MV Zenith

Zenith in port
History
Name	Zenith
Owner	1992-2007: Celebrity Cruises 2007-2014: Pullmantur Cruises 2014-2017: Croisières de France 2017-2020: Pullmantur Cruises
Operator	1992-2007: Celebrity Cruises 2007-2014: Pullmantur Cruises 2014-2017: Croisières de France 2017-2020: Pullmantur Cruises
Port of registry	1992-2002: Monrovia, Liberia 2002-2007: Nassau, Bahamas 2007-present: Valletta, Malta
Builder	Meyer Werft, Papenburg, Germany
Yard number	620
Laid down	18 October 1990
Launched	31 October 1991
Completed	1 March 1992
Acquired	February 1992
In service	4 April 1992-present
Identification	IMO number: 8918136 MMSI number: 256561000 Callsign: 9HXM8
Status	In active service as of 2011
Notes	Sister ship to Pacific Dream Leaving Pullmantur early 2020.
General characteristics
Class and type	Horizon class cruise ship
Tonnage	47,413 GT 25,488 NT 4,915 DWT
Length	208.00 m (682.41 ft)
Beam	29.00 m (95.14 ft)
Draught	7.70 m (25.3 ft)
Depth	24.10 m (79.1 ft)
Decks	12
Installed power	2 × MAN-B&W 9L40/54 (2 × 5,994 kW) 2 × MAN-B&W 6L40/54 (2 × 3,996 kW)
Propulsion	Two shafts, controllable pitch propellers Two bow thrusters and one stern thruster
Speed	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Capacity	1,828 passengers
Crew	620

MV Zenith is a cruise ship owned by the Spain-based shipping company Pullmantur Cruises. She was built in 1992 by Meyer Werft, Papenburg, Germany for Celebrity Cruises.

History

The Zenith was built as a sister ship to Celebrity Cruises' first newbuild MV Horizon. Her interiors were designed by Michael Katsourakis and British designer John McNeece. The Zenith was delivered in February 1992 and set under Liberian flag. She was used for cruises from Florida to the Caribbean and Bermuda islands. In 2002 she was reflagged in the Bahamas. In 2007 she was transferred to Pullmantur Cruises and used for cruises around the Mediterranean.

A 7-Night cruise from 11 to 18 March 1995 aboard the Zenith is the subject of David Foster Wallace's 1995 essay "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again" (collected in a collection of the same name and originally published in Harper's as "Shipping Out"). Wallace refers to the Zenith as the Nadir throughout (although he insists "the rechristening's nothing particular against the ship itself").

In 2014, the Zenith was moved to the fleet of CDF Croisieres de France, joining her sister ship the L’Horizon.

CDF Croisières de France brand was discontinued in early 2017. The Zenith returned to the fleet of Pullmantur Cruises in 2017. Ship was sold and left Pullmantur.

Fires

The ship was damaged at the stern on 8 August 2009 when a fire broke out. It was at that moment moored at Frihamnen in Stockholm.

On 26 June 2013 another fire aboard the ship broke out, this time in its engine room causing it to lose power. It had to anchor 17 miles off the coast of Venice, Italy, before four tugboats came to tow it to port. One week later it went to the S.Marco shipyard in the port of Trieste.

Gallery

• 
  Zenith in Celebrity livery at Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
• 
  Zenith in Celebrity livery at Bermuda (2007).
• 
  Zenith in Pullmantur livery at Split, Croatia (2011).

External links

Media related to Zenith (ship, 1992) at Wikimedia Commons

• Celebrity Cruises
• A video clip of Zenith (in Pullmantur livery) leaving Rhodos
• The Zenith page on Croisières de France website