MV Antares Experience
ex Celestyal Experience, Costa NeoRomantica, Costa Romantica
Costa Romantica – © Gerolf Drebes
Steel twin screw motor vessel built in 1993 by Fincantieri, C.N. Italiana (Breda), Venedig, Italy (Yard No 5899) as a Passenger (Cruise) Ship for Costa Crociere, Naples, Italy
Technical Data
- Original Cost: $325 million
- Length on deck: 220.52 m (overall) 182 m (between perpendiculars)
- Breadth of hull: 30.79 m (extreme)
- Depth: 15.65 m
- Draught: 7.30 m
- Tonnage: 53,700 – 56,769 after rebuild gross/7,781 deadweight
- Engines: Four 8-cylinder Sulzer-Fincantieri diesels
- Propulsion/Propellers: (22,800kW)/2
- Speed: 19.75 knots
- Navigation Officers: Italian
- Capacity: 1,600 passengers/ 1,800 after rebuild
- Passenger decks: 10
- Crew: 600/622
- Call Sign: IBCR, 5LCQ6
- IMO Number: 8821046
- Official Number: 69357
- MMSI Number: 636021175
- Registry: Genova/Italy, Limassol/Cyprus, Liberia
- Sister Ship: Costa Classica (5877)
History
December 30th 1985: Building contract.
December 14th 1988: Keel laid.
September 20th 1993: Delivered to Costa Crociere.
October 7th 1993: Maiden cruise from Genoa to Canary Islands.
October 20th 1993: Left for Miami.
Costa Romantica – © Federico Bolognini
November 21st 1993: Commenced cruising from Miami to the Caribbean.
Costa Romantica – © Aleksi Lindström
February 25th 2009: Off the coast of Uruguay, suffered a small fire in one her engines and electrical generators. Immobilised for more than 24 hours. Partially repaired and able to continue to a location where her passengers were evacuated.
October 29th 2011: Arrived San Giorgio del Porto Shipyard, Genoa for rebuilding.
Internet Source
February 2012: Back in service after the conversion. Renamed COSTA NeoROMANTCA.
Costa NeoRomantica – © John Wilson
Costa NeoRomantica – © Aleksi Lindström
Costa NeoRomantica – © Dimitris Mentakis
Costa NeoRomantica – © Simonwp (Kiel, 01/08/2012)
Costa NeoRomantica – © Ray Goodfellow (Arriving at Dover 08/09/2014)
August 21st 2020: Sold to Lander Shipping Inc, Limassol, Cyprus. Management Optimum Shipmanagement service and renamed CELESTYAL EXPERIENCE. Although the first cruise was due to start on March 6th 2021 in Piraeus with calls in Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Cyprus and Rhodes she was laid up at Piraeus, later Eleusis.
Celestyal Experience – (Piraeus, 28/09/2020)(Left)
Celestyal Experience – © Giwrgos Mertis (Drapetsona, 06/04/2021)
September 2021: Having never been put into service, Celestyal Cruises sold the ship to an unnamed buyer who renamed her ANTARES EXPERIENCE. The Greek line said that after reviewing its forward-looking capacity requirements, it decided to sell the ship.
Antares Experience – © Joerg Seyler (Eleusis Bay, 23/09/2021)
September 23rd 2021: Anchored at Eleusis.
October 6th 2021: Registered owner: Beacon & Bay Shipping Services,Dubai.
October 14th 2021: Left Eleusis anchorage showing destination as Dubai.
Antares Experience – © Dennis Mortimer (Eleusis, Greece, 24/10/2021)
Antares Experience – © Petros Psarras (Eleusis, 03/11/2021)
November 2021: AIS sources indicate her destination as Gadani, Pakistan.
Antares Experience – 🆕
December 3rd 2021: Beached.
All information is believed to be correct and no responsibility is accepted for any errors or omissions. All items included in this article are subject to © copyright. We would like to take this opportunity of thanking: Federico Bolognini, Gerolf Drebes, Aleksi Lindström, Dimitris Mentakis, Giwrgos Mertis, Petros Psarras, Joerg Seyler, Simonwp and John Wilson for their assistance in producing this feature.