Tag Archives: Celebrity Cruises

Chinese travel agency buys Celebrity Cruises ship

Posted on by
1

Chinese travel agency buys Celebrity Cruises ship

By Jerry Limone
Celebrity CenturyRoyal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL), parent of Celebrity Cruises, has agreed to sell the Celebrity Century ship to Ctrip.com International, the largest online travel agency in China.

Ctrip is acquiring the ship through a holding company called Exquisite Marine Ltd., a subsidiary of Skyseas Holding International. Skyseas was founded by Ctrip and other investors to offer cruises to Chinese customers.

Ctrip and RCCL said that they have entered into a memorandum of understanding to form a joint venture to manage the operations of the acquired cruise ship “and potentially broaden the relationship.”

“Ctrip will capitalize on our strong brand, large customer base and superior service quality, as well as our partner’s extensive cruise operating experience, to generate great value to our customers and shareholders,” Ctrip President Min Fan said in a statement.

The 1,815-passenger Century will sail for Celebrity Cruises until April 2015. After that, the ship will be renovated, Ctrip said.

The Century’s final Celebrity cruise has been altered. A 15-night Dubai-to-Rome sailing departing April 5 is now a 14-night cruise from Dubai to Singapore.

Guests have the option to cancel and receive a full refund or take another cruise and receive an onboard credit as well as compensation to cover air change fees.

RCCL said that the sale of Celebrity Century will result in a noncash loss of approximately $20 million. The ship entered service in 1995 and is now the oldest and smallest ship in Celebrity’s fleet.

RCCL Chairman Richard Fain called the ship’s sale “an excellent business opportunity for both Royal Caribbean and Ctrip.”

Celebrity to offer high-end cruise tours

Posted on by
Reply

By Tom Stieghorst
Celebrity Cruises plans to launch regular high-end cruise tours, with the first three set to be offered in 2015.

The product will be known as Celebrity Explorations. Travel agents will earn commission on the land portion at the same rate as their cruise commission, said Dondra Ritzenthaler, Celebrity’s senior vice president of sales and trade support and services.

“We are always trying think of things that our travel partners will like and embrace,” Ritzenthaler said, while at the same time being popular with cruise customers.

A cruise tour that combines a three-night stay and city tour in Sydney with a Celebrity Solstice cruise from Australia will kick off the new venture in January.

In August, Celebrity will begin offering a five-night African safari that will end with a cruise on one of several itineraries from Southampton, England.

Finally, in December, Celebrity will begin offering a river/ocean cruise combination that includes a four-night voyage on the Amazon River and a longer Celebrity Infinity cruise in South America.

Ritzenthaler said there will be other cruise tours developed as time goes by. “The strategy is we’ll continue to give our travel partners and guests Celebrity Explorations on an ongoing basis, so it’s not a one-time deal,” she said.

Celebrity earlier this year promoted a five-night African safari with a Black Sea cruise with departures this fall as part of a pilot program for the new offerings.

Cuisine and culture, sample-sized

Posted on by
Reply

 

By Tom Stieghorst

*InsightA cruise is a great way to try a lot of things in a short time, and usually not as good for experiencing something in depth.

I was reminded of this on a recent cruise in the Mediterranean aboard the Celebrity Silhouette.

The sampling starts upon boarding in the ship’s buffet, Oceanview Cafe. I made a point of trying the Indian food, something I’m not served at home and rarely eat at a restaurant. A spoon of this, a dollop of that and I was on my way.

For dessert, I choose from several trays of cookies, brownies, ice creams, puddings, cream puffs, cakes, pies and tarts. Most were small, or I could choose the portion size, so I could try two or three at each meal.*TomStieghorst

The concept goes beyond food. I heard and saw entertainers that I wouldn’t seek out or likely pay for at home, including the Sin City comedy/burlesque show that Celebrity has adapted from Las Vegas.

I’m not well versed in modern art, but over the course of a seven-day cruise I probably spent half an hour looking at and reading about the ship’s collection. It wasn’t like a visit to an art museum, but it may inspire me to go.

I read parts of four books from the ship’s library and finished none of them.

My wife and I made friends with couples from Germany, England and Spain over end-of-the-day drinks, but I don’t think they’ll be lasting relationships.

Nowhere is the sampler concept more evident than in the destinations that we visited. At our favorite port of call, we were in Greece for about six hours. Part of it was consumed by a quick taxi ride across the island to a nice beach, where we spent about two hours.

After a taxi back to the main town, we did a little pre-dinner shopping and sought out a restaurant we’d read about. We only had a little time for exploring after dinner and then it was back to the ship.

We are dying to return, feeling like we could have spent six days, not six hours.

It was a wonderful cruise but, alas, it was not an immersive experience of Greece. However, in addition to two stops in Greece, we visited Italy, Croatia and Turkey in the course of a seven-night trip. It was a great sampler of that part of the world and not easy to do as seamlessly any other way.