That’s kind of an ominous title, ain’t it?
Twenty-six years ago, my wife and I landed in Orlando for our honeymoon. She didn’t know what we were doing until we got on the plane, and if I’d been a little slower to answer the flight attendant’s “Oh, taking a cruise?” she wouldn’t have known until we pulled up at the pier. I’d wanted to take a cruise for several years; some of my extended family had taken several in the 70s and the idea had intrigued me. Plus, I was certain this was going to be my last honeymoon (and my first one hadn’t been all that special), so why not splurge, right?
We had fun. Homeported in Port Canaveral at the time, Fantasy took us to Freeport, then Nassau, then back to Florida. I remember sitting on the fantail watching a storm chase us on that last night at sea.
She was the lead ship of the eight-ship Fantasy class, and one of the larger boats of the time, as I recall. But she was built in 1990, and that means she’s no longer a spring chicken in the cruising world. The travel industry took a huge hit in 2001 and again this year, so it’s not surprising to hear that Fantasy was sold for scrap.
I was doomscrolling Youtube the other day (though some prefer to call it hopequesting) and happened upon a video from July showing Fantasy’s arrival at the scrapping yards in Aliağa, Turkey.
Here’s a second video of her final arrival, this one from the bridge. Sorry about the vertical format.
I wish I had taken more pictures of our trip, but my mind was otherwise occupied. You’ll have to make do with this photo from our formal dinner and this collection of images from DuckDuckGo.
Here’s one more video to close things out.
So how’s everyone else these days?
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