Celebrity Cruises Acquisition Shows Intense Demand for Galapagos Sailings
Photo Credit: Celebrity Xpedition sails in the Galapagos Islands. Two more ships will join the Celebrity fleet. Celebrity Cruises
Skift Take
Two ships that can hold a total of 64 passengers will make up a tiny sliver of Celebrity's capacity in the carefully controlled Galapagos Islands, but the cruise line is eager to offer a wider variety of vacation options there.
Celebrity Cruises is expanding its presence in the highly regulated Galapagos Islands the only way it can: by buying another company that already operates there.
The cruise line, part of Royal Caribbean Cruises, announced Monday that it will acquire tour operator Ocean Adventures and its two ships for an undisclosed amount.
Ocean Adventures, which was established in 1999, has a 48-passenger vessel and a 16-passenger catamaran.
"This gives us the opportunity to expand capacity by 65 percent, which is virtually impossible in the Galapagos because tourism is quite limited," said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, p
