Twenty years at AIDA, then a sale that never happened
This hull left the Aker MTW yard at Wismar, Germany, in 2003. She sailed for
twenty years as AIDAaura for the German line AIDA. In 2023 she
was sold to an operator who meant to rename her Lara: the ship was never
registered under that name. Celestyal bought her on 16 November 2023 and put
her into service on 22 March 2024, after a winter refit.
Forty-two thousand two hundred and eighty-nine gross tons, two hundred and
two metres, six hundred and thirty-three cabins of which sixty have balconies,
three hundred and eighty-nine crew. The register gives one thousand two hundred
and sixty-six guests; another source puts it at 1 360. Both figures circulate
and we will not choose between them.
The short-break ship
She sails from Lavrion, south-east of Athens, on formats of three to
fourteen days, but the bulk of the calendar is four days. Two hundred and
sixty-two departure dates appear on this page: sixty-four in 2026, one hundred
and seventy-six in 2027 and twenty-two in 2028. No line appears twice.
It is a format that works well for a first cruise, or for adding three or
four nights at sea to a stay in Athens without giving up a whole week.
Stuck in the Persian Gulf, from 28 February into the spring
It needs telling, because it happened five months ago and nothing here said
it. On 28 February 2026 hostilities broke out in the region and the Strait of
Hormuz closed to international shipping. Six cruise ships found themselves
trapped in the Gulf. Two of them were this fleet's only two ships: this one at
Dubai, the other elsewhere in the Gulf.
The cancelled cruises: the 20, 23, 27 and 30 March departures, those of 3 and 6 April, then the whole month of April. Guests with air tickets, booked time off and
hotel nights had to redo the lot.
This ship transited the Strait of Hormuz on 17 April 2026, in close coordination
with the authorities of the region. Both ships reached the Mediterranean for
the summer season as planned.
And what followed matters as much as the episode: the line
cancelled its entire 2026-27 winter season in the Persian Gulf and replaced it
with the Mediterranean. That is why you will see no Gulf itinerary on this
page, and it is not an oversight.
What is included, and what is not
This formula, which the line calls Celestyal One, has one feature no other
in our catalogue shares.
Included: breakfast, lunch and dinner, filter coffee, tea,
water, juice, soft drinks with meals in the main restaurants, basic Wi-Fi,
onboard activities and shows, gratuities and port
taxes.
Not included: alcohol, speciality restaurants, shore
excursions and flights. The line offers to prepay them before departure.
Port taxes in the fare is the point to remember. At almost every line they
are added at the moment of payment and inflate a bill you thought you knew.
Here they are inside it, and gratuities too. When you compare two quotes, that
is where the gap widens or closes.
The trade-off is worth naming honestly: alcohol is not in the fare, unlike
Explora or Regent. A guest who has a glass of wine with every dinner should
factor that in.
The number of wheelchair-accessible cabins is published by no
source from this supplier. We check it at booking, cabin by cabin, rather than
quote a figure.
A word on the itinerary labels
You will see titles on this page that mix two languages: "7 Night Idyllic
Grèce Croisière", "4 Night Iconic Îles grecques Croisière". That is not a slip
of ours, it is the supplier's data feed arriving half translated. Across the
four hundred and twenty-five departures of the two ships, two hundred and
twenty-five labels are in that state.
We flag it rather than pretend otherwise, and the fix has been requested.
The dates, the durations and the ports are correct.
Elsewhere, if you want something different
The Celestyal Journey does the long
crossings, seven to fifteen days, from Piraeus. The ms Volendam is
from the same generation of mid-sized ships. The Wind Surf visits the
same islands under sail and with ten times fewer people.
The line fields only two ships.
Booking from Quebec
The line was founded in Cyprus in 1986 as Louis Cruise Lines. An investment
fund has held the majority since 2021, the founding group keeps the rest, and
the offices are now in Europe.
One point we owe you in honesty: we did not obtain the current
ticket contract. We will therefore say neither that it carries an
arbitration clause nor that it does not, nor what deadlines it sets for claims.
Ask for it before paying and read it, or have your advisor do it with you. The
Gulf episode makes the question less theoretical than it sounds.
Nothing establishes a Quebec licence for the carrier. Your protection comes
from here: Voyages AquaTerra holds a licence from the Office de la protection
du consommateur, your payments pass through a trust account, and your departure
is covered by the compensation fund for travel agency customers.