Celestyal Cruises has a long pedigree. Its parent company, Louis PLC, was the first travel agency in Cyprus in 1935. The vintage operator of Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean cruises is now embarked on a major relaunch of the brand and the product.
In March Celestyal introduced a new ship, the Journey, which represents the new course it is charting for its redefined future. In September the Journey will replace the Crystal, which will be retired.
In recent years, Celestyal’s fleet has consisted of the Crystal and the Olympia. The Journey represents the new direction of the company.
A new, as yet unnamed, ship will be announced in the near future to replace the Olympia. The new ship will be similar in design and features to the Journey. The differences between the Crystal and its replacement, Journey, illustrate the change in the direction of the company.
Carving a New Niche
Like the Crystal and the Olympia, the Journey is a medium-sized vessel that can get access to places where the megaships can’t go. Celestyal calls them “moderate-sized ships with a big-ship feel… spacious, comfortable and complete with a wide range of facilities and services…” The new ships will continue the basic model, but will be a distinct upgrade from their predecessors.
The Journey has slightly more capacity, with 630 staterooms for 1,258 passengers (or a max of 1,512), in contrast to the Crystal, which had 480 staterooms to accommodate 1,200 passengers.
While the Crystal had essentially two restaurants, a café and some food stations on board, the Journey will offer seven varieties of dining experience. That will include a private chef’s table, live cooking demonstrations, pan-Asian cuisine at Pink Moon, Greek cuisine at Fig and Honey, and Mediterranean specialties at Smoked Olive.
The Journey also has eight bars and lounges, including a champagne bar and wine cellars. Deck 11 is dedicated to the Sozo Experience (inspired by the Greek word for ‘regeneration’). It’s Celestyal’s tribute to wellness, with jacuzzis, spas and workout rooms with phenomenal views.
The ship’s interior design emphasizes the celestial, star-gazing theme throughout, with its Cosmos cabins, its 120 Junior Dream Suites and 28 Grand Dream Suites with balconies. The theme culminates in the Stargazing Suite, which Celestyal’s chief commercial officer, Lee Haslett, calls, “a heavenly oasis for the really adventurous explorer.”
Catering to the rising tide of travelers looking for cultural immersion, Celestyal will style its marketing to emphasize the value it brings by virtue of its heritage as a Greek cruise operator, originating in Cyprus and at home in the Greek islands.
“We want to lean into the fact that we are a Greek cruise company,” he said. “That’s our heritage. We can take you deeper.”
Engineering a Restart
Louis Cruise Lines was launched by Louis PLC in 1987 and was rebranded in 2014 as Celestyal Cruises.
Lee Haslett, who comes to Celestyal after 14 years with Virgin Atlantic, says the company had strong financial performance and a solid growth plan in pre-COVID times.
But when COVID strangled the industry, Celestyal was forced to cut back its expansion plans and sell its Experience, a ship that it had purchased only a year before from Carnival Corp. Originally slated to begin sailing in March 2022, it would have been the company’s third ship.
Near the end of 2021, Celestyal took investment from the New York/London-based private equity fund Searchlight Capital. Searchlight took a 60 percent share of the company with plans to invest generously to grow the brand and the product.
“We’ve taken some private equity investment to fund that growth at a faster pace,” said Haslett, “which includes some new ships.”
After replacing the Crystal and the Olympia, the new ships will be the basis for building Celestyal’s new fleet.
“We’ll expand either by purchasing existing vessels, or it could be new builds,” said Haslett. “We plan to renew with newer vessels, invest in the brand and invest in the on-board experience. We’ll use that as the growth plan into 2025. Then we’ll look at further investment from there.”
Marketing Strategy
Celestyal is targeting three customer profiles, or mindsets, as Haslett refers to them: The Premium Creator, the Cultural Escapist, and the Wellness Wanderer.
The Premium Creator is “a person who wants an elevated experience,” he said. “Not luxury, but premium.”
The Cultural Escapist is “a consumer who wants to immerse himself in the culture, maybe eat like a local,” he said.
The Wellness Wanderer profile refers to people who are focused on wellness, but not necessarily in the way that term was defined in the past.
“How that was seen before is that they have to have the biggest gym, but that’s not what we mean,” said Haslett. “It’s more the digital detox, switching off to the world we live in. Yes, we’ll have gyms and spas and so forth, but it’s not just that. It’s in our food offering as well. How do we connect people culturally to the destinations we serve? How do we have this enrichment, this mind, body and soul wellness, but at the same time how do we continue to offer the premium elevated experience?”
The key to achieving the elevated experience is the destination immersion that Celestyal offers, as a native of the region.
“One of the things our guests have told us they absolutely love is the destination immersion,” said Haslett. “Our ships go deeper into the destination. They love the thoughtfulness and care of our crew, but they also love the value of the elevated experience that we can provide.”
Offerings
Celestyal offers three core itinerary templates, with various assortments of destinations. The Crystal (to be replaced by the Journey in September), does all seven-night itineraries. The Olympia does three- and four-night itineraries.
“The three- and four-night itineraries are a strong point of difference for us,” said Haslett. “We have a 98 percent market share of three- and four-night itineraries, which is to say that no one else is doing them like we are. Those itineraries are really strong. They embark/disembark from Athens.”
On the three- and four-night itineraries there are no sea days, which distinguishes them from most cruise lines offering Greek Island cruises.
“In our three’ and four-night itineraries we see quite a number of ports,” said Haslett. “We see seven ports on the four-night cruises and six on the three-night.”
The shorter itineraries on Olympia are focused on Greece, including islands such as Santorini, Mykonos and Patmos, as well as Kusadasi, Turkey.
The seven-night itineraries on Crystal and Journey include more of Greece, and places such as Corfu and Crete. The company also offers a three-continent itinerary that includes Egypt, Israel, Greece and Turkey, and one that includes Montenegro.
“The core of what we do,” he said, “What we are famous for is the Greek Islands, and going deeper into them and some of the destinations, because we are mid-sized, smaller vessels,
12-1400 passengers. That allows us to go deeper into places where larger vessels can’t. That’s why we’re so port-intensive as well.”
Compared to the megaships with 5,000 passengers, “ours are a lot more spacious,” he said. “They can embark and disembark faster. Where some ships can’t get into the port and have to tender, we can get closer into the port.”
Sold. In my humble opinion, when it comes to Greek Island cruising, small is beautiful.
David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.
