The cruise line operates out of Athens, Greece[12] offering itineraries on a 3,4- and 7-night basis[13] around the Greek islands, Turkey, and the Eastern Mediterranean.

During the 1970s the company began chartering ferries for short cruises Cyprus, which eventually led to the purchase of the cruiseferry MV Prinsessan from the Finland-based Birka Line for $4 million in 1987.

In 1999 Louis chartered the 1998-acquired SS Ausonia to First Choice Holidays, one of Thomson's competitors in the UK market.

In 2004 Louis acquired MV Aquamarine from the fleet of the UK-based Sun Cruises (which had gone out of business).

[20] Further expansion came in 2006 with the purchase of MV Orient Queen and MV Sea Diamond, another former Baltic Sea cruise ferry purchased from Birka Line, while Calypso was chartered to Thomson and Aquamarine (renamed Arielle) to Transocean Tours.

All but two of the ship's passengers were safely evacuated, but the sinking resulted in a flurry of negative publicity for Louis.

[20][23] In 2008 the Arielle was returned from her charter to Transocean Tours, reverted to her earlier name Aquamarine and entered service under the Louis Hellenic Cruises brand.

The agreement at the time was to charter the ships back to Star Cruises/Norwegian Cruise Line until November 2008 and December 2009, respectively.

[26] However, in September 2008 Louis cancelled the purchase of the Norwegian Dream due to "technical issues relating to the vessel".

The Coral was scrapped in late 2013, and theLouis Crista was charted to Cuba Cruises, but still operating under the Louis brand.

[37][38] In July Celestyal imposed a short-term pause in calls at Turkish ports in the wake of the failed coup there.

[46] In late 2017, Celestyal announced that it would be extending its cruise season in Greece to 10 months, including seven-night Aegean cruises with overnight destinations in Mykonos and Santorini,[47][48] and that its 2019 Greek islands itineraries leaving from Piraeus, would have longer stays with more destinations, included Mykonos, Samos or Kusadasi, Patmos, Heraklion (Crete), Rhodes and Santorini.

[57] In January, Celestyal decided to pull out of Cuba after five seasons, citing the company's need to focus on the growing demand coming from its Greek operation.

[15] In June, Chris Theophilides succeeded Kyriakos Anastasiadis as the Celestyal's CEO,[58] and in August Capt.

[62] In February Theophilides revealed that the cruise line's estimated contribution to the Greek economy for 2014-2018 had reached €102.5 million annually.

Louis plc, Celestyal's Cypriot parent, said that Searchlight, which had an asset portfolio valued at $6bn, would immediately provide an initial tranche of €30m ($33.8) in senior debt financing to the Piraeus-based cruise company, together with a €10m revolving credit facility.

[79] In December 2017, Cruise Critic UK Editors' Picks Awards recognized Celestyal with Best for Service.

[86] McDonald went on a Cuban cruise that stopped in Cienfuegos, Santiago de Cuba and Montego Bay, Jamaica with an overnight in Havana.

[89] In June 2017, Greek urban pop band "REC" were onboard Celestyal Olympiato shoot the summer scenes of its new video clip entitled "A heart on the sand".