Celebrity Cruises to Take Guests to the Wonder Down Under

Sightings of koala bears, kangaroos and kiwi birds await vacationers sailing with Celebrity Cruises next year. At a special event in New York today, the line's President Dan Hanrahan announced that Celebrity will sail for the first time in Australia and New Zealand beginning in 2007.

"This marks a significant expansion of our product portfolio, and is particularly exciting because it's a market our guests and agency partners have told us they want to experience with Celebrity," said Hanrahan. "Based on that valuable feedback and our extensive research, we're looking forward to a very successful inaugural season there next year."

Celebrity's Mercury will present six 14-night open-jaw sailings between Auckland, New Zealand and Sydney, Australia from December 2007 through March 2008. Among Celebrity's destinations "down under" are Auckland, Tauranga, Napier, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Dusky Sound, Doubtful Sound, and Milford Sound, New Zealand, along with Melbourne, Newcastle, and Sydney, Australia, and Hobart, Tasmania.

The line's first calls on Papeete, Tahiti; and Moorea and Bora Bora, French Polynesia, will precede Mercury's six Australia/New Zealand sailings on a 16-night voyage departing Honolulu on November 23, 2007, concluding in Auckland.

"Imagine pairing such exotic destinations as these with the extraordinary service and experience we offer onboard every Celebrity ship," said Hanrahan. "It's an unbeatable combination."

Celebrity also has created a new series of Cruisetour packages in the region, complementing the cruise with options including a two-night stay in Sydney, an escorted three-night experience in Sydney and Cairns, or a five- night adventure featuring the best of Sydney, Ayers Rock and Cairns, including visits to the famed Great Barrier Reef.

A total of nearly 40 new ports of call have been added to Celebrity's deployment lineup for 2007, including those in Australia and New Zealand.

Celebrity's 2007-8 Deployment Overview

Celebrity Cruises offers a comfortably sophisticated, upscale cruise experience with highly personalized service, authentic five-star dining, and extraordinary attention to detail. Its nine ships and the line's service, cuisine and spas consistently dominate top travelers' surveys. Celebrity sails in Alaska, Bermuda, California, the Caribbean, Europe, the Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, the Mexican Riviera, the Panama Canal and South America. For more information, call your travel agent, dial 1-800-437-3111, or visit the Celebrity web site at http://www.celebrity.com/.

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