For Celebrity Cruises, 2018 has ended on a high note, with the arrival of the Celebrity Edge at Port Everglades’ Terminal 25 (T25) in Hollywood, FL in late November. Along with being the latest addition to Celebrity Cruises’ fleet in six years, the Celebrity Edge is bringing innovative technology on the high seas and taking guest experiences to an immersive level.
One eye-catching engineering feat is the Magic Carpet, a cantilevered venue being tangerine in color and size of a tennis court. When positioned along various deck levels, the Magic Carpet can become an exclusive restaurant or an open-air expansion of the ship's main pool area or a component to the ship's Destination Gateway, a luxury embarkation station for boarding the adjacent Edge Launches departure vessels.
Dining gets illuminated as well. Inside Le Grand Bistro, one of the ship's 29 food and beverage offerings that reflects a French bistro, passengers will be entertained by "Le Petit Chef and Friends," an animated tabletop 4D presentation. Then there's Eden, an outward facing space is described as being part culinary experience, part performance venue.
Celebrity Edge also holds a rooftop garden that is reminiscent of a living urban landscape, three varying accommodation classes, and a more than 22,000-square foot, nature-inspired spa. Perhaps the most significant milestone for the Celebrity Edge is its godmother - Nobel Laureate and Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai.
I asked Brian Abel, Celebrity Cruises’ senior vice president of hotel operations, about what these aspects of Celebrity Edge mean not just for its passengers but also for Celebrity Cruises itself. He is what he had to say.
What is behind the drive to provide these new experiences to Celebrity Edge guests?
Abel: "On Celebrity Edge, we wanted to take a completely different approach to how our guests experience their surroundings by emphasizing the ocean and the environment through outward-facing design. To supplement this, we also looked to evolve the onboard experience in a way that has never been done before in the industry by seeking new partners to bring innovative new experiences to life.
We created versatile spaces where guests could have completely different experiences in the same venue. On the Magic Carpet, soaring above the open ocean can be experienced as an extension of our Raw on Five restaurant or as a luxury platform to board our Edge Launches as part of the Destination Gateway experience when tendering. Eden, on the other hand, evolves slowly throughout the day, starting as a chillful space to enjoy a quiet breakfast or meditation – to become a fusion of fine dining and sinful performance art in the evening.
With 'Le Petit Chef and Friends' at Le Grand Bistro, we partnered with Skullmapping and Tablemation Studios to bring customized experiences to Celebrity Edge. We wanted to showcase cuisine from all over the world in a new and playful way that still embodies our brand’s hallmark of modern luxury and sophistication, but is also family-friendly and approachable. The result is a four-course menu, brought to life by animated chefs projected right onto the tabletop that create the bespoke dishes right in front of you."
How do you think these features, along with the Celebrity Edge’s overall aesthetic, will change the cruise industry?
Abel: "Celebrity Edge is a game-changer because no ship has emphasized a guest’s connection to the ocean and the surrounding environment in a way that our ship has. Every detail, and every space on board the ship, was designed with this aesthetic in mind – starting with the Edge Stateroom with Infinite Veranda, where guests can bring the outdoors inside using the Infinite Veranda. We also designed our public spaces – Eden, Resort Deck, etc. – so that chairs and tables face the ocean, wherever possible."
How does having Malala Yousafzai as Celebrity Edge’s Godmother propel the brand’s progressive ideals towards diversity and inclusion forward?
Abel: “Our partnership with Malala was much bigger than just having her on board for the naming ceremony, as it was part of a two-year partnership with Malala Fund. We were thrilled to support them in their mission, to get millions of school girls around the world receive the free, safe and quality education that they deserve.
Malala is everything you could ask for in a godmother. She has displayed relentless persistence and a passion for gender equality issues throughout her life, and she embodies our core values of opening up the world through education and diversity. We were able to have her meet with some of our female crew members from across our fleet while she was on Celebrity Edge for the naming ceremony as well."
Celebrity Edge had its debut maiden seven-night voyage in the Western Caribbean and will depart for its maiden voyage to the Eastern Caribbean on Dec. 16. The ship then will be sailing seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries this winter and spring before heading to Europe in May 2019 for her summer season in the Mediterranean.
