Celestyal Cruises is happy with the bookings for its inaugural Western Mediterranean winter program it placed on sale July 1, John Diorio, vice president and managing director North America, said during a media briefing.

The itineraries went on sale roughly five months out from the first December departures, as the line was forced to pivot away from a planned two-ship season in the Middle East.

Diorio said the line was “way ahead of our expectations of bookings” after the first two months, with the repositioning sailings drawing particularly strong demand.

The program moves the Celestyal Discovery west, homeporting at Tarragona for Barcelona-based seven-night sailings to Lisbon.

One itinerary calls at Malaga, Gibraltar, Casablanca and Cadiz, while another visits Tangier, Valencia, Palma and Sète.

Both sailings overnight on the first night in their turnaround port and can be combined into a 14-night itinerary with no duplicate calls. Bookending the season are Athens-Barcelona repositioning voyages.

Winter 2026-27 offers a limited number of sailings, Diorio said, with the full Western Mediterranean season open for winter 2027-28.

The bigger announcement was the Celestyal Journey moving into winter operation for the first time in 2027-28, with seven-night sailings from Athens to Istanbul. The itinerary includes an overnight in Alexandria plus calls at Cyprus and Rhodes, while the return leg from Istanbul takes in Thessaloniki, Volos, Kusadasi and Crete.

The two halves combine into a 14-night Three Continents Explorer, an Athens round trip operating in both directions with overnights in Alexandria, Istanbul and Athens.