Celebrity Cruises to "High Five" it's Guests

[JoeyandDavid]

Celebrity Cruises is giving Caribbean cruise enthusiasts something to celebrate in late 2009 and early 2010. For the first time in five years, Celebrity will offer a range of Caribbean itineraries lasting a week or longer on five of its ships: Celebrity Constellation, Celebrity Equinox, Celebrity Mercury, Celebrity Solstice, and Celebrity Summit. Together, the ships will call at 26 different ports during sailings ranging from seven to 14 nights, departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. These bookings opened for sale today.

Celebrity's 2009-10 seasonal Caribbean season will feature calls on new ports, the deployment of two of the line's new Solstice class of ships to the region, and the reintroduction of a 14-night itinerary length. Highlights will include the following:

• Celebrity will introduce three new ports to its Caribbean line-up, including Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe; St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands; and Scarborough, Tobago. • Celebrity Solstice, launching in December 2008, will sail seven-night Eastern Caribbean cruises roundtrip out of Fort Lauderdale. These will alternate between two itineraries, one featuring calls at San Juan; Basseterre, St. Kitts; and Philipsburg, St. Maarten, and the other featuring stops at San Juan; Philipsburg; Tortola, British Virgin Islands; and Labadee, Haiti. • Celebrity Equinox will sail 10- and 11-night "Ultimate Caribbean" cruises roundtrip out of Fort Lauderdale, featuring stops at ports such as St. Thomas; St. Kitts; Barbados; Dominica; St. Maarten; Grand Cayman; Colombia; Costa Rica; and Mexico. The 11-night itinerary includes a stop at Roatan, Honduras, which Celebrity has not visited since 2007. • Celebrity Constellation will sail Celebrity's first 14-night Caribbean season itineraries since 2005, offering several 14-night "Exotic Southern Caribbean" sailings roundtrip out of Miami, featuring calls in St. Thomas, Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, Grenada, Tobago, Aruba, and Curacao. • Celebrity Mercury will sail a series of 10-, and 11-night Southern Caribbean cruises out of San Juan. Celebrity Mercury will also sail one 15-night holiday cruise during this series, and one nine-night cruise in early 2010. • From mid-December 2009 through mid-April 2010, Celebrity Summit will sail seven-night roundtrip voyages out of San Juan; this pattern includes the addition of the port of Scarborough to Celebrity's line-up as well as the addition of a call at Bridgetown, Barbados.

Celebrity will offer guests a variety of shore and land experiences in each port of call visited during its 2009-10 Caribbean season. Examples include:

• "Mi Dushi" in Aruba, which lets guests board "Mi Dushi" for a day of sailing and snorkeling and an island lunch. • "St. Maarten Art Tour," which lets guests experience the island's art scene through tours of studios, galleries, and even homes of local artists. • "Swim with Turtles, Shipwrecks, Snorkel and Beach" in Barbados, during which guests encounter native sea life, learn more about abandoned ships and experience the pleasures of snorkeling. • "St. Thomas Ocean Racing Challenge," where guests have the opportunity to "be" part of the racing teams aboard the On Deck's Farr 65 Ocean Racing Around the World yachts.