Like the iconic boomerang believed to have originated in Australia, Celebrity Cruises today announced plans to return to the region in 2011-12, with an enticing new series of cruises on Celebrity Century.

“This marks a significant expansion of Celebrity Cruises’ diverse array of global holiday options,” said Celebrity Cruises President and CEO Dan Hanrahan. “We’re thrilled to return to Australia and New Zealand. It’s a region our guests and trade partners around the world have said they wanted to experience again with Celebrity Cruises, pairing our award-winning dining, exceptional service and high style with the beauty, charm and diversity of the area. This move further exemplifies our ‘Designed for you’ platform, and how we fulfil what cruisers desire.”

Marking the cruise line’s first return to the land Down Under in two years, Celebrity Cruises’ exotic new Australia and New Zealand season – bookended by a series of cruising options in Hawaii – features a total of 36 ports in six countries: Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, French Polynesia, the U.S. and Mexico. The line-up includes 10 distinct itineraries, with six varied departure ports, including Sydney and Perth (Fremantle), Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; Honolulu, Hawaii; San Diego, California, and Ensenada, Mexico.

Celebrity Cruises’ new series begins 2 October, 2011, with two consecutive 15-night Hawaii sailings from San Diego, followed by a 10-night Hawaii cruise from Ensenada to Honolulu. An 18-night “Pacific Jewels” voyage departs Honolulu 11 November, followed by five 12- and 13-night New Zealand cruises between Sydney and Auckland, including a festive holiday sailing departing Sydney 24 December. These offer a more destination-rich experience for cruisers, with only three days at sea, versus five on most competing lines’ itineraries.

Cruisers also have the opportunity to experience a rare, 36-night circumnavigational voyage – a first for Celebrity Cruises – through two combinable 18-night sailings: One will sail around the southern portion of Australia, featuring an overnight stay in Sydney and transits through three sounds – Milford, Doubtful and Dusky – in New Zealand’s World Heritage-designated Fiordland National Park. The second of the combinable 18-night sailings takes cruisers around Australia’s northern coast, and features a visit to the idyllic island of Bali, Indonesia – marking yet another first for Celebrity Cruises.

The new series also includes two tantalising, 18-night Trans-Pacific voyages visiting the French Polynesian islands and Hawaii.

Among the ports Celebrity Cruises will visit for the first time are Geraldton, Broome, Darwin, Cairns, Brisbane, Adelaide, Albany, Bunbury and Perth, Australia, in addition to Burnie, Tasmania, and Bali.

To complement the cruises and allow guests to delve deeper into the land Down Under, Celebrity Cruises has created a series of cruisetour packages, with details to be announced when bookings open for the entire slate of holiday options on Thursday, 29 July. Celebrity Cruises will also announce details of an early booking incentive on that date.                                                                   

The 1,814-guest Celebrity Century is ideal for offering guests spectacular views of the scenic region, having been refitted in 2006 to add 314 new verandas, along with the elegant Murano restaurant and the truly “cool” Martini ice bar.

Celebrity Cruises’ new itineraries replace the previously announced series of 12-night Caribbean cruises from Baltimore on Celebrity Century. Guests with individual and group bookings that are named and deposited on Celebrity Century departing between 1 November, 2011 and 21 March, 2012, have the option to cancel their booking, or move to the same category of accommodations on a comparable Transcanal voyage on Celebrity Infinity, either 28 October, 2011, or 27 March, 2012; Celebrity Century’s Hawaii sailings 2 or 17 October, 2011, or 2 or 20 April, 2012; 10- or 11-night Caribbean cruises on Celebrity Equinox in 2011, or entirely new 12-night Caribbean sailings from Cape Liberty, New Jersey, on Celebrity Silhouette, the line’s fourth Solstice Class ship, entering service in 2011. Holiday sailings are open only to guests currently booked on Celebrity Century’s double-holiday voyage of 23 December, 2011. Guests with applicable bookings who opt to shift to one of the eligible sailings will receive a $200 per stateroom or $400 per suite onboard credit.