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Celebrity Infinity
Millennium-class cruise ship operated by Celebrity Cruises From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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GTS Celebrity Infinity (formerly Infinity) is a Millennium-class cruise ship operated by Celebrity Cruises, a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group. She measures 90,940 GT and 294 m (965 ft) long, and holds a capacity of 2,170 passengers across 12 decks. After Royal Caribbean signed a letter of intent with French shipbuilder Chantiers de l'Atlantique in February 1998, she was floated out in June 2000 and delivered in February 2001, making her the second Millennium-class ship to join the fleet following Celebrity Millennium.
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Construction
In February 1998, Royal Caribbean signed a letter of intent with French shipbuilder Chantiers de l'Atlantique to build two new ships, with an option for two more, that would make up a new class of ships, dubbed the Millennium class.[1] Designed to be an evolution from Celebrity's Century-class ships, the two ships were initially planned to measure 85,000 GT, have a guest capacity of approximately 1,900, and be delivered in June 2000 and January 2001, respectively.[1]
In March 2000, Celebrity announced the second Millennium-class ship would be named Infinity.[9] On 9 June 2000, she was launched from the shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France.[4] On 25 February 2001, Celebrity took delivery of Infinity in Fort Lauderdale, Florida after she embarked on a transatlantic crossing from Saint-Nazaire.[7] Formal naming festivities were held on 29 April 2001 in Los Angeles, where Infinity was christened by Solveig Wilhelmsen.[5][6]
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Service history
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The ship's maiden voyage was originally scheduled for 3 February 2001, a 14-day cruise from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale through the Panama Canal before arriving in San Diego for her inaugural season.[9] However, the voyage was later postponed by one month to 3 March 2001.[8][7] Her inaugural season also included cruises to Hawaii[10] before she headed to Alaska in summer 2001, joining fleet-mate Mercury.[11]
Since 2002, she has also cruised to South America,[12] Antarctica,[13] the Caribbean from San Juan, Puerto Rico[14] and Fort Lauderdale,[15] and Europe from Harwich[16] and throughout the Mediterranean.[17]
On 3 June 2016, while docking in Ketchikan, Alaska, the ship crashed into the dock on her port side, causing a 10-to-15-foot (3.0 to 4.6 m) scrape along her bow above the waterline and heavily damaged the dock.[18][19] Winds were reportedly gusting to 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) from the ship's starboard side at the time of the accident, which accelerated the ship's approach. There were no reported injuries or pollution caused by the incident.[18][19] In addition to the damage to the ship, the collision caused $2–3 million in damage to the dock.[20] The ship was quickly repaired and resumed sailing following the collision.[21]
In summer 2020, Celebrity Infinity was scheduled to sail in the Mediterranean,[22] but the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the season.[23] Following the cruise line's pause in operations, she is scheduled to resume sailing from Port Everglades on 25 June 2022, sailing weekly Caribbean voyages.[24] Beginning in summer 2023, the ship will be stationed year-round in the Mediterranean, making it the first time Celebrity will have a year-round operation in the region.[25]
COVID-19 pandemic
On 23 March 2020, two crew members reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus, raising concerns among crew members of their safety while on board.[26][27] On 14 April 2020, nearly two weeks after a crew member died aboard the ship, a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of over a thousand Celebrity employees over the company's allegedly inadequate response measures to outbreaks aboard its ships.[28]
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Design and specifications
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Along with her sister ships, Infinity is equipped with a turbo-electric COGAS power plant.[3] The COGAS plant consists of gas and steam turbines, with the latter being driven by steam generated using the heat from the exhaust of the gas turbines.[3] In this way, some of the otherwise lost energy is reclaimed and the specific fuel consumption of the plant is decreased.[3] Propulsion is provided by two "Mermaid" azimuth pod-propulsion units from Kamewa and Cegelec (now Alstom).[3] The ship also has three bow thrusters.[3]
Recurring pod-propulsion issues
Infinity and her sister ships have experienced problems with the pod-propulsion system. Months following her delivery, Celebrity reported Infinity began experiencing problems with a faulty ball bearing in the ship's starboard propulsion unit; it necessitated an emergency dry dock repair in June 2001 in Victoria, British Columbia, which resulted in cancelled sailings.[29][30] In April 2002, more dry dock repairs were made to the ship's propulsion pods, as they were reportedly showing premature wear, preventing her from cruising at maximum speed.[31] In a third dry dock in February 2003, Celebrity had all ball-bearing units on Infinity replaced, forcing the cancellation of two sailings.[32] A fourth dry dock took place in April 2004 to replace a thrust-bearing propulsion unit.[33][34] A fifth dry dock was held in March 2005 to replace the ship's starboard thrust bearing unit.[35] A sixth dry dock was performed in September 2006 to repair one of the ship's propulsion pods.[36]
Numerous unsuccessful repairs led Royal Caribbean to file a lawsuit against Rolls-Royce and Alstom in August 2003 for $300 million to recover lost revenue and the costs associated with the faulty pods on all four Millennium-class ships.[34][37][38] Royal Caribbean settled the lawsuit in January 2010.[39]
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