Celestyal Journey

The 1994-built (as "MS Ryndam", fka "Aegean Goddess") cruise ship Celestyal Journey between 1994-2015 was named "MS Ryndam" (operated by HAL-Holland America Line) and in 2015-2020 was named "Pacific Aria" (operated by P&O Australia). The sisterships (by design) are the former HAL boats MS Maasdam/CFC Renaissance, MS Veendam/Aegean Majesty and MS Statendam/Vasco da Gama Nicko.

While operated by P&O Australia, the vessel (IMO number 8919269) was UK-flagged (MMSI 235113823) and registered in London. The new shipowner (Aegean Goddess Inc, subsidiary of Eaglepower Shipping Ltd/Seajets Ferries Greece) renamed it "Aegean Goddess" and reflagged it to Bermuda (MMSI 310811000). For the management was contracted Optimum Ship Services Ltd (2014-founded, Piraeus-based company part of Scorpio Group). Holland America Line owned and operated the boat via its subsidiary HAL Nederland NV (1994-founded).

History - construction and ownership

On August 12, 2022, was announced that in 2023 (May) will be inaugurated the new cruise brand "Victoria Cruise Lines" (website victoria.cruises) having a two-ship fleet - the sisterships Aegean Goddess (VICTORIA MAJESTIC) and Aegean Majesty (VICTORIA AMAZING).

• The Paralimni Cyprus-based Victoria Cruise Lines company specializes in residential cruise shipping and is led by Olavs Zvinelis (CEO). The adults-only, all-inclusive travel brand provides a residential travel experience by allowing stateroom rentals for long-term occupancy (minimum 6 months).
• Victoria Majestic was scheduled to depart from PortMiami (Florida USA) on February 1, 2023.
• Victoria Amazing was scheduled to depart from Livorno (Italy), on April 1, 2023.
• Victoria Cruises' cabin rates start at USD 8000 (inside cabin), US$10000 (oceanview), US$16000 (balcony). Travel and rental options are offered only to adults (18-yo or older).
• All interior cabins on both ships were to be fitted with a 100-cm/40-inch LCD monitor for real-time sea views and sounds provided by 10x HD cameras.

For 3 years (2020-2023) Aegean Goddess was out of service (in cold layup) and remained docked in Port Lavrio (Attica Greece).

NEWS: In late-February 2023 was announced that Aegean Goddess was sold to/acquired by Celestyal Cruises and renamed "Celestyal Journey". Before entering service for Celestyal, the boat was scheduled for an extensive (EUR 20 million/~USD 21,2 M) drydock refit and refurbishment.

In April 2021, Pacific Aria was planned to leave P&O Cruises Australia, with the last voyage scheduled for April 9, 2021 (departing from Melbourne to Singapore via Fremantle). The last voyage was bookable as short-break (Melbourne-Fremantle), Asia Explorer (Fremantle-Singapore) and "full farewell" (18-night B2B cruise Melbourne-Fremantle-Singapore). In February 2021, P&O Australia's fleet was also planned to leave Pacific Dawn (now Ambassador Ambience).

In November 2019, for both vessels were signed presale agreements with CMV-Cruise and Maritime Voyages. Pacific Aria was to be renamed to "CMV Ida Pfeiffer", Pacific Dawn - to "CMV Amy Johnson". Following the CMV's collapse (filed for bankruptcy in July 2020), Carnival Corporation reopened both ships for sale. Pacific Dawn was sold to Ocean Builders to become their "Crypto Cruise Ship" (residential ship). Pacific Aria was sold in mid-October (the buyer was not revealed) and left the fleet. With P&O Australia (November 2015 through March 2020), the 26-year-old Pacific Aria sailed 450,000+ NM (~520K mi / ~835K km).

SEAJETS Greece (1989-founded) is a Cyprus-based shipping company that specializes in passenger and cargo ferry services exclusively in the Eastern Mediterranean (Aegean Sea). Seajets' fleet includes mainly fast-ferries (14x high-speed catamarans, max capacity 2100 passengers + 600 cars) plus 3x conventional Ro-Pax vessels (max capacity 1300 passengers + 400 cars). Seajets operates from homeports Piraeus-Athens, Lavrion and Crete (Heraklion and Rethymno) interconnecting 26 Cyclades Islands (Crete including) with 260 connections.

The 1270-passenger ship was launched and operated as "MS Ryndam" by Holland America Line between 1994 and 2015. In May 2014, Carnival Corporation (shipowner for both brands P&O AU and HAL) announced that the liner will be transferred to P&O Australia’s fleet in 2015, following a drydock refurbishment to tailor Ryndam for the Australia-New Zealand source market.

Decks and Cabins

Celestyal Journey staterooms (630 total) include 29x Suites, 120x Balcony, 353x Oceanview, 128x Inside, in total 23 cabin categories. Most cabins are 190 ft2 (18 m2) sized. Nearly 25% have a step-out balcony. The largest accommodations are Deck 11's Penthouse Suites (940 ft2 / 87 m2 including the terrace).

The boat has 12 decks, of which 9 are passenger-accessible and 5 with cabins.

Shipboard dining options - Food and Drinks

Pacific Aria showcases P&O Australia's biggest dining options selection, with 15 venues in total.

The Pantry replaced the traditional buffet. It is an area of fresh-food stations including items like fish and chips and a delicatessen.

The Dragon Lady serves a range of Asian dishes, Angelo's is an elegant Italian venue.

The Open Kitchen is a modern cooking school. Back by popular demand are favorites, such as the exclusive 14-seat Chef's Table and Salt Grill by Luke Mangan.

The Waterfront Restaurant (main dining room) continues to serve classic Australian dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a stylish setting.

Follows the complete list of Pacific Aria restaurants and food bars.

• Waterfront Restaurant (open-seating dining room; each of all three dining rooms on Pacific Aria is operated with “Your Choice Dining” (a la carte) menus for breakfast and lunch, and offers a 4-course dinner menu. Tables seat up to 10 guests. Dining times vary according to sea/port days. The Waterfront is connected with the Asian- and Italian-themed dining rooms)
• The Dragon Lady (Asian cuisine restaurant; ship’s second dining room)
• The Angelo’s (Italian cuisine restaurant, the third dining room)
• The Pantry (self-service buffet restaurant with an open-air terrace)
• Salt Grill (reservations-only specialty restaurant via a partnership with Australian celebrity chef Luke Mangan)
• Chef's Table (specialty dining venue with gourmet private dining and tour of the galley).

Shipboard entertainment options - Fun and Sport

New lounges include the Salt Grill Bar (complementing the MIX cocktail bar), Cellar Door for wine tastings and Dome nightclub. For kids, innovative activity clubs include Turtle Cove (ages 3-6-yo), Shark Shack (ages 7-10-yo) and HQ for teens. Adults can relax in the child-free Oasis (top deck's sundeck), while all ages enjoy the swimming pool on Lido Deck and the P&OEdge (top deck).

On its Top Deck, Pacific Aria cruise ship has P&O Australia's signature “P&OEdge” Adventure Park. This unique outdoor playground offers 20 different high-adrenaline activities, including zip-lining, rock climbing, rope jumping, racing. The most popular P&OEdge activities are named “Cargo Net Race”, “Flying Fox” (rope jumping across pool deck), “Atrium High Ropes” (net climbing in the Atrium), “Aft Funnel Climb” (rock climbing wall), "Bungee Tramp", "Bow Ladder Climb" and "Slackline Bouncing Bridge" (ropes course).

Follows the complete list of Pacific Aria ship's lounges, clubs and other entertainment venues for kids, teens, and adults.

• Pacific Aria Atrium (3-deck central open floor area and social hub)
• The Marquee Theatre (2-decks, featuring large-scale shows, magic and comedy acts; during the day, the theatre hosts Jackpot bingo games, trivia quizzes)
• Cellar Door (boutique winery); Ocean Bar; Blue Room (bar); The Bar/Monkey Bar; The Grill/Lido Bar; Pool Bar
• Cinema & Open Kitchen (indoor cinema with a culinary school)
• Tax and Duty-Free Shops; PANDORA shop (jewellery)
• The Dome (indoor observation lounge with floor-ceiling windows, large dance floor, full-service bar; transforms into disco nightclub in the evenings)
• Casino (served by The “MIX” Lounge and Bar which doubles as sports bar)
• Expressions Studio (Photo Gallery and Shop); The Library (with Internet Cafe)
• The Oasis (adults-only relaxation complex)
• Aqua HealthSpaFitness (Wellness Centre with Day Spa, Thermal Suites, Fitness Centre with a separate room for classes, Hair and Beauty Salon); Main Pool Area
• Promenade (decks 6 & 7), 2 pools (1 covered with sliding roof), 2 jacuzzis
• Teen- and Kids club lounges (offering complimentary activities by P&O youth program: Turtle Cove/kids, Shark Shack/children, HQ Lounge/children, HQ+ Teen Lounge)
• P&OEdge Adventure Park experience (high-adrenalin program with 20 different activities, such as climbing, jumping, racing, flying on ropes)
• Jogging Track; Traditional deck games area (Deck Chess, Deck Quoits, Shuffleboard); Sports Court (basketball, volleyball, tennis); Table Tennis; Golf Nets.

Itineraries

For Celestyal Cruises, Celestyal Journey's inaugural cruise season is currently scheduled to start on September 2, 2023, taking over Celestyal Crystal‘s program. The program groups 7-night Greek Islands voyages leaving roundtrip from Piraeus/Athens. Also are offered roundtrips from Thessaloniki and Heraklion (Crete Island) as alternative homeports.

Celestyal Cruises' "Idyllic Aegean" itinerary visits Thessaloniki, Kusadasi-Ephesus (Turkey), Heraklion/Crete Island, Thira/Santorini Island, Mykonos Island, and Adamantas/Milos Island.

Pacific Aria itineraries (P&O Australia)

Pacific Aria itinerary program was based on Australia cruises from homeports Sydney NSW and Brisbane QLD, including roundtrip “South Pacific Islands” voyages to Fiji, Vanuatu, Santo, New Caledonia, “cruises to nowhere” and Moreton Island short breaks, Queensland cruises to the Great Barrier Reef (Coral Sea) and Papua New Guinea, Sydney-Brisbane repositioning cruises with one-way itineraries.

In 2020, the ship had planned its longest-ever New Zealand season - 7 months (April through October) with roundtrips from homeport Auckland NZ. P&O AU's 2020 program featured a new 14-day "Bounty Adventure" itinerary (operated since July 2020) visiting Norfolk Island, Vavau, Nuku'alofa, Suva, Dravuni Island, Port Denarau-Nadi.

The boat's New Zealand 2020 program included 18 longer itineraries ("P&O Voyages", 8- to 12 days) leaving roundtrip from Auckland to South Pacific Islands (including 12x visiting Fiji Islands). The 10-day "Bounty Discovery" itinerary (April, June, July, September) was to Norfolk Island, Lifou, Noumea, Port Vila, Mystery Island.

Following the vessel's sale in October 2020, a total of 26x P&O Pacific Aria cruises (departures between December 7, 2020, and April 9, 2021) were canceled. For details on the scheduled 2020-2021 itineraries see the ship's Wiki page.

MS Ryndam itineraries

For HAL, Ryndam operated on Caribbean voyages leaving roundtrip from Florida (during winter) and on Alaskan voyages out of Vancouver BC Canada (during summer). Before its transfer to P&O AU, MS Ryndam was drydock-refurbished in Singapore, then renamed “Pacific Aria”.

The Fincantieri Monfalcone-built ship Pacific Aria operated under the name "MS Ryndam" (for Holland America Line) since 1994. In 2015, the vessel was refurbished and transferred to P&O Australia, renamed "Pacific Aria" and homeported in Brisbane Queensland. In June 2017, P&O AU's fleet joined Pacific Explorer (fka Dawn Princess).

By design, the liner is sistership to Vasco da Gama (fka Pacific Eden) and to HAL's boats Maasdam/CFC Renaissance and Veendam/Aegean Majesty. Pacific Aria started operations in November 2015, right after the renaming ceremony in Sydney NSW. The christening ceremony was dual (also including the Pacific Eden ship) and held at Fort Denison (Sydney Harbour) on November 25, 2015. Aria's godmother is Mrs Jessica Mauboy (singer). Part of the dual naming celebrations were also the P&O Australia ships Pacific Pearl (CMV Columbus), Pacific Jewel (2020-scrapped as "MS Karnika") and Pacific Dawn (Ambassador Ambience). On each of the five ships, there were musical parties with live performances featuring Jessica Mauboy (on Aria), The Veronicas (on Eden), Samantha Jade (on Pearl), Justice Crew (on Jewel) and Stan Walker (on Dawn).

Pacific Aria "cruise to nowhere" deals are on specially themed Australian roundtrip voyages (without additional ports of call along the route). These short breaks are usually themed "Food and Wine", "Music" (various styles/performers), "Comedy", "Sports". P&O Australia "cruises to nowhere" prices are also inclusive of all special activities and themed entertainment on the ship, including classes and workshops, lectures, presentations, guest performances, theme parties.

The inaugural cruise (Mayden Voyage for P&O AU) was on November 25 (2-days Sydney to Brisbane). Pacific Aria was the first cruise ship to call on Fraser Island - followed by the fleetmate Pacific Eden. The island's location is along Queensland's southern coast- some 200 km (120 mi) north of Brisbane. This is a World Heritage-listed location and also the largest sand island in the world (length 120 km (75 mi), width 24 km (15 mi). The ship's scheduled visit to Fraser Island Queensland was on April 3, 2016 (4-day Brisbane round-trip cruise itinerary). The Great Sandy Strait is a 70 km (~ 43 mi) sand passage estuary (tidal strait consisting of bays and sand flats) that separates mainland Queensland from Fraser Island. On April 3, at high tide Pacific Aria entered and navigated through the strait, assisted by an experienced local pilot (a former Captain). At about 7 am the ship anchored off the Kingfisher Bay Resort. Among the special P&O Australia shore excursion deals on Fraser Island is the Kingfisher Bay Resort, offering 4WD tours along the island's beaches and some 1500 km (930 mi) of tracks.

Aria was also the 2nd liner (after Pacific Jewel) to visit the privately-owned Conflict Islands (Papua New Guinea) - inaugural visit on August 5, 2016. This is a group of all 21 islands surrounding a blue lagoon with a pristine reef system. This makes the new destination one of the perfect ones for snorkelling and diving excursions in the South Pacific Ocean.

Pacific Aria refurbishment 2018 review

The ship's 12-day drydock refurbishment in 2018 (August 3-15, done in Singapore) resulted in the following deckplan changes:

• The Dome (Deck 12 forward) was redecorated with a new nautical theme (dark blue and white) and redesigned with new soft lighting and classy drapes. By day, the Dome is the right place for board games, dance classes, trivia and relax on the lounges. In the evening it transforms into a chic dance-spot.
• Elemis Spa (Deck 11 forward) was enhanced and upgraded with Barber Shop. The new venue features chic decor (gold-framed mirrors, leather swivel chairs, premium curtains) and offers professional grooming services (hot towel shaves, beard trimming, and styling).
• All Penthouse, Suite and balcony staterooms received new carpets and outdoor furniture.
• Fleet's new Southern Cross themed livery was painted on the hull.

In total, on the ship were replaced with new 1000 pieces of furniture, 6000 m of fabrics, 10000+ m2 of carpets. New artworks and contemporary wallpapers were placed in public spaces.

Pacific Aria cruise itineraries 2020-2021 (CANCELLED)

Next tables show some of the planned by P&O Australia cruises for Pacific Aria (by theme). Following the ship's sale in October 2020, all these voyages were cancelled.

3-day Cruises to Nowhere (roundtrips without any call ports) in 2021 were scheduled from Sydney (Jan 24, ), Adelaide (Jan 30, Feb 20, Mar 6, Mar 13) and from Melbourne (Mar 26, Apr 2).

4 days, round-trip Moreton Island - Tangalooma Sydney

10 days "Christmas Cruise"

Cruise Theme: Christmas cruise

10 days "New Years Eve Cruise"

8 days "A Taste Of New Caledonia"

9 days "Explore The Loyalty Islands"

4 days "Southern Getaway"

10 days Southern Discovery"

7 days "A Taste Of Tasmania"

7 days "A Taste Of Tasmania"

4 days "Kangaroo Island"

The last scheduled by P&O cruise for Pacific Aria was a 6-days repositioning voyage from Melbourne to Fremantle Melbourne

Holland America MS Ryndam cruise ship

Follows the table with information regarding the previously named "MS Ryndam" Holland America vessel.

• Passenger decks: 10
• Cabin grades number: 26
• Total number of cabins: 630 (of which 149 Suites, no Balcony, 129 Inside, 32 Spa rooms)
• Dining Rooms: Rotterdam
• Restaurants and food bars: Lido (indoor buffet with outdoor Lido Terrace), Terrace Grill (fast-food), Pinnacle Grill (steakhouse, seafood, French /"Le Cirque" in the evening), Canaletto (Italian).
• Lounges & Bars: Showroom at Sea (theater), Wajang (culinary arts, and cinema), Crow’s Nest (nightclub), MIX (Champagne, Spirits & Ales, Martini), Wine Tasting and Gourmet Shops, Explorer’s, Explorations Cafe, Neptune (suite guests), Ocean (Atrium bar), Casino, kids and teens lounges (Club HAL, The Loft, The Oasis), poolside bars.
• Amenities: complimentary 24-Hour Room-Service, Supervised Kids Program ("Club Hal"), cruise ship weddings, Internet/WiFi Access, Laundry/Self-Serve Laundromats, Spa cabins (6 CQ - oceanview, 2 IQ - Interior), Spa suites (8, BQ).
• Adults relaxation area (Sea View), Greenhouse Spa, Fitness, 2 jacuzzis, 2 pools, wraparound Promenade (Deck 6).
• Holland America Ryndam cruise ship (named after a dam on Rhine River) is of the line's 1st S-class vessel.

MS Ryndam's Maiden Voyage was on October 16, 1994, attended by the Godmother Madeleine Arison. On this vessel, there is an art-antiques collection of items from the 17-18-19th centuries (themed Dutch exploration). In its Atrium area (midship) it has a huge fountain (by G. Lebigre, Italy). Ryndam was HAL's 2nd vessel with this name. The first Ryndam was 12340 t passenger ship (1901-built, 1929-scrapped).

MS Ryndam itineraries

The Holland America Ryndam ship was transferred to P&O Australia, starting operations in November 2015. Before the transfer, the ship operated on the following itineraries: Caribbean cruises from Tampa Florida

• 7-day Western Caribbean - visiting Key West FL (or Cozumel Mexico), Roatan, Guatemala (Santo Tomas) and Costa Maya (Mexico)
• 14-day Southern Caribbean - visiting Half Moon Cay (Bahamas), Puerto Rico, St Thomas, Antigua, St Lucia, Curacao, Aruba, and Grand Cayman
• (back-to-back) 14-day Western Caribbean (with Key West and Cozumel), and 21-day Western-Southern Caribbean.

North European cruises from Dover (England, UK)

• 7-day Norwegian Fjords
• 14-day Arctic (North Pole)
• 14-day Baltic Capitals
• 21-day back-to-back
• 19-day Canary Islands
• 20-day Western Mediterranean

Mediterranean Sea cruises

• 10-day Barcelona to Venice
• 17-day Venice to Athens
• 14-day Athens to Rome
• 7-day Rome to Barcelona
• 7-day round-trip Greek Isles and Turkey from Athens Greece
• 14-day back-to-back

15-16-day Transatlantic crossings on repositioning between Tampa and Barcelona.