The end for some cruise ships

In Aug 2020 I did a blog about cruise ships moored along the south coast of England, due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Cruising worldwide had come to an end by April 2020, BBC article "Coronavirus journey: The 'last cruise ship on Earth' finally comes home" describes how the last 3 cruise ships at sea with passengers docked on 20 April. 

And one year later, the majority of cruise lines still weren't sailing. A few were doing very limited routes. Some cruise lines collapsed, including my favourite, the British company Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV). The CMV ships were old but had character and most importantly for me, were small, meaning less passengers. CMV went under on 20 July 2020. I had 2 cruises booked, having already transferred them from earlier ones that had been cancelled. 

At first it was hoped that the ships would be sold and continue their life as cruise ships. In Nov, the auctions of the CMV fleet was over, with five ships heading to new owners or to scrap. It seemed that at least 2 ships would go for scrap, including my favourite ship, Magellan. She was sold, but then the new owners decided to scrap her. 

Magellan left Tilbury on 11 Nov on her final voyage, to the scrapyard at Alang in India. Alang is in Gujarat state on the northwest of India. Its beaches have become currently the world's largest ship graveyard.

Purely by chance, a friend sent this link to a YouTube video, "How to Beach a Giant Ship" which shows the ferry 'Ostend Spirit' hit the beach for demolition in Aliaga Turkey. The ship is literally run aground at speed into the scrapyard. 

Then on 2 March the BBC News had an article "UK cruise ships scrapped in India's 'ship graveyard'". The article opened with an upsetting photo of Marco Polo ship, already beached at the scrapyard. The article mainly focused on the environmental concerns of scrapping ships and the hazards found in the ship graveyards. BBC also did a feature on Radio 4.

30 Jan 2021, from CMV friends facebook page -

I still don't know what has happened to the ship Columbus, as far as I know she has been sold for scrap. This article of 9 Feb suggests she is going for scrap, "Columbus Is the Next Cruise Ship Most Likely To Be Scrapped". She left Tilbury on 18 Nov 2020, having been there for 218 days. Whereas Magellan left Tilbury quietly, Columbus departed fully lit and gave three long blasts. She is currently (6 March) south of Oman and heading for the west coast of India. 

Magellan in 2019 -

and repainted by 2020  -