Celestyal Cruises is known for something a lot of cruise lines don’t always get right: a genuinely authentic, destination-focused experience.
Their trips revolve around culture, people, food, and the feeling of actually being in the places you visit, not just passing through them.
The company operates with smaller ships, as they don't really talk about the number of people working for them much but more pride upon their smaller more intimate ships.
Celestyal sits firmly in the cruise travel space, attracting curious travellers aged 30 and over who want something more personal than the typical mega-ship experience.
These are people who love exploring local traditions, trying new cuisines, and taking home something more meaningful than a postcard.
And while Celestyal has long had a strong reputation offline, the digital travel world has changed fast.
Travellers now book after seeing videos, hearing recommendations, or spotting a creator’s experience online. That shift opened up a huge opportunity for Celestyal.
Leading the charge is Sebastien Pelisse, Manager of Trade & Influencer Marketing.
He was tasked with expanding the brand’s online presence, building visibility, and finding a more modern way to inspire bookings.
On influencer marketing, Seb said:
“It sits in our direct marketing strategy. What we try to do more with influencers is the conversion bits. So we want to see bookings and we want to see people visiting our website.”
Before shifting to a new approach, Celestyal faced a few key hurdles.
They needed more bookings, so their biggest priority was driving more conversions.
Traditional marketing was solid, but not enough on its own, not in a world where most travellers now discover trips through creators or social media.
They needed a bigger, better library of high-quality, authentic content. Not glossy, scripted ads, but real people capturing moments travellers could relate to.
Working with individual influencers was expensive. One-off partnerships, high fees and long negotiations all added up quickly.
Most of their previous influencer work came through PR outreach or cold DMs. It took ages to coordinate, and Seb was building the influencer side of the business alone. The method wasn’t scalable.
They needed a wider pool of creators and a smoother way to run campaigns without stretching budgets further.
“We had to find something flexible and affordable, and The Influence Room gave us the flexibility, with managing campaigns and looking for influencers.”
Before choosing The Influence Room, Celestyal also considered other agencies. However, nothing offered the combination of cost efficiency, scale, variety, and genuine creator interest.
The decision came down to authenticity and value.
Creators applying organically meant the content would feel real and not forced.
The platform opened the door to a much larger pool of creators, which meant more styles, more audiences, and more chances to inspire the right travellers.
“It could have been something organic. And this is what we wanted and this is what I wanted because the result behind was so much better. It was exponential to what we were expecting, because it doesn’t feel like an ad.”
For Seb and the team, influencer marketing wasn’t just another channel, it was a way to show the reality of the Celestyal experience.
Real cabins, real food, real destinations, real passengers.
The main goal was clear:
Travel is emotional, and social content is one of the most powerful tools for pulling people in.
A single creator video showing a sunset on deck or a small taverna in Mykonos does more than a polished brochure ever could.
Before working with The Influence Room, Celestyal were already thinking about how they could step into this space more confidently.
Especially as they saw other travel brands using creators to inspire large numbers of new guests.
Once Celestyal joined The Influence Room, the difference was immediate.
Seb described the setup as straightforward and stress-free.
Instead of juggling spreadsheets, email chains, and slow approvals, everything moved into one place.
Campaign briefs went out quickly. Pitches came in fast. And reviewing creators took mere minutes.
One of the biggest wins was the sheer variety of creators.
From couples documenting their travels to solo adventurers showing day-in-the-life clips onboard.
The mix gave Celestyal exactly what they’d been missing: honest, diverse content that travellers trust.
The assets they received weren’t just pretty, they were useful. Quality content became a library the team could tap into and re-use again and again on multiple platforms.
For a travel brand, this kind of evergreen content is priceless.
A big surprise was how deeply the creators captured the essence of Celestyal with local flavours, warm service, and the unique feeling of exploring smaller, culture-rich ports.
The team saw audiences responding not just to the visuals, but the storytelling.
Stakeholders quickly recognised the value. The volume of content. The quality. The increase in visibility.
Seb, who was managing influencer marketing alone, was suddenly able to run large campaigns without the usual overwhelm.
Seb also highlighted how easy it was to work with the TIR team on the platform. In his words:
“It was made really easy, you get like a whole platform that's simple and easy to use, and you’ve got a massive base of creators. It's just perfect. And behind this, they handle measuring results, doing the reports, all the analysis we need”
The campaigns felt organised, collaborative, and energising, far from the manual work of their old process.
Since working with The Influence Room, Celestyal has seen numerous successes.
The two brands were nominated together for the Travel Creator Marketing Campaign of the Year at the 2025 bCreator awards, essentially the Oscars for creators.
That campaign in question was none other than the cruise across the Arabian Gulf, filled with desert adventures, traditional souks, dolphin watching and the typical glitz and glamour.
The campaign was a phenomenal success with 7.7M reach and 9.3M impressions from only 12 influencers.
Across four campaigns, Celestyal achieved results that genuinely shifted their digital presence:
For a brand stepping into influencer marketing at scale, these numbers were a major leap forward.
The Heavenly 7 Night Med Cruise delivered extraordinary results:
What made this campaign special wasn’t just the numbers.
The creators captured the emotion of travel, the warmth of Greek hospitality, and the magic of Mediterranean destinations.
With more bookings coming in, a richer visual library, and an engaged digital audience, there was full confidence internally to continue investing in influencer marketing.
“The results we thought did really well, and were amazing! We had a boost in bookings off the back of our first campaign, which was really well perceived.”
One creator who had a huge impact was Saffron Rose.
Her content felt effortlessly humorous and that showed what travelling with Celestyal actually feels like with a light-hearted twist.
Her results speak for themselves:
Her videos didn’t try to be picture perfect. They were honest, inviting and offered something different. And that authenticity resonated.
Celestyal’s move into influencer marketing shows the power of real storytelling in travel.
By embracing creators who love exploring the world, they didn’t just increase visibility.
They built trust, inspired new travellers, and created a content library that keeps performing campaign after campaign.
Celestyal has firmly established itself as a brand that understands modern travel behaviour.
To conclude Seb said:
“I feel like any brand who wants to work on a gifted basis should reach out to The Influence Room. They can help them get people interested, and give them standout content.”
For travel brands looking to build brand awareness the way Celestyal did, you can explore how to elevate your brand or learn how to find the right influencers to connect with your audience.
Book a demo with The Influence Room and discover how creator partnerships can reshape your marketing.
