Celebrity Cruises has announced its intention to replace Celebrity Constellation’s planned 2020/21 Dubai cruise season with a series of Caribbean itineraries from Tampa Bay, Florida instead.

The 2,170-passenger Celebrity Constellation will be homeported in Tampa Bay instead of Dubai for the winter season, based on passenger demand, according to the cruise line.

“Our guests and travel advisors have been asking us to return to Tampa since our last call there in 2007,” said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, President and CEO of Celebrity Cruises.

Tampa Bay, Florida

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“While Celebrity Cruises’ fleet is undergoing a massive modernisation with The Celebrity Revolution, the beautiful city of Tampa is also experiencing quite a renaissance,” she added. “How fitting for our evolving brand to return to an evolving city with a completely revolutionised ship?”

Celebrity Constellation will undergo a modernisation in May 2020 as part of The Celebrity Revolution project, while her arrival in Tampa Bay will coincide with a US $3 billion waterfront upgrade called Water Street Tampa.

The 50-acre district will feature retail, offices, homes, hotels, and entertainment. In addition, the city has completed its Riverwalk, which has led to new private investment.

Celebrity Cruises has not yet revealed the details of the planned changes for Celebrity Constellation during her refurbishment, but as part of its fleet renewal strategy, the 17-year-old vessel will have all her soft furnishings replaced, new carpets, new furniture and new stateroom designs.

It’s also likely that some of her dining venues will be replaced with new concepts, while the remaining restaurants will be significantly re-designed.

Celebrity Constellation is 17 years old, here’s hoping Dubai gets a newer ship as a replacement!

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Celebrity Constellation’s 2019/2020 cruise season out of Dubai will go ahead as planned, with the ship sailing alternating one-way cruises between Dubai and Singapore. She was meant to repeat the exact same itinerary for the winter 2020/21 season.

The pull out of Dubai will see the city lose around 10,000 cruise passengers, but there’s still a chance that Celebrity might replace Constellation with another ship in Dubai. Cruise Arabia & Africa has reached out for comment.

Constellation’s new roundtrip itineraries from Tampa Bay will include a 10-night Eastern Caribbean cruise, which will call at San Juan, Puerto Rico; Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas; and Samana, Dominican Republic.

Guests will also be able to opt for an 11-night Southern Caribbean voyage, which will head to Key West, Florida; Kralendijk, Bonaire; Oranjestad, Aruba; Willemstad, Curacao; and George Town, Grand Cayman.

The final 11-night ‘Touch Canal’ itinerary will take guests to Cozumel, Mexico; Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; the Panama Canal; Colon, Panama; Cartagena, Colombia; and George Town, Grand Cayman.