Corazul Cruceros is seeing booking momentum as it gets ready to debut in late October, COO Camille Appeldoorn told Cruise Industry News.

He added that the startup company, which will initially operate in Brazil, has been reporting week-by-week increases in sales recently.

“We got a lot of group bookings and charter requests coming in. FIT sales are improving, so we’re confident that we’re going to fill the ship,” Appeldoorn added.

“We’re so confident that we are going to run out of capacity at some point. Maybe not so much on the first sailing, but during the season, we’re certainly going to fill up the ship. I’m not worried about that at all.”

Corazul originally planned to launch service in the Mediterranean, with cruises departing from Spain starting in July 2026.

A few months before launching service, the company decided to cancel its inaugural season in the region, citing challenging market conditions in Europe.

At the time, Corazul also stated that a review of global market trends and distribution data pointed to South America as the stronger market for its operations.

Now, the company is evaluating extending its South American deployment into a year-round operation, potentially altering initial plans to reposition the ship to Europe next spring.

“The plan was, of course, always to start in Europe and then come to Brazil. We pivoted that strategy and said we want to start in Brazil,” Appeldoorn explained.

“In our current plan, we go back after the South American summer. So, at the end of March, we conclude the sailings and then go back and start operating in Europe,” he added.

According to Appeldoorn, local authorities have, however, expressed strong support for a permanent deployment in the country.

“I visited all the ports and with all the secretaries of tourism and port agents, everybody asked me the same question: ‘Can you do year-round operations?'” he said.

“So I know there’s a big demand, and we’re looking into it, but also increasing capacity with additional tonnage and additional ships.”

While Appeldoorn confirmed that discussions to acquire additional ships are already underway, other details remain under non-disclosure agreements.

The company’s first ship, the Buenavista, is scheduled to offer three- to seven-night cruises from Santos and Rio de Janeiro.

Currently repositioning to South America, the 1,806-passenger ship is scheduled to welcome its first passengers in late October.