GTS Celebrity Infinity (formerly Infinity) is a Millennium-class cruise ship operated by Celebrity Cruises, a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group. Delivered in 2001, she is the second Millennium-class ship and measures 90,940 GT.

History

Planning and construction

In February 1998, Royal Caribbean signed a letter of intent with 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. 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.

In March 2000, Celebrity announced the second Millennium-class ship would be named Infinity. On 9 June 2000, she was launched from the shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. On 25 February 2001, Celebrity took delivery of Infinity in Fort Lauderdale, Florida after she embarked on a transatlantic crossing from Saint-Nazaire. Formal naming festivities were held on 29 April 2001 in Los Angeles, where Infinity was christened by Solveig Wilhelmsen.

Operational career

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. However, the voyage was later postponed by one month to 3 March 2001. Her inaugural season also included cruises to Hawaii before she headed to Alaska in summer 2001, joining fleet-mate Mercury.

Since 2002, she has also cruised to South America, Antarctica, the Caribbean from San Juan, Puerto Rico and Fort Lauderdale, and Europe from Harwich and throughout the Mediterranean.

Design and specifications

Along with her sister ships, Infinity is equipped with a turbo-electric COGAS power plant. 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. In this way, some of the otherwise lost energy is reclaimed and the specific fuel consumption of the plant is decreased. Propulsion is provided by two "Mermaid" azimuth pod-propulsion units from Kamewa and Cegelec (now Alstom). The ship also has three bow thrusters.