Celestyal moving to year-round operations, reveals Arabian Gulf itineraries

The line previously sailed from March to December; 2024 and 2025 itineraries are on sale now.

‘We are going to be moving to a full, year-round operation starting in March with… a completely refreshed fleet, offering an elevated premium experience, really taking Celestyal to New Horizons,’ explained Lee Haslett, Celestyal Cruises' CCO in a briefing on Tuesday.

'We've done a lot of research into this itinerary... At the same time, we have enhanced what we call the “core…”’

Celestyal Journey joined the line in September; Celestyal Discovery will enter the fleet this year. 

Investing in people

The line also plans to double its brand, marketing and communications team by making a further six appointments, with Celestyal Cruises CEO Chris Theophilides describing ‘investment in people’ as crucial. 

‘We've been investing quite heavily on systems and making ourselves easier to do business with. Back of house, we're doing quite a bit of work on making sure technology is there to work closely with the agent community in a seamless fashion,’ the CEO remarked. 

He continued, ‘We've brought in a large number of high calibre colleagues, especially on the commercial side, but not solely on the commercial side. And we've been developing the commercial teams in key markets, most notably the UK and North America. All of these have been fundamental pieces of our vision to take the brand forward.’ 

Arabian Gulf

Celestyal Journey's seven-night ‘Desert Days’ itinerary will set sail on November 9, from Doha, Qatar, and call for the first time at Bahrain, Dubai, Khasab (Oman), Sir Bani Yas Island and Abu Dhabi. 

The itinerary will run through to January 18, 2025, and subsequently return as a permanent feature for the winter season.

‘We want to go over to the Persian Gulf and do things differently, really focusing on finding those unmissable moments, those small shore excursions, small experiences and… some of the bigger experiences, as well,’ noted Haslett. ‘There's big events over in that part of the world that truly are unmissable and we will try and make sure that we do them in Celestyal style.’

Haslett said Celestyal is ‘looking into’ interporting in the region. 

Seasonal voyages 

Celestyal Journey’s ‘Desert Days’ programme is available in winter, with further three-, four-, five- and seven-night options available. The programme will run November to April from Doha. 

Celestyal Discovery will operate a ‘Three Continents’ cruise from November to March 2025, sailing Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Israel, and Egypt.

Celestyal’s core program will run from April to October, with Celestyal Journey operating three itineraries: the ‘Heavenly Adriatic’, ‘Summer Heavenly Adriatic’ – featuring Montenegro, Croatia, Italy, and Greece with maiden calls at Venice – and the ‘Idyllic Aegean,’ visiting the Greek Isles and Turkey from 2025. 

Celestyal Discovery will sail three and four-night ‘Iconic Aegean’ cruises from March to November.

Six new appointments 

The six new appointments are part of an additional investment of €2.5m to support overall brand evolution in 2024 and reinforce the line’s message of ‘creating unmissable experiences, at sea and ashore’.

Celestyal previously stated it will double its UK trade team in 2024, with an additional four recruits.

The new recruits will comprise a trade marketing executive, Europe & Latin America; PR manager, growth markets; lead copywriter; social media manager; brand and customer journey (two roles.)

This follows the recent appointment of Seb Pelisse as trade marketing executive, UK and Australia. 

Less than 10% of Celestyal’s business currently comes from the UK, with Parton aiming to boost that to 15-20%.