In Port With The Former Celebrity Zenith

[Keith1010]

Our first cruise with Celebrity was on the former Celebrity Zenith back in 1993.  We enjoyed it so much we sailed Celebrity years for five consecutive years after that first cruise 

on Horizon (two times on consecutive years) followed by Century, Galaxy and Mercury.

 

We are in Santa Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands today on-board Crystal Serenity.  As we departed the ship to visit this charming town we see a ship arriving into dock and 

docking right in front of us.  Our eyes lit up when we realized it was the former Celebrity Zenith.

 

Photos follow.

 

Keith

 

[rollie]

Loved her.  We sail on her twice.  I wish Celebrity still had a ship this size.

 

Rollie

[DCT61]

GREAT little ship!!!

 

[Lady Arwen]

Our first cruise in 1993!  We loved it so much, we booked 3 more on Horizon and Mercury and then Galaxy (numerous times) and on and on til today.  Now it's 33 days til we board Infinity.  Thank you for the lovely memory!

[mek]

That was the first X ship we were on - back in the mid 90's.

[floridatravelersforlife]

Brings back memories.  Thinking of trying her  again instead of some of the current offerings. 

[richsea]

It’s like seeing an old friend. She looks great! Thanks.

[mahdnc]

Nice photos.  Thanks for posting.  We sailed on her older sister, Horizon, but never got a chance with Zenith.

[cangelmd]

Thanks for posting, we did both Horizon and Zenith...and now I can't remember which one we did first!!!????

One was western Caribbean the other trip was to Bermuda. Great ships, great cruises, definitely the good old days.

[Keith1010]

1 hour ago, cangelmd said:

Thanks for posting, we did both Horizon and Zenith...and now I can't remember which one we did first!!!????

One was western Caribbean the other trip was to Bermuda. Great ships, great cruises, definitely the good old days.

You are very welcome.

 

More than likely it was Zenith to the Caribbean and Horizon to Bermuda.  At least that was our experience doing Zenith once and Horizon two consecutive years to Bermuda.

 

We have fond memories of both ships and all of our Celebrity sailings.

 

Keith

[Guindalf]

Our first X cruise (and third overall) was a 5-nighter on the Zenith in 2004. we had a great cruise but hadn't really had enough experience to know which line we liked yet ( our previous two were the RCCL Sovereign, which we loved and the Carnival Sensation, which we hated!).

 

I think we felt that the Zenith, although wonderful, was a little smaller than we liked, so it took until 2007 and several cruises on RCCL and NCL before returning to X on the Equinox - and our next adventure to Alaska in August on the Eclipse.

Edited April 1, 2019 by Guindalf

[The Mommy]

Our first X cruise was on this old lady of the seas and what  fine cruise it was! got us hooked lol!

[cheshire cat]

Sailed on her to Bermuda in 2007, loved the ship

[Baron Barracuda]

Our first cruise was Zenith in '93 for our 10th wedding anniversary.  First time we had ever been away from our kids who were 6, 4 and 1 at the time.  So paranoid we had  both grandmas stay with them.  What a wonderful little ship.

 

That was almost 50 cruises ago.

[Plato123]

We were on the Zenith in 2017. You might find it interesting that in the Suites only deck area many of the loungers and tables are the original Celebrity branded teak. I was tempted to stick one of the small teak tables in my suitcase but I didn't.

We will be on the Horizon, the sister ship to the Zenith this fall.  For us Pullmantur is our second favorite cruise line after Celebrity.

[Blockschip]

DW and I were on the Zenith for our honeymoon back in 2001!

[BarbinMich]

On 4/1/2019 at 6:19 AM, Keith1010 said:

Our first cruise with Celebrity was on the former Celebrity Zenith back in 1993.  We enjoyed it so much we sailed Celebrity years for five consecutive years after that first cruise 

on Horizon (two times on consecutive years) followed by Century, Galaxy and Mercury.

 

We are in Santa Cruz de La Palma, Canary Islands today on-board Crystal Serenity.  As we departed the ship to visit this charming town we see a ship arriving into dock and 

docking right in front of us.  Our eyes lit up when we realized it was the former Celebrity Zenith.

 

Photos follow. . . .

 

Keith

Keith, thanks for posting the "Zenith" photos!  We sailed on her in 1999 for the Panama Canal out of San Juan and in 2004 for the western Caribbean out of Jacksonville.  Our first cruise was in 1994 on the Amerikanis owned by Chandris, which became Celebrity.  So our next few cruises were on Celebrity:  Horizon in Alaska in Jun 1996 and Mercury in Jan 1998 for our first western Caribbean.  A few years later we migrated to Princess, with a few more Celebrity cruises added to the mix.  The Mercury and her sister, the Galaxy, were sold and became Mein Schiff I and II (German-speaking from what I understand).  We saw one of them in Europe on one our TAs.  She was looking good!  We've also seen either the Zenith or Horizon under their newer name and flag, which I can't remember at the moment; we were at Santorini at the time (2008 on the Galaxy).  Old ships never die, they just move to a different cruise line with perhaps a new name <g>.

Edited April 2, 2019 by BarbinMich

[mahdnc]

16 minutes ago, BarbinMich said:

We've also seen either the Zenith or Horizon under their newer name and flag, which I can't remember at the moment; we were at Santorini at the time (2008 on the Galaxy).  Old ships never die, they just move to a different cruise line with perhaps a new name <g>.

 

During our Jun 2007 Millennium Mediterranean cruise we saw both Zenith and Horizon.

 

Zenith anchored at Dubrovnik (Jun 20, 2007):

 

Horizon docked at Nice (Jun 28, 2007)

Edited April 2, 2019 by mahdnc

[BarbinMich]

5 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

During our Jun 2007 Millennium Mediterranean cruise we saw both Zenith and Horizon.

 

Zenith anchored at Dubrovnik (Jun 20, 2007):

Horizon docked at Nice (Jun 28, 2007)

 

Thanks for posting the photos of the "original" Celebrity ships!  Do you happen to remember their current names and lines? 

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, BarbinMich said:

Thanks for posting the photos of the "original" Celebrity ships!  Do you happen to remember their current names and lines? 

 

At the time I took the photo, Zenith's name was unchanged and still was Zenith, but she was operated by Pullmantur Cruises which at the time was wholly owned by Royal Caribbean.  Today she still sails as Zenith for Pullmantur.

 

At the time I took the photo of Horizon, she went by the name of Island Star and she sailed for Island Cruises which which was 50% owned by Royal Caribbean back then.  Today she sails as Horizon for Pullmantur.

Edited April 2, 2019 by mahdnc

[BarbinMich]

19 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

At the time I took the photo, Zenith's name was unchanged and still was Zenith, but she was operated by Pullmantur Cruises which at the time was wholly owned by Royal Caribbean.  Today she still sails as Zenith for Pullmantur.

 

At the time I took the photo of Horizon, she went by the name of Island Star and she sailed for Island Cruises which which was 50% owned by Royal Caribbean back then.  Today she sails as Horizon for Pullmantur.

Thanks for the update!

[seacruise9]

Hi, 

 

Thanks for posting the photos of the Zenith. I cruised aboard the Horizon in 1991 (to Bermuda) and the Zenith in 1993 (to the Western Caribbean). The Zenith looks good, but I prefer the ship with the former Celebrity paint scheme. These were excellent ships. The food on these ships was outstanding. 

 

Chuck

Edited April 2, 2019 by seacruise9