Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. (RCCL), parent of Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises, is promoting Michael Bayley to the post of president and CEO of Celebrity Cruises. Bayley replaces Dan Hanrahan, who left last month to become CEO of Regis, a hair salon company that owns the SuperCuts and Regis brands, after serving as president and CEO of Celebrity for 11 years.

Bayley, who has been with RCCL for 30 years, most recently as executive vice president of operation, will report to Richard Fain, RCCL’s chairman and CEO. Before his operations post, Bayley served served as executive vice president- International, where he oversaw the international expansion for RCCL.

 “In his role as executive vice president-international, Michael successfully spearheaded our aggressive expansion efforts into emerging and high-growth markets, and most recently has overseen all operations for Royal Caribbean International,” said Fain. “Fortunately, Celebrity has a very strong management team to build on and I am delighted that Michael will bring his vision, passion and drive to bear on the continued growth of this important brand.”

Speculation about who would get Celebrity’s top post had centered mostly on internal candidates, including Bayley; Larry Pimentel, president and CEO of Azamara; Lisa Bauer, senior vice president-global sales and marketing for Royal Caribbean; and Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, senior vice president of hotel operations for Celebrity.

In announcing Bayley’s promotion, Royal Caribbean said Lutoff-Perlo is being promoted to senior vice president of operations for Royal Caribbean International, reporting to Adam Goldstein, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean International.  Lutoff-Perlo is a 27-year veteran of the company who has served in a variety of roles within both Celebrity and Royal Caribbean International, most recently as senior vice president of operations for Celebrity. In that role, she oversaw all the hotel operations of the brand, including introduction of the line’s Solstice-class of ships.  Prior to that, she was in charge of product marketing and strategic alliances for Royal Caribbean International