Celebrity Cruises Announces New Ships and Irish Port
Celebrity Cruises continues to be a trailblazer in modern luxury travel as President and CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo cuts the first piece of steel for Celebrity Edge, the first ship of its class. (Photographed from left to right: Jean-Yves Jaouen, Operations Senior Vice President, STX France; Harri Kulovaara, Executive Vice President Newbuild and Innovation, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.; Richard D. Fain, Chairman and CEO, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd.; Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, President and CEO, Celebrity Cruises; Laurent Castaing, General Manager, STX France)
Celebrity Cruises is celebrating two major developments: Its first Edge-class ships and a home port in Dublin Ireland, a first in the cruise industry.
The luxury cruise line has begun construction on its next generation of cruise ships. Celebrity Cruises cut the first steel for its newest vessel, Celebrity Edge, on November 21. In addition to Celebrity Edge, the cruise line announced the name of Edge’s sister ship, “Celebrity Beyond.”
“We set the bar high for the architects and designers on Edge class, and we were rewarded with a stunning design,” said president and CEO of Celebrity Cruises Lisa Lutoff-Perlo in a written statement. “Cutting the ship’s first piece of steel is the traditional first step in the shipbuilding process, and I’m excited to see our dreams turn into reality over the next 24 months.”
Celebrity Edge will weigh 117,000 gross tons and have a passenger capacity of 2,900 people. This makes the ship larger than the line’s Millennium-class ships, but smaller than the Solstice-class ships. Celebrity Cruises promises Edge-class ships will have features from both of these classes in order to “deliver small-ship itineraries with large-ship amenities.”
Celebrity Cruises expects Celebrity Edge will be delivered in fall 2018 and Celebrity Beyond in spring 2020. Two more unnamed Edge-class ships will be delivered in fall 2021 and fall 2022 respectively. Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Richard D. Fain called the Edge class a “trailblazer in modern luxury travel.”
“The new ships will be on the cutting edge of innovation and the leading edge of design, so the ship names are spot on and offer a sense of how Celebrity Cruises is looking into the future,” Fain said.
Sailing from Dublin
Photo courtesy of CelebrityCruises.com
Last month, Celebrity Cruises announced it will use Dublin as the home port for one of its Solstice-class ships, Celebrity Eclipse. This marks the first time a major cruise line has based a ship in the Irish capital. The sailing will run from late April to June 2018.
Itineraries will include locations in Iceland, Ireland and Scotland as well as sailings to the Norwegian Fjords.
Park West Gallery’s unique art collecting experience can be found aboard Celebrity Cruises. Find out more about our art auctions at sea.
