Celestyal Cruises Buys Costa Cruises Ship

(8:45 a.m. EDT) -- Greek cruise specialist Celestyal Cruises has purchased Costa Cruises' Costa NeoRomantica, boosting its fleet to three vessels.

The 1,800 passenger ship, which was significantly refurbished in 2012, will become the line's flagship. Details of the ship's delivery, deployment and new name have yet to be announced.

This purchase is just the latest of a number of cruise ship moves following Carnival Corp.'s decision to divest itself of 13 vessels from its global fleet.

"While COVID-19 has brought a temporary pause to our operations, it is important that we look to the future with optimism and continue to deliver on our strategic plan to grow the business and enhance the award-winning Celestyal experience through investment," Celestyal Cruises' CEO Chris Theophilides said.

"I'm delighted with the addition of this mid-size cruise vessel to our fleet. She is ideally suited to our business model and is very well appointed following her significant transformation in 2012."

Celestyal Cruises surprised many earlier this month by announcing it would suspend all its cruise operations until March 2021 -- the furthest out of any cruise line.

Built in 1993 and extensively refurbished in 2012, the ship has 789 cabins, 132 of which feature balconies, as well as a variety of dining and entertainment venues, bars and lounges, two pools, a gym and a panoramic spa.

The ship will bring the existing Celestyal fleet to three; the other two ships are the 1,200-passenger Celestyal Crystal and the 1,664-passenger Celestyal Olympia. The ships operate mainly in the Greek islands but recently added Turkey and Egypt.

Celestyal Cruises' existing 2021 and 2022 itineraries remain unchanged.