After a difficult period for the cruise industry due to the pandemic, cruise industry starts again. How ready is Celestyal Cruises to face any rapid challenges in the near future?
The year 2020 will be remembered as a global public health crisis that primarily impacted the tourism, travel and hospitality sectors. It is widely accepted that the cruise industry has been one of the worst affected when compared with all other global travel industry sectors.
Following Celestyal Cruises’ successful 2019 which saw them carry more than 120,000 guests from 140 nationalities, all efforts turned to successfully managing the pandemic and preparing for the resumption of operations in June 2021. Celestyal reacted promptly and responsibly, taking all necessary decisions and steps to ensure the health, safety and well-being of its guests, office personnel and crew as well as the communities it visits. It was one of the first cruise lines to suspend operation in March 2020 and to also manage the prompt and safe repatriation of its entire crew. These actions were immediately followed by the swift implementation of health and safety protocols as well as remote working for its office personnel.
While the pandemic forced a temporary but prolonged pause of Celestyal Cruises’ operations, it was important to look to the future with optimism and turn challenges into opportunities. To that end we have worked closely with all our stakeholders and authorities such as CLIA, EU Health Gateways, Ministries of Shipping and Tourism, Ports, and destinations to implement robust health and safety protocols including the introduction of state-of-the-art ventilation systems and newly introduced contact tracing technology to name a few. As a result of these swift actions, Celestyal Cruises was able to operate smoothly and successfully during June, July and August.
Maintaining its business growth as its fundamental strategic plan, along with the upgrade and improvement of its services, Celestyal Cruises is always flexible and prepared to adjust to all challenges that may occur and demonstrate its commitment to the overall experience offered to its guests and to the sustainable development of cruising sector in Greece.
* Public Relations Manager Celestyal CRUISES
The answer was provided for NAFS magazine issue 143 in its special report “WOMEN in SHEPPING”