Speaking to CTN at World Travel Market 2019, Celestyal Cruises’ chief commercial officer, Leslie Peden, stresses how neither Brexit nor the recent Thomas Cook failure has had an impact on business.

The CCO attributes this to the fact that that the cruise line sells in British pounds, which means that both consumer and trade “know what they’re getting upfront”.

“There are no hidden costs,” he explains. “So they’re budgeting and aware of what costs are.”

The other bonus, Peden notes, is that “trade doesn’t have to worry about currency fluctuations between the pound and US dollar as this has been quite volatile”.

The Greek-specialist cruise line offers all-inclusive sailings to some of the most popular regions in the Mediterranean, which is what makes it very appealing to consumers and as such, “an easy sell” for travel agents, according to Peden.

The CCO has described the last two years as having been “incredibly strong” for Celestyal Cruises, reaching 108,000 passengers in 2018. While the year is not yet over, Peden informs us that Celestyal is well on its way to reaching its target of 130,000 passengers and has already exceeded its revenue target this year.

He attributes this growth to a number of factors, particularly opening up its on-sale six months earlier, which has given them a “far greater lead time to get the message into the market”, and for opening up more channels of distribution.

With 3.2 million Brits visiting Greece every year, Celestyal has invested heavily in supporting trade partners in the UK over the past two years. Currently with a six-strong team, the company is now looking to recruit a new business development manager in Scotland and Ireland.

Peden believes the expansion of the UK team is “a very strong indication of the growth we are seeing in the market, but also the potential to accelerate that growth”.

The company has also diversified its product offering by extending its seasonality to include winter sailings, such as the Adriatic out of Venice for the first time in 30 November 2020.

Peden and the team have found that this has really “resonated with the British travel agent as well as guests” and has subsequently “introduced a new customer into cruising”.

Peden notes how Celestyal’s fastest growing demographic is officially between the ages of 45 and 54, but “in reality around 40 to 54”.

Along with winter sailings, Celestyal Cruises has also introduced city break-style itineraries, which include six destinations in three nights or seven destinations in four nights.

“With a lot of our guests being what we call ‘travellers’ rather than cruisers, they’re looking for enrichment and authentic experiences,” explains Peden. “We can take them to lesser-known destinations in Greece that other cruise lines don’t visit, such as Patmos and Volos.”

What also differentiates Celestyal from its competitors is the fact that it offers eastern Mediterranean cruises to destinations many cruise lines have pulled out of in recent years, including Turkey, having been the first to bring back Istanbul overnight stays with its Aegean itinerary.

In this way, Celestyal is “trailblazing by introducing destinations that both trade and consumer aren’t necessarily aware of”.

With so many destinations, Peden stresses how importance it is to train its trade partners. The cruise line will be introducing its first online training portal for agents in January 2020. This will have a varying level of incentives available.

By investing a huge amount in PR and educational work, Peden notes how brand awareness “increased tremendously in the UK” and the cruise line is “no longer an unknown brand and entity”.

As well as offering group fam trips next year, Celestyal will also be offering single fam trips with a 60 per cent discount on an all-inclusive rate, which is honoured for the agent’s partner should they accompany them.

While the cruise line is growing its trade partners, it is still being selective in whom it works with as Peden notes “we’d rather have fewer, better relationships than spread ourselves in”.

It is therefore focusing on building relationships with cruise specialists and the next phase will be to develop relations with consortia.

For more information, visit celestyalcruises.co.uk.