Celestyal Cruises, the leading Greek cruise operator with cruises around the Greek islands and the Mediterranean, has announced the suspension of its operations until the 2021 season, which will begin on March 6, 2021.
Celestyal was one of the first cruise lines in the world to make the immediate decision to temporarily suspend cruise operations as a precaution for its passengers and crew in mid-March. This decisive action ensured that no COVID-19 infections occurred on its ships and that passengers and crew were safely repatriated to their home countries before international flights and borders closed worldwide.
Leslie Peden, Chief Commercial Officer of Celestyal Cruises, commented: “By centering our season between spring and autumn, we were optimistic about resuming our cruise operations later this summer. However, given the existing uncertainty regarding travel restrictions for the upcoming operating season in our key international source markets, and the ongoing discussions within the European Union regarding enhanced health protocols for EU cruise operations, we have made the difficult but responsible decision to postpone the resumption of our cruise operations until the usual start date of our spring season next year. We feel that, as a company, we have already subjected travel agents and our customers to enough date changes to safely return to cruising. By pausing operations until our departures next year, Celestyal Cruises will be able to offer greater clarity, certainty, and peace of mind to our valued partners and customers. From this point forward, we are focusing our efforts on developing our business for both 2021 and next year.” 2022, where we see encouraging signs of demand, and we are well prepared to implement the strengthened health protocols that will ultimately be established by the EU and the countries in which we operate. While we appreciate and share the disappointment this decision causes our customers, their well-being, as well as that of our loyal team and the local communities we visit, is always our top priority.”.
For all individual bookings with recorded payments affected by this suspension, Celestyal Cruises is offering a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) valued at 120% of the original booking value. Customers can redeem their Future Cruise Credit until the end of December 2021 for any Celestyal Cruises itinerary departing until the end of December 2022. For added peace of mind, if customers choose not to redeem their FCC by the stated date, they will automatically receive a full refund equal to the amount paid to Celestyal upon the voucher's expiration. Celestyal provides unparalleled confidence to both customers and travel agents by guaranteeing that its FCCs are backed by consumer rights and underlying safeguards, as applicable.
Celestyal Cruises will automatically send the Future Cruise Credit voucher directly to customers or their travel agents, so there will be no need to call the Contact Center except in the case of making a new booking.
Celestyal Cruises has recently launched its 2021 and 2022 digital brochure, supported by the "Escape to the Future" early booking promotion and a reassuring booking policy that allows customers to change their cruise booking departing up to December 31, 2021, for all new bookings made up to August 31, 2020. Provided the booking is changed at least 30 days before the departure date, a future cruise credit will be issued for 100% of the amount received by Celestyal, which can be used for any cruise departing before December 31, 2022.
