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Celestyal: “Arabia will be fastest-growing cruise region in next 10 years”

Lee Haslett, Celestyal

Following the launch of its inaugural winter season in the Arabian Gulf, Cruise Trade News caught up with Lee Haslett, chief commercial officer, Celestyal to learn more about the line’s aspirations for the region

On Monday morning (9 December) Celestyal Journey made its way into Dubai Marina, flanked by two wooden dhow boats, to mark the line’s first-ever call into the Emirate. Its arrival was the beginning of the ship’s seven-day ‘Desert Days’ itinerary, sailing roundtrip from Dubai, calling at Khasab, Sir Bani Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Bahrain.

After a set back that saw the sailing, originally set for 9 November, get rescheduled due to political unrest in the Red Sea region, the ship’s arrival means the line now operates a year-round international cruise programme, complementing its existing Mediterranean and Aegean itineraries.

Cruise Trade News editor Jack Carter caught up with Haslett onboard Celestyal Journey ahead of a private launch event, which featured a special guest performance from UK artist Tinie (formerly Tinie Tempah), to map the line’s ambitious growth plans for the Arabian Gulf market.

How significant is it for you and the team to see a Celestyal ship out here the Arabian Gulf?

We’ve operated historically on a seasonal basis, being famous for our Mediterranean sailings for many years and to finally have the ship in port is a major milestone for us as a business.

It took us 34 days to get the ship here, sailing around Africa with no passengers onboard. We’re a business with two vessels so that was a big hit for us to take, so this reflected our commitment to the region.

This is the start of a multiyear presence here in the Arabian Gulf and it’s incredibly exciting to see the Dubai skyline glowing behind the ship.

What have been some of the biggest challenges you faced in the lead up to the launch?

We first started developing this idea around 18 months ago. When we acquired Celestyal Journey and had plans to acquire Celestyal Discovery, we knew that the vessels were designed to operate all year-round, so we started to develop a winter programme.

We spoke to a lot of our guests and our travel agent partners, and we looked at the traditional winter destinations that cruise ships go to, which are already quite saturated. Take the Caribbean, for example, which is very much dominated by bigger ships or uber-luxury vessels.

Celestyal Journey
Celestyal Journey sailed into Dubai Marina for the first time on Monday morning (9 December)

When we started to scout different parts of the world, the Arabian Gulf felt like a natural place for us to come to. It’s got iconic ports like Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as well as lesser-known destinations such as Fujairah, Khasab and Oman. You’ve also got Sir Baniyas Island, which is a great for a beach day, but it’s also got amazing nature there. We’ve purposefully designed our itineraries so we’re in a new port every day.

What’s more, if you look at the cruise lines currently operating here, there are a lot of big ships deployed in the region so there’s a real opportunity to invite a new kind of demographic.

We really believe that this part of the world is going to be one of the fastest growing cruise destinations in the next 10-15 years.

What are some of this region’s strengths when it comes to a cruise holiday?

For me, one of the strengths of this region is its port infrastructure. Our home port in Doha, where you walk through an enormous aquarium to board the ship, is phenomenal. But even the infrastructure of some of the smaller ports is very good.

Another strength is its airlift. I read an article recently saying Dubai Airport is now the world’s largest. If you look at the number of people who stop in Dubai as opposed to using the airport to connect onto other flights, the figure has grown to around 60 per cent.

Although we’re a small cruise line, we work on a global scale and we source guests from many markets, so partnerships with airlines are really important to us, which we’ve got here.

That’s interesting to see travellers are spending longer in Dubai. Do you have any plans to try and target those transient passengers specifically?

In the Mediterranean we offer three types of itineraries: a seven-night, a four-night and a three-night. We’ve decided to offer that here in the Gulf as well, meaning next year we’ll have Discovery and Journey operating in the region. Discovery will home port in Abu Dhabi and Journey will continue to home port in Qatar.

The shorter cruises turnaround on a Friday and a Monday, so it means guests could spend seven nights in the region and do four of those with us or they could cruise over a long weekend before flying on.

Celestyal Tinie Tempah
Tinie (formerly Tinie Tempah) performing in Celestyal Journey’s Ocean Bar & Lounge

I think this could be really popular with guests who have flown 13 hours from Sydney to Abu Dhabi who might want to do a three-night cruise where they’ll be able to see Dubai and Sir Baniyas Island before connecting to their final destination.

I can see our three- and four-night itineraries on Discovery doing well next year, which is why we’re working with our airline partners to get our product in front of even more travel agents.

Last week you hosted a super fam to promote Celestyal’s launch in the Arabian Gulf. What were some of the highlights and what feedback did you get from the agents who attended?

We invited agents from all over around the world. We had a big cohort from Australia and a large group from the UK from agencies such as Aviate, Iglu and Interconnect, as well as representatives from France, Greece and Turkey. I joined them for the El Classico Legends match in Doha, where we saw Ronaldinho roll back the years by scoring a phenomenal free kick.

Watching the Qatar Grand Prix was also a highlight. The group got to do a pit walk and then they got spend some time onboard with Formula 1 driver David Coulthard and broadcaster Laura Winter.

About 90 per cent of the group had never been to this part of the world before and they were incredibly complimentary about the destination and how much there is to do there.

We got equally good feedback about the itinerary and the vessel and we’ve already had emails flood in from the agents saying the trip has given them strong ideas about how they’re going to promote the itinerary to their various markets.

The proof will now be in how many bookings they confirm for next season and the end of this season. But even since we launched on 30 November, the increase in bookings has been phenomenal.

You’ve already seen an impact in the space of a week?

Absolutely, our bookings have quadrupled from last week to the previous week. We’ve also had hundreds of passengers book for before the end of year to the point where our occupancy rate is now more than 110 per cent and we’re getting close to full occupancy for the next two sailings, which is phenomenal for our first winter season.

You’ve already announced that you will be launching a second ship in the Arabian Gulf in time for next winter. How confident are you that demand will keep up with the with the increase in inventory?

I’m as confident as I can be here today, but we have two challenges with launching Discovery next year in Abu Dhabi. The first is needing to fill the ship; the second one is promoting the three- and four-night itineraries.

Traditional cruise-goers are used to doing seven, ten or 14 nights, but we’re looking to do something very different, which is why we launched Journey first with its seven-night itineraries.

If you look at some of the ships already deployed in this region, they’ve got 5-6,000 guests onboard. Our challenge is to find guests with the right mindset who want to sail on a mid-sized ship, visit more ports and go deeper into the destination. That’s 1,200 guests per ship that we need to find, but I take confidence from how well the Mediterranean season has gone.

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