Celestyal’s CEO Wins Seatrade Cruise Personality of the Year Award

Celestyal Cruises CEO Chris Theophilides (center) with V.Ships Leisure CEO Per Bjørnsen and Seatrade Cruise Group Director Mary Bond. Photo source: Seatrade

Chris Theophilides, CEO of Celestyal Cruises, was awarded the accolade of Seatrade Cruise Personality of the Year at the 2022 Seatrade Cruise Awards, the premier awards programme for the cruise industry.

The news was announced during the Seatrade Cruise Med Welcome Reception in Malaga, Spain, on Wednesday.

The Seatrade Cruise Personality of the Year award is for an individual who has gone above and beyond in their particular sector or industry, representing the best in their field and embodying the values that Seatrade wants to celebrate. According to Seatrade Cruise, Theophilides “is a worthy winner of the award due to his resilience and strong leadership” which has enabled Celestyal to become a champion for mid-sized vessel cruising and deliver authentic experiences amplifying its Greek roots.

“It’s a huge honor, especially at a time where the perseverance of the cruise industry has been tested,” Theophilides  said when accepting the award.

Working in the cruise industry since 2006, Theophilides was appointed CEO of Celestyal Cruises in 2018.

Celestyal Olympia. Photo source: Celestyal Cruises

When presenting the award to Theophilides, Seatrade Cruise Group Director Mary Bond highlighted his particular strengths in strategic planning and attracting funding which allowed Celestyal to secure investment, part of which has been ringfenced for fleet renewal.

“The whole industry has a great benefit of an excellent number of executives – it is a huge honor to work amongst them the last two years, and it’s very humbling to be singled out and awarded this accolade… As with all successes in life, today’s recognition is a team achievement in large part a result of the hard work of a great group of colleagues at Celestyal, and I am grateful to them for their unwavering passion and dedication,” Theophilides said.

In a normal operating year, Celestyal contributes over 100 million euros into the local Greek economy, whilst the company was praised for actively putting sustainable tourism into action. An example is the cruise line’s new intimate, immersive and hands-on Authentic Encounters shore excursion programme which provides unique, off-the-beaten path experiences to small groups of guests in order to protect the character of the places that Celestyal visits.

Seatrade Cruise Awards

Winners of this year’s Seatrade Cruise Awards include Port of Taranto, Italy (Destination of the Year), Carnival Cruise Line’s DEI, Learning and Community Initiatives (Investment in People Award), Galataport Istanbul (Port of the Year) and the Black Sea Ports of Burgas, Bulgaria; Constantza, Romania; Odesa, Ukraine; Trabzon, Turkey and Varna, Bulgaria (MedCruise Award).

The selection of winners of the Seatrade Cruise Awards was judged by an independent panel of 15 leading voices from the international cruise community from key sectors that include hospitality, operations, marketing and technology.

As highlighted by Mary Bond, Group Director of Seatrade Cruise, the Seatrade Cruise Awards are a benchmark that continues to push the boundaries of the cruise industry in excellence and innovation.

“We proudly honour and celebrate our 2022 winners for their incredible achievements that are leading the way for industry-wide development,” she said.