Celestyal Cruises cancels winter season in Persian Gulf

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Celestyal Cruises cancels winter season in Persian Gulf
Photo Credit: Celestyal Cruises

Celestyal Cruises has canceled its winter season in the Persian Gulf, pivoting to the Western Mediterranean for the Celestyal Discovery's next two winters.

Voyages will go on sale starting June 15 for the ship's winter seasons. Celestyal has not yet shared itinerary and pricing details.

The Celestyal Journey will be in dry dock for the upcoming winter season, and Celestyal will announce plans for its 2027-28 winter deployment soon.

The cruise line is also adding new Eastern Mediterranean cruises for November 2026 and March 2027. They include two new Greek Island sailings on the Celestyal Discovery in November and four in March. The Celestyal Journey, meanwhile, will sail four new Greece, Italy and Croatia voyages in March as well as two additional Greece voyages.

Celestyal had been sailing the Arabian Gulf and planned to continue doing so for future winter seasons until the Iran war began. Its two ships were stuck in the Gulf amid the closure of the Strait of Hormuz for two months, representing the longest period a cruise line had been out of service since the pandemic.

"Following a review of our winter deployment, we have decided to focus on strengthening our authentically Mediterranean offering," said chief commercial officer Lee Haslett. "As a brand rooted in the region, these updates allow us to add more choice across some of our most popular itineraries and introduce brand new Western Mediterranean sailings for the first time."

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