ITTN’s Katie Doyle joined key travel trade in London’s Park Hyatt Hotel yesterday with Celebrity Cruises for their 2026 Travel Agent Appreciation Awards for a wonderful afternoon of connection, fun and celebration of the year passed!
Following a champagne reception reflecting Xcel’s new themed Bazaar; Celebrity Cruises key team leaders from the UK and Ireland reflected on the past twelve months following a fantastic operatic and pop performance by James Humphries, aka The Voice of the Valley.
Joining by video link, Laura Hodges Bethge, CEO of Celebrity Cruises reflected on the year passed- from the unbelievable success of the Celebrity River Cruises launch last year to the 2025 President’s Cruise that set out to the Norwegian Fjords last May on Celebrity Apex, the launch of Xcel in Fort Lauderdale last November and the renewal of Celebrity Solstice coming this March- a lot is happening at the Celebrity brand!
Giles Hawke, VP International and Head of EMEA, APAC and LACAR regions, pointed to the size and scope of potential markets around the world and the international scope of Celebrity to grow their brand globally.
Claire Stirrup, UK & EMEA Managing Director, teased the launch of 2028 river cruise dates; reminding agents to act fast: priority access sold out in six minutes last year while general sales sold out in just five hours. A video played to demonstrate the elegance and class of the Celebrity river cruise brand: “We already reinvented the ocean experience, elevating every-day detail beyond what anyone thought a holiday could be. We showed the world how to ocean; now we’re ready to river the Celebrity Way – taking travellers to the heart of the city to be closer than ever to authentic, exclusive, intimate and personalised experiences on groundbreaking new river cruises.”
With the 250-million-dollar investment into Celebrity Solstice (that coincidentally went into dry-dock yesterday in line with the awards) to the much-loved Perfect Day CocoKay coming to Mexico and Santorini, Stirrup tells the crowd of travel trade about Celebrity Xcel’s four new themes designed to submerge cruisers into every destination they visit. Read more about that here.
Nicola McNeish, Director of Sales UK and Ireland, pointed to Celebrity’s record-number of training modules and webinars hosted in 2025 while pointing to CrusingPower, the trusted portal for Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Silversea cruise line resources, training, and booking tools for agents.
After all this exciting news, it was time to get to the awards section of the afternoon where Jeff Collins and Caroline O’Toole accepted the award on behalf of Travel Centres as Ireland’s largest consortium; while Oasis Travel in Northern Ireland also picked up an award and Cathy Burke, MD of Travel Counsellors in Ireland, joined her UK counterparts in accepting their award. Other winners included: Stewart Travel Group, LoveItBookIt, Hays Travel, Intele Travel, Cruise.co, Not Just Travel, Barrhead Travel and Midcounties.
Claire Stirrup, Managing Director EMEA said: “Our travel partners sit right at the heart of the Celebrity family and these awards are our way of celebrating their achievements and recognising just how much they mean to us. Their expertise and care are essential in bringing the Celebrity experience to life, translating what sets us apart and by working together to help guests truly understand why nothing comes close to Celebrity Cruises.”
“We are incredibly grateful for their passion and partnership, and with so many exciting moments ahead for Celebrity, it feels more important than ever to celebrate and thank them for the role they play in our success.”
At the lunch, guests enjoyed a Dorset crab tart for starters followed by a wild mushroom stuffed cornfed chicken supreme with lemon meringue tarts and chocolate hazelnut choux for dessert. 3,500 pounds were raised for Celebrity’s charity partners; Reuben’s Retreat (supporting families with complexly poorly children and families of child loss) alongside ABTA’s Lifeline that awards financial grants to help colleagues suffering real financial hardship which was generously doubled by the Celebrity team to close off the evening!
