Does the ship of the future live up to the hype?
The most hotly anticipated cruise ship of the year, Celebrity Edge, has arrived at her new home in Fort Lauderdale's Port Everglades.
The 2,918-passenger vessel, which has been four years in the making, is the first of four Edge Class vessels that Celebrity Cruises has ordered for delivery by 2022.
Ripping up the rulebooks, Celebrity Edge features the cruise world's first “Magic Carpet”, a cantilevered, floating platform that can be lowered, raised and used in a number of ways – from a tender boarding platform on deck two to a restaurant, bar and live music venue atop the ship.
The highly anticipated ship will begin her inaugural sailing season, alternating cruises to the eastern and western Caribbean, in December.
Here’s everything we know about the innovative ship so far...
It has a Magic Carpet
This is the first time an extra room (the size of a tennis court) has been cantilevered off the side of a ship. It will travel 13 floors, changing venue according to the deck on which it’s positioned. On deck 16 it’s Dinner on the Edge; at 14 it joins the pool deck, at deck five it extends the ships restaurants into alfresco seating for 100 and at deck two it hovers above the sea, ready to whisk passengers off on excursions.
A butler will unpack your smalls
If you’re staying in one of the ship’s fancy Sky Suites, unpacking and packing and is all part of the service. Your butler can also deliver lunch and dinner to your suite and flat whites on demand (from Cafe al Bacio). Sky Suite passengers have access to the sexy and salubrious Retreat – a little bit of Ibiza at sea with its own sun deck, pool, resort-style cabanas, pool bar and restaurant.
There is a rooftop garden…
...with its own resident horticulturist. Come here for films, yoga classes, outdoor dining (at the Garden Grill) and live music – or to admire the treetop sculptures.
You might find Eden
From “chilful” to “sinful”... says the blurb about the three-story venue. We’re not sure either – but we’re going to have fun finding out.
There’s a Michelin-starred chef on board
With a captive audience of about 3,300 hungry passengers, Cornelius Gallagher has a job on. A mainstay on the New York foodie scene, he has also worked at the legendary El Bulli, in Spain. On Edge, Gallagher’s culinary shizzle will find its way onto menus at Luminae and Luminae at The Retreat.
What else is on the menu?
At a “culinary reveal’’ for Celebrity Edge in New York earlier this year, dishes included kumamoto oysters with yuzu mignonette (from its Raw on 5 Japanese restaurant); hickory smoked brisket with mustard-vinegar slaw (from the Rooftop Garden Grill) and strozzapreti carbonara with guanciale – hand-rolled pasta with cured meat (Tuscan restaurant).
We like the the look of the Imperial Tower (served at the Seafood Plateau at Magic Carpet). Priced at $75 it includes a whole cold water lobster tail, lobster and crab salad, six chilled shrimp, 12 oysters, two king crab legs, sea bass ceviche and six crab claws.
Don’t call them “cabins”
Homes today are all about the “art of living” according to Kelly Hoppen MBE, who has waved her interiors wand over all of the suites on board Celebrity Edge. They’re certainly not like anything we’ve seen at sea before: in some rooms the entire living area becomes a verandah; others have private plunge pools.
Some villas cost cost $20,000*
The two-storey Edge Villas take Hoppen’s home-at-sea concept to a new level. This is condo-on-water territory, with pops of “Hoppen green” infused into the soft furnishings and the Subway-style tiles in the dining area. The Villa’s piece de resistance is a sparkling three-foot-deep sea view plunge pool. Thoughtful touches include floor-to-ceiling storage, a Hoppen-green plantation rocker and a backlit vanity table with magnifying mirror. “It screams woman,” said Yolanda, the suite guide-cum-realtor, who was doing a great job of justifying the price $20,000 per week price tag. [*for a week – see package at the end]
Want better views than the captain?
Book one of the two-bed, two-bathroom Iconic Suites to secure your view above the Bridge, on the “wings” that extend from the Bridge. Measuring a whopping 2,500 sq ft, the suites spill onto a huge verandah complete with hot tub and a shaded cabana with a day bed. Inside, 82 feet of glass floods the living space. You’ll want to entertain. For that there’s a butler’s pantry, a butler and loads of alfresco seating. Oh, and did we mention the rugby-team sized bath tubs? More jets than geyser.
There’s a quartz bed in the spa
The Elemis spa on board Celebrity Edge has an MLX Quartz treatment table. When you lie on the warm crystals, the quartz is said to cut through your knotty bits. As well as the quartz bed, there are two crystal-based massage treatments, which use amber and quartz poultice balms, and a giant amethyst crystal is also used in the steam room. As the steam opens your pores, the energy in the crystals should draw out tension.
You can throw your own house party
Now this is clever. If you’re part of a family group or wedding party room types and configurations are such that groups of six, 10 (pick a number) can be accommodated as a party. In fact there are 170 connecting room options. Of the 918 rooms on board 16 are accessible rooms and 16 have been designed specifically for solo travellers.
The mattresses are infused with eucalyptus...
… and are handmade in Italy. Along with temperature-regulating eucalyptus, the hypo-allergenic king-size mattresses incorporate a layer of high-grade cashmere. If that doesn’t ensure a good night’s rest, we’re not sure what will.
The gym has the first peloton bikes at sea
What do you mean you’ve not heard of a peloton workout? The cultish on-demand spin bike lets passengers stream live videos through the bike’s 22-inch touch screen and monitor on other riders’ workouts. The on-board gym offers more classes than any other ship at sea, including Bungee Fit workouts ($19). Think baby bouncers for adults – just the kind of low-impact workout we like...
She will be christened by a Nobel Laureate
Cruise lines have enlisted royalty (The Queen and Duchess of Cambridge have both christened ships); rap stars (Pitbull); actors (Sophia Lauren) and cheerleaders (the Miami Dolphins) as godmothers and fathers to their vessels. Celebrity Edge ship will named and launched next week by UN Messenger of Peace and Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai.
The water bottles are made of aluminium
Sustainable packaging – what’s not to like?
How do I book?
A seven-night Western Caribbean fly/cruise departing April 14, 2019 costs from ￡2,994 per person in an Oceanview cabin, including flights. The cruise is roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale and calls at Key West, George Town (Cayman Islands), Cozumel, and Costa Maya. The same package in a Suite costs ￡5,839pp and ￡24,300 in an Edge Villa (celebritycruises.co.uk).