Celebrity Edge

Celebrity Solstice gets the Edge treatment in multi-million makeover

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Celebrity Solstice gets the Edge treatment in multi-million makeover

Celebrity Cruises has revealed that Aussie based Celebrity Solstice will be receiving a multimillion dollar makeover by 2021 which will be in line with its latest ship, the revolutionary Celebrity Edge.

The line will be spending more than $670 million on refurbishing its fleet to be aligned with the upcoming Celebrity Edge.

The Edge, which will be launched later this year with a magic carpet, three-story indoor space called the Eden, will set the benchmark for the rest of the Celebrity’s ships.

“We launched The Celebrity Revolution to do one thing – transform the way our guests experience the world. It began with the introduction of the industry changing Celebrity Edge, and continued with the stunning Celebrity Flora,” said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, President and CEO, Celebrity Cruises. “Our dedication to improving the way guests experience the world knows no bounds. We are taking our entire award-winning fleet to the edge and giving people the holiday they truly deserve.”

The Suite Life

Celebrity will transform Celebrity Millennium, Celebrity Constellation, Celebrity Infinity, and Celebrity Summit and add the stunning Reflection Suite and Signature Suites (found today on Celebrity Reflection) to Celebrity Solstice, Celebrity Eclipse, Celebrity Equinox, and Celebrity Silhouette.

The ships have a subtle, coordinated fusion of East meets West, with clean lines, neutral tones, and a warm, inviting opulence.

“This was a new and exciting challenge to recreate something stylish and luxurious yet totally different from the accommodations that I have designed for Celebrity Edge,” said designer Kelly Hoppen.

“I wanted to invoke a feeling of timeless luxury that welcomed guests into their own haven. Your bedroom is where you sleep and where you wake, two of the most important times of day, especially when you are on holiday. It was important to create space, harmony and luxury within a home away from home setting and I think we achieved this balance perfectly.”

With Celebrity Edge, the brand introduced an exclusive new sanctuary for all Suite Class guests called The Retreat, and now Celebrity is bringing its most luxurious experiences fleet-wide. Every ship will offer The Retreat Sundeck and The Retreat Lounge, both designed by Ms Hoppen. The Retreat Sundeck, she has created a chic, open-air hideaway with the feel of a high-end resort, where guests can unwind on plush loungers, sip cocktails, and savour refreshing treats.

Accommodation

The Celebrity Millennium, Celebrity Constellation, Celebrity Infinity, and Celebrity Summit, plus the staterooms and many of the suites

onboard Celebrity Solstice, Celebrity Eclipse, Celebrity Equinox, Celebrity Silhouette and

Celebrity Reflection into a statement about modern luxury.

“Every detail of our staterooms has been elevated, every comfort refined,” said Brian Abel, Senior Vice President, Hotel Operations, Celebrity Cruises. “By the end of The Celebrity Revolution, the entire fleet will have the same quality, design essence and consistency of modern luxury, bringing our fleet to the edge.”

All staterooms will feature a fresh, chic design, rivaling the world’s best boutique hotels. They will also be fitted with Celebrity’s eXhale bedding featuring exclusive luxurious cashmere mattresses, RFID locks, pervasive Xcelerate and Bluetooth capabilities.

Culinary

Guest-favourite restaurant Qsine will be added across the fleet and completely renovated, now offering the brand’s virtual Le Petit Chef experience, created by the world-famous artists of Skullmapping and presented by TableMation exclusively for Celebrity.

Oceanview Café will be redesigned with an open, airy, marketplace-inspired design offering guests a plethora of international delicacies, while the main restaurants will undergo a redesign, with new textures and new finishes added throughout. 

Innovation

More innovation is on the horizon with The Celebrity Revolution, including:

Expansion of the new SEA Thermal Suite – first introduced on Celebrity Edge – to offer an array of therapeutic spa experiences at sea.

Exclusive new shopping experiences featuring sought-after brands and designers, such as Shinola, John Hardy, and Hublot.

Elevated bars and lounges, including the newly reimagined Passport Bar and an expansion of Celebrity’s popular Gastrobar concept, serving more than 40 craft beers, creative cocktails, and gourmet comfort food.

More exciting upgrades to public venues all throughout each ship, including The Hideaway, Team Earth, The Library, and more.

New Royal Caribbean boss promises big things for Australian market

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Celebrity Edge

Royal Caribbean’s new boss in Australia Susan Bonner promises a big wave season beginning in October, with the line’s longest deployment ever. And she hopes to bring the new wave of Celebrity Cruises ships – the modern and technologically advanced Edge class – to Australia. The first, the stunning Celebrity Edge, will be launched at the … Read more

3D chef gives diners the Edge

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3D chef gives diners the Edge

The lid’s been lifted on the premium dining venues guests can expect when Celebrity Edge launches in November – in one, an animated chef appears on the table, plating up a virtual meal.

Celebrity Cruises served a taster to whet appetites at a swanky preview in New York, unveiling a stable of 29 restaurants, cafes and bars. The Dinner on the Edge restaurant occupies the Magic Carpet, the remarkable moveable space cantilevered off the ship’s side.

Perhaps most intriguing is Le Grand Bistro, which projects Le Petit Chef, a 3D character no bigger than a salt shaker, who assembles a digital meal on the guest’s plate, previewing the actual food.

“We were looking for something really unique,” said Brian Abel, Celebrity’s vice-president of hotel operations. “We’re trying to be innovative with technology… to enhance the guest experience.”

The high-tech culinary experience joins Dinner on the Edge, the venue on the cantilevered Magic Carpet when positioned atop the ship, the multi-storey Eden restaurant and Eden Bar.

“The culinary pillar is really the first among equals,” said Richard D. Fain, CEO of Celebrity’s parent company Royal Caribbean Cruises.

Rather than a main dining room, Celebrity Edge will have French, Italian, Greek/Mediterranean and American-themed venues, reflecting passengers increasingly choosing “select dining” in the restaurants reserved for those cabin classes.

“Guests seem to like smaller dining room experiences,” Abel said.

Alongside Beyond Eden, Le Grand Bistro and Dinner on the Edge are steakhouse, barbecue and seafood venues.

View Celebrity Edge Culinary Reveal video:

Celebrity Edge floats out

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Celebrity Edge floats out

The first of the year’s new ship launches left dry dock this week – signalling the start of one of the most exciting years for new mega ships.

The much-anticipated Celebrity Edge ran down the slipway of the France shipyard STX, marking the first time the new ship’s hull has touched the water.

Passengers who love the line – the Celebrity Solstice is one of Australia’s favourites –  are looking forward to the first new class of ship in a decade.

And it certainly sounds as if the new 2,918-guest liner will be packed with innovation and technology.

A new Magic Carpet area suspended off the side of the ship will move up and down between decks throughout the day, offering changing experiences ranging from restaurants to a tender platform.

It’s an incredible engineering feat cantilevered from the side of the ship and able to scale the entire 16 decks.

A new class of  “Infinite Veranda” staterooms will offer unobstructed views via a new design that moves the ship’s infrastructure back further from the balcony.

The ship’s main public venue, Eden, covers three decks and offers different entertainment options throughout the day: relaxation, yoga and coffee space in the morning,  a venue for the new Eve at Eden performance by night, a dinner restaurant, cocktail bar, and enrichment activities.

The Edges first cruise will now take place on December 9 – one week ahead of schedule.

She will sail two separate seven-night inaugural voyages on alternating western and eastern itineraries to the Caribbean, which can be booked back-to-back for a 14-night sailing.

There will be four Edge Preview Sailings: three-night Bahamas cruises roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale departing November 21, November 24, December 3 and December 6.

Celebrity Edge will spend its inaugural season sailing alternating seven-night eastern and western Caribbean itineraries out of its homeport of Fort Lauderdale.

In 2019, the new ship will offer a series of seven- to 11-night Mediterranean sailings calling at ports like Barcelona and Rome.

The Celebrity Edge will be joined by three sibling vessels in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

“This truly is an exciting moment for our brand,” said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, President and CEO, Celebrity Cruises. 

“The float out process marks a major milestone in the building of Celebrity Edge. With exterior construction complete, the amazing STX France team will now turn their attention to bringing all of the meticulously designed venues and transformational staterooms and suites to life.”  

For more information, visit www.celebritycruises.com/edge or your local travel agent.

Celebrity Cruises expands Celebrity Edge’s inaugural season

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Celebrity Cruises expands Celebrity Edge's inaugural season

Celebrity Cruises has expanded the Celebrity Edge’s inaugural season and the line also announced that the ship will be completed ahead of schedule.  The technologically advanced ship, which features some world firsts (including a tennis court-sized elevator style platform called The Magic Carpet which slides up and down the exterior of the ship), is one … Read more

The new public space on the cool Celebrity Edge

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Eden Tree

Celebrity Cruises has revealed new details of its coolest and slickest ship, the Celebrity Edge. The new feature, called Eden, is a public space which spans over three decks.

Eden (which will be designed to look like the Garden of Eden) is a lush area filled with cool lounge spaces, a dining area as well as a bar. It even has a section called the Library of Plants which has five-metre tall tress inside.

The space, which will be an architectural marvel, has more outward-facing glass than any other room at sea.

In the morning, guests can chill out before the day’s activities with yoga, a good book or have a casual breakfast of fresh coffee and croissants.

In the afternoon, Eden hosts a number of enrichment seminars with guest speakers, wine-tastings and cocktail making classes as well as performances from sitar players to aerialists.

By night, the Eden becomes an amazing playground of performance art and nightlife. Guests can dine at the Eden Restaurant which combines all your senses – tastes, sight and sounds.

“Eden, like so many aspects of Celebrity Edge, represents a unique advance in cruise ship design,” said Richard D. Fain, Chairman and CEO, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

“It’s an experience that’s multi-faceted and innovative. Connectivity to the ocean is one of the most exciting hallmarks of Edge Class, and with more glass than any other room at sea, Eden embodies that outward-facing concept beautifully.”

“Our search for partners who are as passionate about world-class design as Celebrity led us to the incredibly talented Scott Butler and designer extraordinaire Patricia Urquiola, who offered a fresh perspective and keen eye,” said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, President and CEO, Celebrity Cruises.

“The entire space is magical throughout morning, afternoon, and evening when our guests will experience Eve at Eden, an experience produced by the visionary Variety Worldwide and our very own Cornelius Gallagher. They have all created something magical and magnificent.”

Celebrity Edge will home-port in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, departing for her first sailing on 16 December 2018. Bookings are open at www.celebritycruises.com.au or through your local travel agent. Celebrity Edge will be joined by three sister ships in 2020, 2021 and 2022.

 

Inside the new and cool Celebrity Edge

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Inside the new and cool Celebrity Edge

Celebrity Cruises is bringing whole new meaning to the concept of cool with its newest ship, the 2,918-passenger Celebrity Edge, plans for which were unveiled in Miami this week.

South African-born designer Kelly Hoppen has been brought in to create her trademark east-meets-west look, creating breathtakingly beautiful interiors, all bleached wood, shades of stone, soft grey and cream and touchy-feely textures, brought to life with splashes of navy, saffron, olive and burnt orange.

Celebrity’s parent company, Royal Caribbean, has set up a brand new Innovation Lab in Miami where boffins play around with design and technology, and stepping into the cabins and suites here that have been mocked up for Edge really is like wandering into the hippest of hip hotels.

Innovation is certainly the operative word on this 129,600-ton ship. For example, Celebrity’s architects have completely rethought the structure of the cabins, so that 918 staterooms now have an ‘infinite veranda’. The balcony area can be closed off with folding French doors and a wall of glass lowered halfway to let in the sea breezes – or the doors can be opened and the window raised, creating a much bigger cabin with a light, airy sitting area. Either way, the standard balcony cabins on Edge will be 21 square metres, way larger than the industry average of 15 square metres.

Then there are the suites… 176 of them, more than on any other Celebrity ship, sharing a gorgeous private deck, The Retreat, with its own pool and lounge, and Luminae, the suites-only restaurant. The top suites are particularly special; six two-deck-high Edge Villas have individual plunge pools, while the two Iconic Suites are right on top of the bridge, with massive balconies, outdoor tubs and sweeping sea views.

The technology in all the cabins is impressive; an app on your phone will open the cabin door as you approach, while a touchscreen on the wall can create mood lighting, from ‘movie’ (if you want to watch TV) to ‘wake up’, gradually raising the lights rather than jolting you awake with an alarm call. The app, which is being rolled out across the fleet, means you can magic up a cocktail via your smartphone without even leaving your lounger, as well as booking restaurants and activities and at embarkation, breezing through security, thanks to facial recognition.

The whole of the pool deck has been rethought by architect Tom Wright of WKK (the architects behind the Burj Al Arab in Dubai), positioning rows of loungers facing out to the sea through a wall of glass, as well as a row of high-ceilinged cabanas alongside a 22-metre pool. Two ‘martini glass’ hot tubs sit high above the pool on slender stalks; they’re accessed via the deck above and have uninterrupted views down over the deck and out to sea.

Gone is the Lawn Club that’s a feature of Celebrity’s Solstice class ships, replaced by a lush rooftop garden, filled with living plants and featuring a grill, a giant movie screen and at night, live music.

But possibly the most striking feature revealed so far is the Magic Carpet, a tennis court-sized platform that’s cantilevered over the side of the ship. The original plan was to create a luxurious outdoor lounge that would serve as an embarkation area for the tenders, but the Magic Carpet has actually ended up as a moving entity, with four positions and four uses. On Deck 16, it’s a romantic restaurant, Dinner on the Edge, with 90 covers. When it’s on Deck 14, it’s an outdoor, poolside chill-out lounge, and on Deck 5, an al fresco dining area for the speciality restaurants. Down at Deck 2, it’s the tender embarkation point.

The ship will sail in the Caribbean initially, although further itineraries – and more detail of what’s on board – will be revealed over the coming months. We’re on the edge of our seats…

Celebrity Cruises reveals details of its cool new ship, the Celebrity Edge

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Celebrity Cruises reveals details of its cool new ship, the Celebrity Edge

Celebrity Cruises is bringing whole new meaning to the concept of cool with its newest ship, the 2,918-passenger Celebrity Edge, plans for which have just been unveiled in Miami.

South African-born designer Kelly Hoppen, in her first sea-going project, has produced breathtakingly beautiful interiors, all bleached wood with shades of stone and cream, while 918 of the cabins have a unique design, with a floor-to-ceiling window that opens to create a balcony or closes to make a light-filled living area.

There are 176 suites, more than on any other Celebrity ship, sharing a gorgeous private deck, The Retreat, with its own pool, lounge and restaurant. Six two-deck-high Edge Villas have their own plunge pool, while the two Iconic Suites are right on top of the bridge, with massive balconies and sweeping sea views.

Gone is the Lawn Club that’s a feature of Celebrity’s Solstice class ships, replaced by a lush rooftop garden, filled with living plants and featuring a grill, a giant movie screen and at night, live music.

But possibly the most striking feature revealed so far is the Magic Carpet, a tennis court-sized platform that travels up and down the side of the ship.

On Deck 16, it’s a romantic restaurant. When it’s on Deck 14, it’s an outdoor chill-out lounge, and on Deck 5, an al fresco dining area for one of the speciality restaurants. Down at Deck 2, it becomes a luxurious boarding platform for the tenders.

Edge will sail in the Caribbean initially, although further itineraries – and more detail of what’s on board – will be revealed over the coming months.