Celestyal Cruises Ends Beverage Packages, Unveils New Fare & More

Celestyal Cruises is rolling out two major changes for 2025: Celestyal One and CelestyalPay.

Celestyal One is a simplified fare structure replacing the previous categories, “Experience” and “Experience Plus.” The new category includes cruise fare, complimentary “essential “ Wi-Fi, coffee, tea, water and juice throughout the day (6:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m.), port fees and taxes, and crew gratuities. An enhanced Wi-Fi package is available for an upcharge.

Celestyal One aims to “ensure customers have a clear and straightforward choice when selecting fare,” said Lee Haslett, Celestyal’s chief commercial officer. The simplified fare was developed in response to feedback from travel advisors that the “Experience” and “Experience Plus” options caused confusion. 

“Celestyal One makes it really easy for the travel advisor to know what they are selling their client,” said Brandon Townsley, managing director & vice president North America at Celestyal.

CelestyalPay was also created to address feedback that the previous beverage offerings were overly complicated. Instead of having multiple tiers of packages for different beverage categories that guests pay for on a per-person, per-day basis, the cruise line has simplified this to a single prepaid tab.

With CelestyalPay, guests load money onto a virtual wallet to purchase any drink or meal, including specialty dining. Guests access the tab through their stateroom card, and they can request their remaining balance from crew or guest services.  

CelestyalPay is available in increments of €100, €200, €300, €500, €750, and €1,000. Guests will also receive bonuses when pre-purchasing starting at €15 for a €100 tab up to €250 for the €1,000.* 

Travel advisors will make 10% commission on CelestyalPay purchases, when done at the time of booking.

CelestyalPay offers additional flexibility. Unlike traditional drink packages, the tab can be purchased by one person in a shared cabin. The tab can also be used to pay for drinks and meals for other guests. The tab only applies to onboard food and drink and is non-refundable. 

Celestyal also announced that it is currently working on an AI-driven tool that advisors can use to quickly and easily determine what tab level is best for each client. More details on this tool will follow.

Finally, cruise line is converting its onboard dining options Greek Deli and Pizza Oven (Celestyal Discovery only) to complimentary dining options.

According to Townsley, the changes are being implemented with North American audiences in mind. This is an increasingly important market for Celestyal, which expanded its North American sales team early this month.

The changes will take effect on all bookings starting December 11, 2024, for cruises departing from March 21, 2025.

For more information, travel planners can visit the Celestyal trade portal, contact their local Celestyal business development representative or call (877) 337-4665.

**Pre-purchase a €1000 tab (approximately US $1,057) for a €250 bonus (US $268), a €750 tab (US $793) for a €175 bonus (US $185), a €500 tab (US $530) for a €100 bonus (US $105), a €300 (US $317) tab for a €55 bonus (US $58), a €200 tab (US $211) for a €35 bonus (US $37), a €100 (US $106) tab for a €15 bonus (US $16). Note that all charges onboard are in listed in Euros.