New Celebrity Cruises chief to ‘build...

Laura Hodges Bethge aims to carry on the ethos of previous president and CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo

Celebrity Cruises’ new president Laura Hodges Bethge has pledged to “build on the foundation” created by Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, who stepped down from the role at the start of the month.

Speaking in Connecting Travel's sister publication Travel Weekly, Hodges Bethge said she hopes to “emulate” the work of Lutoff-Perlo over her nine-year tenure and to keep the brand at the forefront of customers’ minds.

Hodges Bethge said: “What Lisa created with the Edge-class series has changed the premium landscape and I’m so grateful for all the work and the vision she had to create those amazing ships. She left the brand in such an amazing place and I’m going to build on her foundation. She’s absolutely a dynamic and powerful woman leader and I look forward to emulating her and then building upon that and creating the brand that our customers are going to absolutely love to continue to sail with.”

Hodges Bethge went on to say she wants to continue to support Lutoff-Perlo’s passion for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion on board, and improve accessibility for disabled passengers.

“It’s super important that we broaden our customer base and we make sure we have experiences for a broad range of folks,” she said. “We are an all-inclusive brand and that is going to continue. We want to make sure we are creating experiences and memories and have deployments that our guests are going to enjoy for years to come.”