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Tag: celestyal

  • Updates on New Ships for Celestyal, American Cruise Lines, and Sunstone Ships

    Updates on New Ships for Celestyal, American Cruise Lines, and Sunstone Ships

    Three cruise companies, Celestyal, American Cruise Lines, and Sunstone Ships, recently announced some major progress on new ships. Whether these ships are still being constructed, being tested, or just being renamed, it’s always exciting to track the progress of the newest vessels in the industry. Let’s see what these companies have in store for us!

    Celestyal

    Up until two months ago, Celestyal Cruises had only two active ships in its fleet. The small, Cyprus-based cruise line caters to the Greek market, and it is the only cruise line in the area. They are waiting until March 2021 to get back into business, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t working on things behind-the-scenes. They purchased their third vessel from Costa back in August. Previously known as the Costa neoRomantica, Celestyal has now christened the ship Celestyal Experience. In addition to the new name, the cruise line has also begun a number of aesthetic changes to the ship, including adding their logo. It is expected to sail in 2021 alongside Celestyal’s other ships.

    American Cruise Lines

    American Cruise Lines is a small cruise line (yes, it’s only one cruise line, not multiple) that is focused on bringing riverboats into a more modern context. Their newest ship, American Jazz, will do exactly that. It is set to cruise the lower Mississippi River in comfort and style, with each room featuring balconies and full-size restrooms. American Jazz reached a milestone in its career by successfully undergoing sea trials in early September, meaning that the ship is nearly ready for commercial use. The ship has now been delivered to American Cruise Lines.

    Sunstone Ships

    Sunstone Ships is not technically a cruise line itself, but rather a China-based company that charters their ships to other cruise lines. Sunstone currently has six ships that are being worked on, and the most recent update from them says that everything is going according to plan. Three ships are expected this year: Ocean Explorer, Ocean Victory, and Slyvia Earle. Ocean Odyssey and Ocean Albatros (not “albatross”) will be completed in 2022, and Ocean Discoverer will be completed in early 2023. Cruise lines ranging from Victory Cruise Lines to Aurora Expeditions will be chartering the ships.

    Even though the commercial operations of most cruise lines are still on pause right now, it’s good to see that things are still progressing within the industry. We’re definitely looking forward to seeing plenty of new ships in the coming years!

  • Two New Assurance Policies for Those Worried About Coronavirus on Cruises

    Two New Assurance Policies for Those Worried About Coronavirus on Cruises

    One of the major (and often overlooked) aspects of the way coronavirus has been affecting the cruise industry is in individual cancellations. As people grow more worried, more and more people are trending towards cancelling any trips that they may have been going on to help prevent exposure to the virus. This also goes the other way: as the industry takes a hit from the perception of cruises, lots of itineraries are needing to be cancelled, causing companies to have to dole out big refunds or reschedulings to travelers. It’s a bit of a mess, really, and travelers are becoming more suspicious of whether or not it’s a wise idea to buy a cruise trip right now. After all, what’s the point if you’re going to need to cancel and lose out on all the money you spent?

    Well, cruise lines are starting to notice this trend. In order to hopefully save some of the business that they may have lost, they have started to implement more lenient policies about cancellations and reschedulings. Here the two latest examples from two different cruise lines.

    Ponant

    Ponant, a luxury cruise line based in France, has been around since 1988. Needless to say, there hasn’t been an event since their formation that has caused them to rethink their cancellation policies as much as coronavirus. As a response to these unique circumstances, they have implemented their new “Worry Free Booking” policy. If you book a 2020 cruise, you’re only required to put down a 10% deposit, and you can cancel up to 30 days ahead of your trip and still get a full refund. Bookings for 2020, 2021 and 2022 can also all be cancelled up to 90 days after confirmation and travelers will get all their money back. This plan is effective as of right now.

    Celestyal

    Celestyal Cruises, a line out of Cyprus, has instituted a similar policy to Ponant. Dubbed the “Peace of Mind Policy,” it too looks to relax those looking to book in the time of COVID-19. For those with bookings currently, they can cancel within a week of departure and get a 100% credit that can be used on bookings for later on in 2020 or 2021.

    In the announcement of this new policy, Celestyal said “we understand that these uncertain times can be unsettling, but we are optimistic about the future and we want to allow our guests to be reassured and feel comfortable in carrying on with their existing vacation plans or making future travel plans.” Hey, if they’re optimistic, we are too! These are definitely unsettling times, but we’re confident that things will (slowly) start to get back to normal if we can all just get through it.

  • The Most Recent Coronavirus-related Cruise Cancellations

    The Most Recent Coronavirus-related Cruise Cancellations

    Well folks, it seems that the cancellations relating to coronavirus aren’t exactly slowing down this week. It’s like they say: things need to get worse before they get better. And don’t lose hope, because they definitely will get better! (Don’t take our word for it, though). It’s a fact that coronavirus will pass and one day we will be looking back at it and laughing about all the fun, crazy times we had during it. Well, okay, probably not. But still, it will be a distant memory one day, for sure. Until that day though, the cruise industry is having to find ways to deal with the disease. On that note, here are the latest cruise cancellations.

    Celestyal

    Celestyal will be suspending operations until May 1. The company released a statement saying, “with an increasing number of temporary closures to cruise ports for select nationals, major attractons and some countries imposing restrictions on public gatherings and visitors, a destination rich company such as Celestyal Cruises is prevented from delivering our promised experience at this time.” Those with bookings cancelled by this decision will receive a 120% credit that they can redeem up until the beginning of 2022.

    Princess

    Princess Cruises is making a move very similar to Celestyal and is suspending operations until May 10. Guests will get a 100% refund that can be used towards another Princess cruise that departs by May of 2022. There is also a cash refund option that guests can access at princess.com. Officials from the company noted that it would be wise to use the website rather than to call, as their lines are understandably quite busy at the moment.

    Viking

    Viking will also be suspending operations until May 1. This goes for both their river and ocean cruises. This comes in light of a guest on one of their recent river cruises being exposed to the disease, forcing all 29 passengers to be put into quarantine. Knowing that more of these quarantine situations could arise, they instead chose to cancel cruises until May, saying “at which time we believe Viking will be in a better place to provide the experiences our guests expect and deserve.”

    This statement by Viking is one that will hopefully be a blueprint going forward. For these major companies needing to cancel operations completely, we hope that the downtime afforded them by it will allow them to figure out novel and creative ways to make their ships safer. Until then, we will see what other cruise companies need to duck out due to this tricky disease. Curse you, coronavirus!

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