Celestyal Cruises is searching for a general sales agent (GSA), as it aims to lure more Brits onboard its ships. Chief executive Kyriakos Anastassiadis gave a timeline of two to three years to set up a UK office.

“It is our objective to find a partner in the UK, a GSA who will actively start selling us. We have started our own internal investigations and during the course of this year, we will approach companies,” he said.

“We are slowly expanding our footprint into Europe, and the UK market is important for us.”

Celestyal has two ships in the Eastern Mediterranean – Celestyal Olympia offers three and four-night itineraries and Celestyal Nefeli offers three, four and seven-night cruises. A third ship Celestyal Crystal is about to embark on its first summer season in Cuba after four successful winter seasons. “We’ve established ourselves there now – we’re the only cruise line offering Cuba-centric itineraries, visiting Havana, Cienfuegos and Santiago de Cuba.”

Anastassiadis said: “We fervently believe people are looking for short breaks, lasting a maximum of a week. We provide travellers with an experience, an immersion into a region.”

As an option for clients who want to see more than one Greek island in a short space of time, he said Celestyal could not be rivalled. “Typically we visit two destinations every day, so in three days you can see five destinations. If you were going the traditional way, by ferry, you’d need at least seven days and the costs would be significantly higher.”

Although Celestyal features Turkish ports in several itineraries, this year there are no departures from Istanbul. Anastassiadis said this absence was a “convenient coincidence” planned in advance of the deteriorating security situation in the city.

However, he acknowledged Turkey was a concern for some potential customers, and the cruise line had found a way to mitigate that on its Iconic itinerary: “We give people a choice to take a tender boat to [the Greek Island] of Samos and not proceed to Kusadasi. They can choose whether they feel happy going to Turkey.”

This year Celestyal has made its packages more inclusive, giving agents an additional commission bonus. “Meals, drinks and shore excursions are all included,” he said. “You pay one price and it takes the hassle away. We know this is a big plus for the trade, when they can participate in that value chain.”

“The trade features very heavily in our plans as most of our sales are through agents,” he said.