'Lobbying to get second UK-based Celebrity ship is constant,' says UK boss
Harry KembleCelebrity Cruises’ new UK boss Giles Hawke says the lobbying process to try and persuade the line’s leadership team to base two ships in Southampton is “constant and ongoing”.
However, Hawke admitted the UK and Irish market needed to attain certain sales and revenue levels before Celebrity based a second vessel here.
Celebrity this week announced it will bring Celebrity Apex back to Southampton in 2025 after its maiden UK season next year. Bookings opened on Thursday (16 November).
Hawke, who joined Celebrity in the summer, told TTG: “Like any cruise line we’ll look at where we can generate the most revenue for all our ships. The better demand and the better ticket price, the more likely it is the UK will get newer ships.
“We’re committing our best hardware to the UK market in 2025. Apex is one of our newest and best ships. The best thing that we can do is have two ships out of Southampton. We need to do some more lobbying with Miami. [The lobbying process] is ongoing and constant.”
The last time Celebrity had two ships in the UK was in 2013, when the line offered sailings on Celebrity Eclipse from Southampton and Celebrity Infinity from Harwich.
Hawke said while bookings for Apex’s 2024 sailings have been “fantastic”, the line’s UK deployment needed to encourage North American customers to sail on Apex.
“We need to attract customers from all over the world, particularly Americans and Canadians,” he said, adding: “They’re our biggest market.
“We know there is demand for sailings out of Southampton, but we know that there is significant demand to get straight to the sun [in Europe]."
Hawke continued: “Hypothetically, we would have two Edge-series ships in Southampton, but we’re not desperate for two ships until we know that we can get the right revenue and the right demand for sailings from Southampton.”
The UK and Ireland remains the second biggest source market outside North America, Hawke added.
“Our goal is to grow this market,” he said. “We’re going to keep broadening the distribution. We’re looking at expanding our ship visit programme, our seminar at sea programme and the number of webinars we offer in 2024.”
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