Celestyal Cruises announced the arrival of its new ship, the Celestyal Journey, which will debut in September 2023 taking over the Celestyal Crystal’s program.

“It has always been our mission to renew and rejuvenate our fleet, and we’re thrilled to see this come to fruition with the arrival of the Celestyal Journey. She is already undergoing her extensive refurbishment program and will be deployed in a matter of just a few months,” said Celestyal Cruises’ CEO, Chris Theophilides. 

The ship is the former Ryndam from Holland America Line, and has been acquired from Seajets, who bought the ship from Carnival Corporation in 2020.

“The Celestyal Journey will offer our guests more in the way of premium accommodations with balconies, a greater choice of dining and bar venues, public areas and open decks creating a greater sense of space.  At the same time, the newest member of the Celestyal family continues our tradition of operating intimate, mid-sized vessels, allowing us to take our guests to destinations that larger ships cannot, reinforcing our in-depth regional destination knowledge and genuine, warm Greek hospitality, both of which have consistently been recognized as second to none.”

 The cruise line’s new ship will accommodate up to 1,260 guests and offers 630 staterooms, 149 of which with balconies including 120 are Junior Suites and 28 Grand Suites. The Celestyal Journey will offer guests a variety of venues such as specialty and themed restaurants featuring Mediterranean, European and Asian dishes. Additionally, the ship will have a cooking demonstration area as well as an exclusive Chef’s Table venue. The Celestyal Journey will also include eight bars and lounges.

The Celestyal Journey will set sail on a seven-night “Idyllic Aegean” itinerary on September 2, 2023. In October, the ship will embark on the “Steps of Paul” itinerary, followed by the seven-night “Three Continents” cruise exploring Greece, Egypt, Israel, Cyprus and Turkey.

For the holiday, the Celestyal Journey will be embark on a special festive sailing, the 19-night, special Christmas cruise with calls in Thessaloniki, Volos, Rhodes and Crete (Greece), Izmir, Kusadasi, Antalya, Istanbul (Turkey), Limassol (Cyprus), Alexandria (Egypt) and Haifa (Israel) to where guests can spend both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The voyage can also be split into eight- or nine-night itineraries.