Celestyal will expand into the Persian Gulf later this year and offer a year-round schedule from March 2024.

Chief commercial officer Lee Haslett said the line is “incredibly committed” to growing its presence in the UK, with the move to a year-round programme helping drive the line’s trade business.

Celestyal will offer sailings out of Doha from 9 November, with a new seven-night Desert Days itinerary on board Celestyal Journey, calling in Bahrain, Dubai, Khasab and Sir Bani Yas. Prices start from £469pp.

The itinerary, which is now on sale and features as part of the line’s wave campaign, will run through to 18 January 2025 and subsequently return as a permanent feature for the winter season.

“I think this is a massive opportunity for agents in the UK as there is really strong airlift available to this part of the world, which is already a really popular winter sun destination with Brits,” Haslett said.

“Travel agents are going to play a massive part in our success. We are hopeful we can get them incredibly excited with what we are planning.”

Celestyal details new year-round itineraries

Celestyal’s two-ship fleet will now operate year-round sailings, having previously only sailed from March to December.

Its new winter programme will run from November to April, with Celestyal Journey sailing out of Doha and the 1,266-passenger Celestyal Discovery – which joins the fleet this year – delivering the Three Continents cruise from November to March 2025.

The move comes following significant investment from the brand into its UK operation, in a bid to increase its UK business from less than 10% to 15-20%.

“Travel partners are pivotal in that growth for us, we want to widen our distribution in the UK by working with more agents.” added vice president of brand, marketing and customer journey Anna Gregori.

Trade to play ‘pivotal part’ in Celestyal’s UK plans

Gregori said the brand would “like to get at least 100 agents on board” its product this year, across a mix of its core itineraries and additional sailings in 2024.

Meanwhile, Janet Parton, Celestyal vice president of business development UK, Europe and Australia, confirmed the brand will double its trade sales team in the UK this year, with recruitment already underway.

“We don’t take trade business for granted,” Parton said. “We know they have lots of cruise lines they could work with, but we are really proud of the relationships we have built with our partners.

“We have the ability to be agile for agents, and we don’t have that ‘one size fits’ all approach – we speak to agents to find out what it is they need from us, and tailor our support to meet their needs.”

The line also plans to double its brand, marketing, and communications team with a further six appointments, as part of an additional investment of €2.5m to support overall brand evolution in 2024.