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Celebrity Cruises' Biggest Europe Season Ever

MIAMI, March 20 PRNewswire-FirstCall — With its largest European deployment ever slated for 2009, Celebrity Cruises is offering guests the opportunity to paint their idea of the perfect vacation — by numbers, that is. Five ships, including two new vessels, will visit the region in a single European season for the first time in the line's history. The line will visit 76 ports in 29 countries, five of which are brand-new to Celebrity Cruises. Celebrity's 2009 Europe season includes six homeports, overnight stays in eight different ports, and five unique cruisetour options. Celebrity also will offer nine transatlantic sailings in 2009. The cruises open for sale today.

"Our guests have told us repeatedly that Europe is where they want to be, and they want to be there in style," said Celebrity Cruises President and CEO Dan Hanrahan. "This year, by offering more ships and itineraries in Europe than ever before — some past favorites and some new stars, including Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Equinox — we're giving our guests a great deal of variety, and Europe really is theirs for the taking."

Five Celebrity Cruises ships will sail in Europe in 2009, including two ships currently under construction, Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Equinox. Joining them are Celebrity Century, which underwent a $55-million makeover in 2006, Celebrity Constellation, built in 2002, and Celebrity Summit, which launched in 2001.

With six different homeports in Europe for the season, including Amsterdam, Holland; Barcelona, Spain; Harwich and Southampton, England; and Rome and Venice, Italy, Celebrity's ships will sail much of the continent. Itineraries exploring Scandinavia and Russia, the Arctic Circle and North Cape, the Mediterranean, Israel and Egypt, and even transatlantic sailings, will offer guests a number of opportunities to get to know Europe. These include overnight, in-port stays that offer travel enthusiasts the opportunity to more thoroughly explore the culture of eight cities: Alexandria, Egypt; Copenhagen, Denmark; Istanbul and Kusadasi, Turkey; Rome, Italy; Stockholm, Sweden; and Venice, Italy.

Celebrity's 2009 Europe - New Stars — Celebrity will call on five new ports: — Antwerp, Belgium, located on the River Scheldt, 50 miles from the sea. — Ashdod, Israel's largest port, offering access to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and must-see sites such as Mount Zion, the Tomb of David, the Tomb of Judges and the Dead Sea. — Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, nestled in a broad natural bay between the Mediterranean Sea and Carmel Mountain. — La Spezia, Italy, one of Italy's major harbors, located at the head of La Spezia Gulf between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, known for its numerous churches, museums, the Castle of San Giorgio, public gardens and Art Nouveau-style villas. — Portofino, Italy, the famed town in the province of Genoa on the Italian Riviera, considered to be among the most beautiful Mediterranean ports. — Celebrity Century will offer seven-night Western Mediterranean sailings roundtrip out of Barcelona from September 19-November 21. Celebrity's European itineraries have traditionally lasted 10 nights or longer, and this shorter offering will give guests who may not have enough vacation time for a longer sailing, the opportunity to enjoy Celebrity's Europe in a shorter format. — Celebrity Century will offer a 13-night \"Best of Europe\" sailing September 6, that begins with an overnight stay in Amsterdam and the line's first call on Antwerp, Belgium. — From August 18 through October 23, Celebrity Equinox will sail 13- and 14-night \"Ancient Empires\" itineraries out of Rome, featuring calls on Ashdod and Haifa, Israel, an overnight stay in Alexandria, Egypt, and ports throughout Greece, Turkey, and Italy. — Beginning May 4, Celebrity Solstice will sail 10- and 11-night Eastern Mediterranean itineraries roundtrip out of Rome, calling on ports throughout Greece, Turkey, and Italy. The 11-night sailings include overnight stays in Istanbul, Turkey.

Guests who sail on Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Equinox will enjoy Europe in a whole new way, as the ships will offer a resort-like experience at sea through features such as the industry's first Lawn Club, a half-acre country-club atmosphere featuring real, growing grass; 10 dining venues including several created by noted restaurant designer Adam Tihany; AquaClass, the line's new spa category of staterooms; the industry's first Hot Glass Show at sea, presented in collaboration with The Corning Museum of Glass; and larger, more intuitive staterooms influenced by a panel of five "boomer" women.

Celebrity's 2009 Europe - Past Favorites — Celebrity Century has increased the number of \"Scandinavia and Russia\" cruises roundtrip out of Amsterdam, with nine of these itineraries scheduled between May and August 2009 (in 2008, Celebrity Century will sail four Scandinavia and Russia itineraries). These voyages feature an overnight stay in St. Petersburg, Russia, and calls in Germany, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Denmark. — Celebrity Century's 12-night \"Arctic Circle and North Cape\" itinerary, offered June 26 and July 8 roundtrip out of Amsterdam, features calls on seven Norwegian ports, including the breathtaking Geiranger, which the line hasn't visited since 2006, back by popular demand. — Celebrity Constellation's 14-night transatlantic sailing from Harwich on September 5 will feature a stop in Reykjavik, Iceland, a country named by National Geographic magazine as one of the world's top destinations. This will be the first time Celebrity has called on an Icelandic port since 2004; the voyage, which ends in Cape Liberty (Bayonne), New Jersey, also features stops in France, Ireland, Scotland, Newfoundland, and New Brunswick. — Beginning May 10, Celebrity Summit will alternate 12- or 14-night \"Classical Mediterranean\" and \"Mediterranean Legacies\" sailings between Venice and Barcelona, calling on ports in France, Italy, Greece, Croatia and Turkey, collectively. Celebrity's 2009 Europe - Captivating Cruisetours

In 2009, Celebrity offers a variety of options to guests who wish to make the most of their time in Europe through cruisetours, a combined cruise and pre-voyage multi-night land journey package. Cruisetours are available for guests sailing on the following ships:

— Celebrity Century and Celebrity Summit out of Barcelona (Mediterranean sailings) — Celebrity Equinox and Celebrity Solstice out of Rome (Mediterranean sailings) — Celebrity Summit out of Venice (Mediterranean sailings) — Celebrity Equinox out of Southampton (Mediterranean sailings) — Celebrity Constellation out of Harwich (Northern Europe sailings) Mediterranean cruisetours include the following: — New in 2009, a five-night \"Venice, Florence and Rome\" package featuring two nights in Venice, one night in Florence and two nights in Rome — a popular \"highlights of Italy\" tour that gives guests a true Italian experience. — The three-night \"Italian Lakes, Verona, and Venice\" cruisetour, which includes two nights in Lago Maggiore's Stresa, one night in Verona, and touring in Venice prior to boarding the ship. Guests on this cruisetour enjoy a lake tour to the Borromean islands as well as the Shakespearean city of Verona. — A four-night \"Madrid and Barcelona\" cruisetour, offering two nights in Madrid, two nights in Barcelona, city tours in both locations, a visit to the ancient city of Toledo, and enough free time to experience the true Spanish flair of these iconic cities. Northern Europe cruisetours include the following: — A four-night \"Paris and London\" package, featuring two nights in each city and visits to major attractions such as Notre Dame and the Tower of London. — A three-night \"Brussels and Amsterdam\" cruisetour, with one night in Brussels, two nights in Amsterdam, a visit to the gothic city of Bruges and a private canal cruise through the Amsterdam waterways.

To see Celebrity's full European schedule for 2009, guests are encouraged to visit www.celebritycruises.com .

Celebrity Cruises offers comfortably sophisticated, upscale cruise experiences with highly personalized service, exceptional dining, and extraordinary attention to detail. Celebrity sails in Alaska, Australia/New Zealand, California, Canada/New England, the Caribbean, Europe, Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, the Pacific Coast, Panama Canal and South America. The line also offers unique cruisetour vacations in Alaska, Australia, Canada, Europe and South America. Noted for "The Top Cruise Ships in the World," as voted by the readers of Conde' Nast Traveler (February 2008 readers' poll), Celebrity's current fleet will be joined by Celebrity Solstice in 2008, Celebrity Equinox in 2009, Celebrity Eclipse in 2010, and a fourth Solstice- class ship in 2011. For more information, call your travel agent, dial 1-800- 437-3111 or visit www.celebritycruises.com . And for more about Celebrity's new Solstice class, visit www.celebritysolstice.com .

SOURCE Celebrity Cruises

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