Photos: Meyer Werft
A
nd soon enough, the stranded air
passengers were heading home
from Spain on the luxury liner, sampling
champagne and fresh fruit as they recovered from their woes. Celebrity Cruises
and four travel firms paid for the rescue
mission.
Richard D. Fain, Chairman of the
Celebrity Cruises, was also on board the
most luxurious rescue boat of all time. He
noted that there could hardly be a better
way to bless a new ship than by doing “a
small bit of good in a very big problem.”
Upon returning home to Southampton on 23 April, everybody agreed
that this was one maiden voyage to remember. Celebrity’s President & CEO Dan
Hanrahan commented that the company
is proud of its tradition of planning and
implementing memorable ship launches,
but the launch of Celebrity Eclipse was
particularly unique.
“The atmosphere has been fantastic among the guests and our crew. Everyone feels they are part of something
truly special.”
ANSWERING THE CALL
As the actual formal naming ceremony
took place three days later, the momentous occasion was seriously in danger of
being “eclipsed” by the previous high
seas heroics. The Bilbao rescue mission
was still very much a hot topic as glasses were raised in honour of the ship. At
the ceremony, there were nearly 2,000
primarily UK-based travel agents, press
and other special guests. The vessel will
be the first in the Celebrity fleet to be
dedicated to the UK market.
“What a rare and notable way for
Celebrity Eclipse to begin her sailing career,” mused Richard D. Fain.
“Who knew that a $700-million
ship would start her career as emergency
transport? One of the particular pleasures
was seeing how responsive our exceptional crew was, and how much effort
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