Celestyal Cruises, a small line known for sailing to the Greek islands and the eastern Mediterranean, is giving its pricing structure and one of its ships a major makeover. Brandon Townsley, the brand's vice president and managing director for North America, spoke with cruise editor Andrea Zelinski about its North American business, what's changing with its product and why.
Brandon Townsley
Q: How is Celestyal's business in the U.S. market?
A: We're done for '24, but looking forward, 2025 looks extremely positive. It's not without holes that need to be filled, but the overall outlook is very good. We're very excited about our positioning going into 2025, particularly because in a couple of weeks for the first time we'll start our Arabian Gulf deployment with our Desert Days itineraries, and that's going very, very well. For this deployment, we're over-indexing from the North American market, which is a pleasant surprise.
Q: What kind of reception are you getting from travel advisors in North America?
A: Our brand awareness is picking up. That interest is driven by our traditional Greek Isles itineraries, our seven-night Idyllic Aegean as well as our three- and four-night Iconic Aegean. What's great as a conversation starter is when they're like, "Oh, you go to the Adriatic, as well? Oh, you go to the Arabian Gulf, as well?" Our Aegean, our Greek Isles itinerary starts the conversation, but then the conversation gets bigger when they discover the other regions we also sail in.
Q: Celestyal is replacing its food and beverage packages with a "prepaid wallet" pricing structure (on bookings from Dec. 11 for cruises on March 21 and beyond). Why the change?
A: It was very confusing for travel sellers to sell and communicate the amenities of each experience to their clients. We really just wanted to streamline it as much as possible, particularly when it came to included drinks and what's included during meals. Get rid of all that noise and then add value. The impetus behind it was really to get things streamlined and make Celestyal easier to sell for travel sellers and travel agencies, not only in North America but around the world. I think we had 14 different types of drink packages that were offered to guests. So, let's get rid of all that and just go to what we call a food and beverage wallet, which is now CelestyalPay. And if you prepay a certain amount, we add a bonus to it (For example, 100 euros will be added by the line to a prepurchase of 500 euros).
Q: What if guests don't know how much to deposit in their "wallet"?
A: There will be an AI tool for both travel advisors and guests to use. They can say, "I don't know how much I'm going to spend onboard. Do I do $300? Do I only do $200?" It's going to be a calculator, so you can put in, "I'll probably spend this amount of money on drinks, or have this many drinks; and maybe I'll want to go to a specialty restaurant one night." This AI tool will tell either the travel agent or the guest how much to prepurchase. And they could purchase what we call a "bump up," or an add-on, while onboard. That's going to be launched on Dec. 11 with our new website and travel advisor portal.
Q: You are also adding 47 staterooms to the Celestyal Discovery, including two Grand Horizon Suites with expansive balconies above the bridge. What's the big-picture goal of this refit?
A: To create more premium accommodations for the guests. We're going to increase the number of balcony and oceanview staterooms to give the ship a more premium mix of accommodations. Plus, we're adding more suites. The Discovery today only has four. We're going to have more with the Horizon suites and also a few more inside rooms for our tour operator partners. It gives a richer mix of accommodations for advisors to sell.