Celestyal Cruises said in a press release that it is on track to successfully complete its summer itineraries.
The “Legendary Archipelago” on the Celestyal Olympia and the adjusted “Idyllic Aegean” itinerary on the Celestyal Crystal as per their schedule conclude on August 30 and August 28 respectively.
According to the company, the 2021 summer season has proven to be an important first step in gradually returning to a more normalized operating environment following the pause of operations throughout 2020.
Citing current travel restrictions for its long-haul source markets for fall and winter sailings, the company has decided to postpone its fall and winter sailings. The company said that travelers have been less willing to take the necessary steps to travel this fall and winter especially for trips of shorter duration and have indicated a clear preference to defer their cruises until 2022.
Operations will thus resume in March 2022 on the company’s previously announced programs.
“I am extremely proud of our employees, crew, our business partners and the communities we serve for coming together during this successful summer season to provide a highly enjoyable experience for our guests while implementing our enhanced health protocols. We are confident our decision to postpone the fall and winter itineraries is the right one. Celestyal continues to draw a large portion of our guests from a number of global source markets that each have their specific preferred travel period, and it became apparent to us that these core markets have become less interested in being inconvenienced by the current and ongoing travel restrictions in place — particularly for shorter duration trips in the fall and winter. At the start of the pandemic in 2020, we were one of the first cruise lines to pause our operation in reaction to the operating realities, and this is what we are also doing at this juncture,” said Celestyal Cruises’ CEO, Chris Theophilides.
All named and paid individual guests impacted on 2021 sailings from September through December will have the option to receive full refunds or apply their deposits to 2022 or 2023 sailings with a 20 percent bonus value to be applied to their future sailing.
“In the coming months, we look forward to announcing new experiences to be enjoyed by guests in 2022 and beyond. We will also be launching a new reservations system for our travel advisor partners this fall with enhanced self-service functionality. We are already seeing strong booking demand for next year as we set to begin our 2022 operating season in March and are very much looking forward to welcoming our guests back onboard and continue to deliver the unique Celestyal destination focused experience in what looks to be an even more normalized environment,” Theophilides added.
