Celestyal Cruises

Celestyal Cruises (formed in 2014 ) is a succession to Louis Cruises and Louis Cruise Lines. The Cruise line was a subsidiary of Louis plc (founded in 1935 as the first travel agency in Cyprus) until November 2021 when Searchlight Capital Partners took a majority share within the Cruise Line.

Celestyal Cruises has two cruise ships: the MS Celestyal Discovery and the MS Celestyal Journey. The cruise line operates out of Athens, Greece offering itineraries on a 3,4- and 7-night basis around the Greek islands, Turkey, and the Eastern Mediterranean. It is reported that it carried 115,000 guests in 2019. Celestyal Cruises operated for six years in Cuba until 2018 and historically chartered ships to Marella Cruises, previously Thomson Cruises.

Celestyal Cruises
In September 2014, Louis Cruises rebranded itself as Celestyal Cruises. It is a subsidiary of Louis plc, founded in 1935 as the first travel agency in Cyprus.

2015
Celestyal renovated some of its fleet in 2015. 43 new balconies were added to Celestyal Crystal, and 227 outside cabins, 21 junior suites, and nine suites were refurbished on Celestyal Olympia. The former is used for cruises in Cuba and Greece,  and the latter travels in Greece.

2016
Celestyal imposed a short-term pause in July in calls at Turkish ports in the wake of the failed coup there.

In October, it was announced that Celestyal Cruises CEO, Kyriakos Anastassiadis, would become Chairman of Cruise Lines International Association Europe with effect from January 2017.

2017
In May, Celestyal launched its redesigned website which was designed to include cruise information as well as company news and details for its value program, Celestyal Inclusive Experience.

Celestyal began a partnership with Hays Travel in September to expand its customer base across the UK, making its cruises available through Hays Tour Operating Limited. Celestyal has also partnered with Air Canada Vacations, Transat, Hola Sun Holidays, Apple Vacations, Iglu and Planet Cruise.

In late 2017, Celestyal announced that it would be extending its cruise season in Greece to 10 months, including seven-night Aegean cruises with overnight destinations in Mykonos and Santorini, and that its 2019 Greek islands itineraries leaving from Piraeus, would have longer stays with more destinations, included Mykonos, Samos or Kusadasi, Patmos, Heraklion (Crete), Rhodes and Santorini. Louis Cruises would add their Majesty to the Celestyal fleet in Greece for Aegean cruises in 2018,   when its charter to Marella Cruises, previously Thomson Cruises, had ended though in July 2018, the ship was sold to the Israeli company Mano Maritime.

2018
In January, Celestyal decided to pull out of Cuba after five seasons, citing the company's need to focus on the growing demand coming from its Greek operation.

In June, Chris Theophilides succeeded Kyriakos Anastasiadis as the Celestyal's CEO, and in August Capt. George Koumpenas was promoted to Chief Operating Officer and Leslie Peden to Chief Commercial Officer. The company announced in December 2018 that it was targeting a 21 percent growth in guest numbers from 108,000 in 2018 to a targeted number of 130,000 guests in 2019.

2019
Celestyal announced April that it would be extending its 2020 season with a new winter itinerary for Celestyal Olympia, with a six-week season in the Adriatic homeporting at Venice from December 2020.

2020
In January 2020, Celestyal Cruises president Kostakis Loizou was honoured for his significant contribution to the Greek cruise industry during the annual general assembly of the Association of Cruise Ship Owners and Maritime Agencies (EEKFN). In February Theophilides revealed that the cruise line's estimated contribution to the Greek economy for 2014-2018 had reached €102.5 million annually. He noted that €28m was in direct operating expenditure and €4.1m to Greek food and beverage suppliers.

In November, Celestyal Cruises announced it had completed a brand refresh with a new logo and strapline - Experience Life, Experience the Journey. The new look brand would debut on its new flagship Celestyal Experience. Peter Economides, owner and founder of brand creator Felix BNI said, "We wanted to capture the Greek DNA through the Greek love of life and to express it in a modernized interpretation of the brand design."

The cruise programme was severely disrupted in 2020 and 2021 by the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021
In January 2021 Celestyal Cruises entered a new partnership with Versonix Corporation to provide its Seaware booking platform to the cruise line. It was said that Versonix was chosen due to Seaware's enhanced revenue management and customer relationship management capabilities.

Celestyal announced in October that it would return to cruising on March 14, 2022 with its offering of 3 and 4-night cruises followed by 7-night cruises on April 30, and the following month said that Thessaloniki would be added as a homeport for its Idyllic Aegean itinerary.

In November, Searchlight Capital Partners bought a majority stake in Celestyal Cruises. Louis plc, Celestyal's Cypriot parent, said that Searchlight, which had an asset portfolio valued at $6bn, would immediately provide an initial tranche of €30m ($33.8) in senior debt financing to the Piraeus-based cruise company, together with a €10m revolving credit facility. The agreement also provided for additional funding of up to €30m to support development plans. Louis would spin off Celestyal into a separate limited partnership company, Celestyal Holdings, in which Searchlight will hold a 60% stake.

COVID-19 Pandemic
As a consequence of the pandemic, Celestyal Cruises suspended all cruises from 13 March 2020, and it was later decided to extend the suspension until 6 March 2021, due to the ongoing uncertainty about travelling to Europe that summer.

Celestyal resumed cruises in June 2021 with its Idyllic Aegean itinerary. Celestyal Cruises put Celestyal Olympia into operation as a second ship in June 2021 with a new itinerary - Legendary Archipelago, visiting Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, Agios Nikolaos and Rhodes as well as Limassol in Cyprus. In August Celestyal announced that it would stop cruises at the end of August 2021 and suspend its autumn and winter seasons due to the increasing number of travel restrictions.

In October 2021, Celestyal Cruises announced that it would restart cruiss on March 14 of 2022 with their offering of 3 and 4-night cruises followed by 7-night cruises on April 30, 2022.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Celestyal Cruises acquired the former Costa neoRomantica from Costa Cruises, and the vessel was renamed Celestyal Experience in August of that year. A year later, the company said, "due to the prolonged effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided not to increase the size of Celestyal Cruises’ fleet at this time and will instead continue to operate the cruise ships Celestyal Olympia and Celestyal Crystal which served the company’s needs well prior to the pandemic. In addition, the sale [of Celestyal Experience] is expected to further support the liquidity of Celestyal Cruises." The ship was renamed Antares Experience by new owners, but sent for scrapping in November 2021.

Awards
At the 2015 Greek Tourism Awards, Celestyal received four awards, one of which was the Gold Award for Themed Events. It also received two Silver Awards and one Bronze Award. The following year, it won the Cruise Line Revelation Award at the Excellence Awards in Cartagena, Spain. Celestyal received the Best Value Cruise Line of 2016 at Cruise Critic UK Editors' Picks Awards, as well as four Greek Tourism Awards in 2016.

Also in 2017, Celestyal received five top Critic Cruiser's Choice Awards, as well as five awards at the Greek Tourism Awards.

Cruise Critic Awards
In December 2017, Cruise Critic UK Editors' Picks Awards recognized Celestyal with Best for Service. Marella Spirit also received three Cruise Critic UK Editors' Picks Awards.

Cruise Critic UK Editors’ Picks Award in December 2018 awarded Celestyal Cruises for Best for Service and received four Cruise Critic Cruisers’ Choice Awards: two first-place awards (for Shore Excursions and Value) and two second-place awards (for Service and Entertainment).

In December 2019 Cruise Critic’s 11th UK Editors’ Picks Awarded Celestyal Cruises Best for Service 2019.

MedCruise Awards
In August 2020, Celestyal Cruises was awarded first prize at the MedCruise Awards 2020 for its solidarity initiatives amid the pandemic and its commitment to develop the cruise sector in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Cruising with Jane McDonald
Celestyal was featured in the final episode of the second season of Jane McDonald's Channel 5 show, Cruising with Jane McDonald in 2017. McDonald went on a Cuban cruise that stopped in Cienfuegos, Santiago de Cuba and Montego Bay, Jamaica with an overnight in Havana.

In January 2019 it was announced that Cruising with Jane new series would feature Celestyal's Idyllic Aegean Cruise featuring the Greek Islands.

Music Videos
In June 2017, Greek urban pop band "REC" were onboard Celestyal Olympiato shoot the summer scenes of its new video clip entitled "A heart on the sand".