Celebrity Cruises has been hoping for a warm reception for the arrival of Celebrity Edge to Australian and New Zealand waters. So, what has she got to offer that other ships don’t, and that the Aussie cruise audience is going to appreciate.
Cruise Passenger has spent the past week onboard for Celebrity Edge‘s inaugural sailing from New Zealand to Sydney. Here’s what we discovered.
The Celebrity Edge does have a strong point of difference and one that will most definitely appeal to the Aussie market. She offers affordable luxury.
There are many different definitions of luxury, but to most cruisers these days, it’s about feeling a sense of space. On this voyage, at 100% capacity and 3,170 guests, at no stage did she feel crowded.
In fact, you would more likely believe you’re on a mid-size ship, at 50% capacity. It’s a combination of a clever use of space and light, modern ship features throughout that use pale muted tones and no giant crowded areas such as a traditional dining room.
Dining on the Celebrity Edge
There is no main dining room. This adds to the sense of intimacy onboard and personalised attention, plus the sense of luxury Celebrity is aiming for. Complimentary dining spaces are broken up into several small restaurants ranging from Normandie, Tuscan, Cyprus and Cosmopolitan (with menus to reflect their names) plus Eden café, Mast Grill and more.
Then there are the specialty dining restaurants that take dining to the next level with signature menus at Eden Restaurant, Rooftop Garden Grill, Raw on 5, Le Grand Bistro, Fine Cut Steakhouse, Le Petit Chef, and the Magic Carpet.
Aqua Class guests can also choose from Blu and Luminae for that extra exclusive dining experience. In all, the dining is a major focus for guests.
Whats onboard
Celebrity Edge does not exclude kids, casinos or premium drink packages like some of the rivals in the line’s premium category. But they’re not pushed. In fact, nothing feels like it is in your face, not even the entertainment options.
Instead, Celebrity Edge offers a range of pretty impressive productions with modern music, young up-and-coming stars and venues that can be theatre style or intimate club-like immersions.
A real standout when it comes to the affordable luxe onboard is the spa. Of course there are the 170 different spa treatments to choose from, with the usual USD price tags. But, the real pearl is the Thermal Suite which is like a day spa and at USD$37 for a full day pass, any guest can spend a day luxuriating like Cleopatra amongst the different steam and sauna rooms, the hammam, the crystalarium, the desert spa, the mist room, the heated daybeds and more.
How much is it?
If you consider the fact that the 12 night sailing from Sydney to New Zealand on Celebrity Edge and back, with a premium drinks package and an infinite balcony suite will set you back roughly $4000 per person, and then compare the same itinerary onboard a luxury line at around $8000 per person, then you realise just how affordable the new Celebrity Edge offering really is.
Captain Matt Karandreas insists that Celebrity Edge offers “the same feeling of luxury you would expect on a Viking ship, but without the price tag.”
Now that’s something that will most definitely get the attention of an Aussie cruiser.
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I have just returned to Sydney on the Celebrity Edge and would like to make a few observations. I agree that the ship is indeed a luxurious vessel and that it is quite striking and new. The entertainment was excellent except for repeat performances occurring on back-to-back cruises which happens with all cruise lines.The food and service in the restaurant’s were also of a high standard.
I do beg to differ on several other points made in this article.
The ship felt extremely crowded on my voyage with very few tables available at the Al Baccio cafe and constant overcrowding at the Ocean View Cafe for breakfast and lunch. Specialty restaurants were overpriced at $US 30 for a sandwich and an additional exorbitantly high costs for speciality restaurants. Even with a Classic drinks package there was an additional charge of $US 4 for a Pellegrini water. The package was was reasonable in other respects. There is no onboard laundry available and the cost for laundry was also exorbitant. The basic wi fi package did not allow for voice calls. The communication on board was also terrible especially when travelling to different countries. Passengers should also be aware that shore excursions are also overpriced. We were not even aware of the day spa Special and most treatments were in the $US 150+ range. I did not find the cruise ship to be affordable luxury in the true sense of ‘Affordable.’
Mmm interesting article really pumping it up. We are on the Celebrity Edge at the moment and to say that it doesn’t feel crowded, well sorry I think you must have been hanging around other areas then where we have been. Our first full day at sea and at lunch time you are flat out finding a seat in the Oceanview Cafe and the morning tea line up at Cafe al Bacio was winding back out to the walkway about 15 in the line. Due to the cooler weather there aren’t a lot of people around the pool, so we haven’t seen how crowded or not it gets.
Even though we are in The Retreat area, the Luminae Restraunt that is specifically allocated to us was full to the brim on the first night and so noisy you could hardly hear each other speak, and as for a couple of kids running around in there I’m not saying anything. The Retreat Lounge is quite nice and ‘had a sense of space’. Unfortunately they have coffee, tea, & drinks there but no biscuits etc to snack on at all and nothing to eat in the middle of the day so you can avoid the crowd. The large lounge chairs there have such layback backs that you can’t reach them to sit comfortably and nearly have to lay down.
The suites are quite reasonable in size with amenities, however I am so sick of lounge chairs on cruise ships in suites that only have one end on them, so one person can sit in comfort and the other has to balance on the other end.
At the end of the day it is not too bad, but not really worth the money that we had to pay for ‘The Retreat’. However on a good note with Celebrity, we were supposed to be doing a cruise from Singapore to Hong Kong, but due to a medical episode we couldn’t fly long haul and one month before we were due to depart the travel agent contacted them to move our cruise across to the round New Zealand one at the same time and with a bit of sweet talking and paying about 80% more for ‘The Retreat’ package and suite, which was all that we thought was left, they transferred us to this cruise so at least we didn’t loose 85% of our money, have to go through a travel insurance claim, and not go anywhere. I did however find later on that there were much cheaper suites available that didn’t show up with the email they sent out about ‘The Retreat’ 75% discount for second passenger on Cyber Monday.
So enough negativity, at least we are still away relaxing over Christmas and New Year with no cooking, cleaning, etc. But I do prefer the cruise ships with much smaller capacity, especially Emerald. Regards ED