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By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY
JUST POSTED: Celebrity to end voyages from Baltimore. Click HERE for details
Celebrity Cruises says it will return to Australia and New Zealand in late 2011 -- nearly three years after pulling out of the region.
The line says the 1,814-passenger Celebrity Century will sail a series of voyages around the countries starting in November 2011.
"We're thrilled to return to Australia and New Zealand," Celebrity CEO Dan Hanrahan says in a statement. "It's a region our guests and trade partners around the world have said they wanted to experience again with Celebrity."
Celebrity sailed its last voyages in Australia and New Zealand in early 2009. It announced its pull-out from the region in late 2008 as the economy tumbled and American vacationers cut back on far-flung travel.
The new Australia and New Zealand cruises will be book-ended by a series of vacation options in Hawaii as well as voyages that stop in Indonesia and French Polynesia. The lineup includes 10 distinct itineraries with six departure ports including Sydney and Perth (Fremantle), Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; Honolulu, Hawaii; San Diego, California, and Ensenada, Mexico.
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The new series of Pacific and Asia cruises begins Oct. 2, 2011, with two consecutive 15-night Hawaii sailings from San Diego, followed by a 10-night Hawaii cruise from Ensenada to Honolulu. An 18-night "Pacific Jewels" voyage departs Honolulu on Nov. 11, 2011 followed by five 12- and 13-night New Zealand cruises between Sydney and Auckland.
Celebrity says the new New Zealand cruises will offer a more destination-rich experience for cruisers that what is available from most competing lines, with only three days at sea as compared to five on many rival itineraries.
Cruisers also will have the opportunity to experience a rare, 36-night circumnavigational voyage – a first for Celebrity – through two combinable 18-night sailings: One will sail around the southern portion of Australia, featuring an overnight stay in Sydney and transits through three sounds – Milford, Doubtful and Dusky – in New Zealand's World Heritage-designated Fiordland National Park. The second of the combinable 18-night sailings takes cruisers around Australia's northern coast, and features a visit to the idyllic island of Bali, Indonesia – marking yet another first for Celebrity.
The new series also includes two 18-night trans-Pacific voyages visiting the French Polynesian islands and Hawaii.
Among the ports Celebrity will visit for the first time are Geraldton, Broome, Darwin, Cairns, Brisbane, Adelaide, Albany, Bunbury and Perth, Australia, in addition to Burnie, Tasmania, and Bali.
Celebrity also says it has created a series of cruisetour packages to complement the Australia cruises, with details to be announced when bookings open for the entire slate of vacation options on Thursday, July 29. Celebrity says it also will announce details of an early booking incentive on that date.
The 1,814-guest Celebrity Century is ideal for offering guests spectacular views of the scenic region, having been refitted in 2006 to add 314 new verandas, along with the elegant Murano restaurant and the truly "cool" Martini ice bar.
Celebrity's new itineraries replace a previously announced series of 12-night Caribbean cruises from Baltimore on Celebrity Century.
Cruise Loggers, share your thoughts below.
Posted Jul 19 2010 11:19AM
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