Celebrity Horizon

Did they keep the "Experimental Balcony" on her? It was starboard-side aft.

If you go to Island Cruises website there is an area where they have Horizon's deck plans. It appears that several aft cabins on deck 9 & 10, both port and starboard, have balconies. It also appears that all of the decks have been renamed.

Here is a link....

http://www.islandcruises.com/downloads/5.pdf

Here is news from the RCL website that they are selling Island Cruises. Now Horizon and Zenith will be back togather again in Pullmantur. Lets hope they change the name back to Horizon.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. To Sell Its Interest In Island Cruises To First Choice Holidays Ltd.

Miami - October 6 2008 - Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) announced today that it had agreed to sell its 50 percent interest in Island Cruises to First Choice Holidays Ltd., the other 50 percent owner in the joint venture and a subsidiary of British-based tour operator TUI Travel PLC (TUI). As part of the transaction, RCL and TUI agreed to an early termination of the charter of Island Star, one of two ships in the Island Cruises fleet. RCL is the owner of Island Star and had chartered it to Island Cruises.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval in Ireland. RCL will also recognize a small gain on the sale of its interest in Island Cruises and the early termination of the Island Star charter.

"We thank TUI for their efforts and cooperation throughout the life of the joint venture. Island Cruises has been a rewarding investment for us, but over the past year our priorities have shifted," said Richard D. Fain, chairman and chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. "We believe by focusing on developing and expanding the Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises brands in the U.K. we will be better able to serve our customers and create value for our shareholders. This belief has been strengthened by the success of the inaugural season of Independence of the Seas, which has served the U.K. market from Southampton, U.K., since it entered service in May 2008," Fain added.

Upon its return in April 2009, RCL plans to redeploy the Island Star to Pullmantur Cruises, its Spanish brand. "Redeploying the Island Star to our expanding Pullmantur fleet allows us to better serve the strategically important Spanish market," said Fain.

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. is a global cruise vacation company that operates Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur, Azamara Cruises and CDF Croisieres de France. The company has a combined total of 37 ships in service and seven under construction. It also offers unique land-tour vacations in Alaska, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe and South America.

I agree she looks much better in white, indeed a beautiful ship.

yes, our first cruise also on the horizon. out of tampa, western caribbean, lost my wallet in costa maya almost wasn't allowed back on board.

The Horizon has since left Island Cruises and is currently with Pullmantur as the Pacific Dream.

Yes, and I will be sailing on her from Santo Domingo Feb 13th.. I hope to post some pictures for the Horizon fans on my return

Aw, I won't forget it either, that's the only one I've ever been on, but I'll be on the Carnival Dream this summer. It was one of the best vacations ever I met so many great people!

ahhhh the horizon! my very first cruise :D

My first cruise....to Bermuda out of NYC....way back in June 1990...nice to see she still exists!

Taken in St. Maarten Feb. 2010:

Thanks for posting those pics!

I will be sailing on the old Celebrity Horizon. It is now the Pullmantur's Horizon. Any info on the ship?

I posted in another board with no luck, Maybe you Celebrity Cruises could help.

We just came off a week long cruise on the Horizon. An all inclusive operated by Pullmantur. We had cabin 1035. window on deck 10.

The ship was in top shape. Nothing other than the size and style to indicate it is over 20 years old. Very well maintained.

I will work on posting the pictures and a review.

She was our first Celebrity cruise. She hooked us on X and we are now diehard X fans! Glad to see the old lady is still looking gorgeous.

We took a family group of 16 for my in-laws 50th anniversary on Horizon. It was my second cruise. My first and 5th were on Zenith. I miss those ships. Bigger is NOT necessarily better.

The Pacific Dream has since reverted to her former name the Horizon, and now sails for French cruise line Croisieres De France, replacing the Bleu de France.

Thanks for posting about the Horizon. Our first cruise, back in 1983, was on the Britanis, which was part of the Celebrity fleet before the company was called Celebrity. It was Chandris Cruises then. We thought we were in HEAVEN on that ship, until we realized that it was really a total dump (it had been a troop ship in WW II), especially when compared to the gorgeous Horizon. We sailed to Bermuda in 1992 and also in 1994 on the Horizon and LOVED it. After that, we were busy raising our kids and didn't sail again until 2008, but the Horizon holds a special place in my heart. I still remember the waiters all singing to us for our anniversary, the tiny interior stateroom (we hadn't graduated to suites and balconies yet!) with the itty-bitty porthole window, and the great food, including the midnight buffets.

My most vivid memory is of sailing back to NY from Bermuda and getting caught in the northernmost part of Hurricane Andrew, the hurricane that devastated the Miami area. My husband and I had had a lot of wine and were dancing to reggae music when we hit the first huge waves. Bottles and glasses were flying everywhere and people were falling down all around us. An announcement was made that the doors to the decks were being locked and to please go to the interior of the ship. We continued dancing until the slope of the floor got so bad that we could hardly stand up and the band quit playing. Later we heard that the poker chips were spilling all over the casino, that people had been throwing up in the hallways, and that the midnight buffet had been cancelled, but the only irregular thing we noticed was that our carafe of water had spilled on our stateroom bed and we needed fresh, dry sheets --- which apparently had happened to just about everyone else onboard, too. So, we had weathered a huge storm, but in our naivete, we had just considered it a great adventure at the time. I guess we were luckier than we knew!

It was our second cruise and the that "hooked" us on cruisng. We will never forget Millie from Chilie, our head waitress in the dining room. My kids still speak about her and have her photo still on their dresser. Would an one know where I could obtain a model of the ship as the horizon for my collection?

I'm trying to remember my itinerary from that cruise, my very first and can't remember. Might you remember 15 years later???? It was an 11 nighter from Tampa as I recall. Thanks.

The Celebrity Horizon was our 1st cruise on March 23, 1996. 14 cruises later, I still think it was our best cruise. The food, entertainment, and service were top notch. We met awesome people on board as well. It was a 7-night Southern Caribbean out of San Juan, PR. Our ports were San Juan, Catalina Island (Dominican Republic), Sea, Barbados, Martinique, Antigua, St. Thomas, San Juan.