Celebrity Cruises will bring new customers to river cruising rather than take them away from other brands, according to its vice-president of international.
Giles Hawke made the pledge at Clia RiverView 2025 in Budapest, after the line announced earlier this year it had put in an initial order for 10 river ships to sail European rivers from 2027.
Hawke, who was promoted at the line in February amid a senior leadership restructure, stressed “a lot of research and work” had gone into the move and it was not simply “an overnight decision”.
He described Celebrity’s database of more than a million annual passengers as “a ready market” for river, with half of its customers saying they had either already taken a river cruise or intended to take one.
Hawke said: “I think there’s room for all of us and we’re entering the river cruise market to grow that segment, rather than move passengers around within it.”
Once river cruise goes on sale for Celebrity this summer, he added, the product would be brought into its marketing activity on TV and other channels, which would help to attract additional new customers.
Celebrity will occupy the premium space in river as it does at sea, said Hawke, and it will innovate with ship design taking inspiration from its Edge Class ships, including “a transformative upper deck”.
He added that Celebrity’s sales team would adapt to cover both ocean and river sales, rather than having separate divisions.
Hawke explained: “We will be doing things differently, but we will be respecting the sector.
“We believe that all the players out there in the market have got a place. There’s growth everywhere.
“The Danube is 2,800km long and the Rhine is 1,200km long, so a couple more 200m ships really is not going to block up the rivers.”
Other operators welcomed Celebrity Cruises’ entry into the sector.
A-Rosa president Lucia Rowe said: “I have to say, with absolute honesty, that when the announcement came I was delighted.
“These guys [Celebrity Cruises] are coming out and have a completely different tone of voice and will shout about river. There’s nothing not to like about that. There’s every reason to love it.”
Addressing concerns about overcrowding on rivers like the Rhine and the Danube, Rowe stressed the sector was “by far not there yet” where overtourism and adding more ships were “a problem”.
She added the sector was working together on new mooring, new destinations and changing days of itineraries to take pre-emptive action.