Built by

Kværner Masa-Yards Kværner was a Norwegian engineering and construction services company that existed between 1853 and 2005. In 2004, it was amalgamated to the newly formed subsidiary of Aker ASA - Aker Kværner, which was renamed Aker Solutions on 3 April 2 ...

at its Helsinki New Shipyard in

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 December 9, 1988, completed on January 27, 1990 and formally named on March 1, 1990, as ''Fantasy'' by

Tellervo Koivisto Taimi Tellervo Koivisto ( Kankaanranta; born 2 January 1929), is a Finnish politician and the former First Lady of Finland from 1982 to 1994. Koivisto is the widow of the 9th President of Finland Mauno Koivisto and a former member of the Finni ...

, wife of the then

President of Finland The president of the Republic of Finland ( fi, Suomen tasavallan presidentti; sv, Republiken Finlands president) is the head of state of Finland. Under the Constitution of Finland, executive power is vested in the Finnish Government and the p ...

Mauno Koivisto Mauno Henrik Koivisto (; 25 November 1923 – 12 May 2017) was a Finnish politician who served as the ninth president of Finland from 1982 to 1994. He also served as the country's prime minister twice, from 1968 to 1970 and again from 1979 to ...

. During 2007, in common with all of her ''Fantasy''-class sisters, she had the prefix "''Carnival''" added to her name. In July 2020, Carnival Corporation & plc confirmed that it had sold ''Carnival Fantasy'' for

scrap Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered m ...

Service history

''Fantasy'' entered service in 1990 and was by 2020 the oldest ship in the fleet. Until 1993 she cruised from the Port of Miami when she relocated to

Port Canaveral Port Canaveral is a cruise, cargo, and naval port in Brevard County, Florida, United States. It is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world with 4.5 million cruise passengers passing through during 2016. Over 5.4 million tonnes of bulk car ...

. In the Fall of 2006, ''Fantasy'' was the first Carnival ship to move back to Louisiana after

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

with

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

becoming its home port, undertaking cruises to Mexico. ''Carnival Fantasy'' spent a month in drydock being refitted in the Fall of 2008. On September 17, 2009, Carnival announced that ''Carnival Fantasy'' would be based out of

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth-most-populous city in Alabama ...

. Subsequently, she was relocated to

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. ''Carnival Fantasy'' was refitted in February 2016. The upgrades included being fitted with diesel engine scrubbers as well the alteration of some of the restaurants and child care areas on the ship. In November 2016, she moved back to Mobile. AliagaPanoramaOctober2020 (right)

''Carnival Fantasy'' was again refitted in January 2019. The ship assisted the US Coast Guard in rescuing 23 people at sea in April 2019. On March 14, 2020, Carnival announced suspension of service for all of its ships 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 identi ...

. It was previously announced that service would resume on April 10, but the suspension was extended to October 1, 2020. On July 23, 2020, Carnival announced the sale of ''Carnival Fantasy'' and ''Carnival Inspiration''. She was beached in

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 for

on July 29, 2020. A report on August 26, 2020 indicated that the scrapping process had begun. Scrapping was completed in September 2021.

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Official website
{{Carnival Cruise Line Ships built in Helsinki

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

1990 ships