Celestyal Experience sold

[johanc]

According to this website Celstyal will sail next year with Crystal and Olympia

 

https://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/celestyal-sells-experience-after-one-year/

[ddaley822]

Aww! I was excited to sail it next August. I hope my suite doesnt get switched for the one with no balcony!

[deniseatnycs]

we had this news today.  We were due to sail the 7 night in May in a suite.  Told the cruise had not been cancelled and they would use our deposit to move us to a similar cabin on the Crystal.

 

Really not happy at all as the two experiences are miles apart for us.

 

Good ending though hopefully, we are getting our deposit refunded

[foodsvcmgr]

 Very surprising and difficult to understand without insider knowledge of the true motivation.

The references to upgrades needed on another site etc. hints at some major technical issues behind the scenes.

Otherwise keeping an older, smaller ship with no balconies in favor of the Experience is baffling.

Hopefully whatever those issues are don’t relegate the ship to a one way tow to Aliaga.

[chrisruthsmith]

13 hours ago, deniseatnycs said:

we had this news today.  We were due to sail the 7 night in May in a suite.  Told the cruise had not been cancelled and they would use our deposit to move us to a similar cabin on the Crystal.

 

Really not happy at all as the two experiences are miles apart for us.

 

Good ending though hopefully, we are getting our deposit refunded

Hello,

 

We're booked on the Celestyal Experience for the 3 continents next March.  Did you get told by email or phone, just wondering as we've had no contact. You'd think they go in date order so I'm surprised we've not been contacted

[foodsvcmgr]

Reading more details on the sale and rationale for same from various maritime sources.

Apparently the ship brought a good price in the $20M range resulting in a net profit to Louis/Celestyal of $3.6M.

Even though they are losing their best ship, it was the easiest of the three to sell and eliminates debt as the company tries to come back from the pandemic.

Possible buyers rumored to be Ambassador or Mystic or Chinese interests.

[travelingman]

If you have followed Celestyal you will know they had been trying to sell the Crystal without any luck.  Speculation is that it was due to it's age and better ships available for the same price.  They only wanted  2 ships when all was said and done.  Since they could not sell the Crystal and think they will be sailing with a smaller passenger population (due to COVID) they thought it did not make since to hold onto the Experience (unfortunate for us passengers).  What could not be derived from any of the articles available is how much did finances play into this decision other than this statement - "The decision to sell Experience will provide the company with enhanced liquidity, the line said, which in combination with zero third party debt forms the continued solid financial foundation to ensure a successful restart in March next year."

Bottom line is that certain passengers will not be in the same cabin category they were in on the Experience.  This will be due to the lower number of suites and balcony cabins available on the Crystal.  Possible that some balcony cabin passengers end up in inside cabins.  Bottom line is that we are the ones that will end up losing out.

Let's just hope they will be able to sail in 2022.

 

Stan

[mail4mel]

has anyone been contacted regarding their cruise in regards to what options they were given?  we were set to end our European trip on the cruise, and not happy about the possibility of being on a lesser ship.  I would like to explore other options, but have the money tied up with them not knowing what options they will give us.

[travelingman]

I was told by TA that the Celestyal website was basically ***** down while Celestyal moves everyone from the Experience to the Crystal.

Just  tried to log into my account still cannot get in.

 

Stan 

[mail4mel]

I just got an email today saying that they changed our suite on the experience to a port window room on the crystal.  It will barely fit the 4 of us.  I've been attempting to get a refund, minus the deposit, since I accidentally paid in full back in May/June.  I find it interesting that this is after a dozen calls to them and today when I said I would like a full refund, I magically get the email about what room they gave us.  It is a huge downgrade and the offer of a $300 onboard credit is ridiculous. 

[foodsvcmgr]

Experience renamed Antares Experience has now been beached for scrapping in Gadani, Pakistan, a strange and unfortunate end for what should have been Celestyal’s new flagship.

Ironically at the moment new investors are recapitalizing Celestyal with the intent of updating the fleet.

I predict they may wind up looking at the ex-Holland America trio currently laid up with no plans by Seajets.

An interesting and developing story to watch.