Gene Sloan
USA TODAY
Published 10:06 AM EST Nov 21, 2018
The first new ship from Celebrity Cruises in six years has arrived in the USA in advance of its first sailing with passengers.
The 129,500-ton Celebrity Edge pulled into Florida’s Port Everglades on Monday after a 4,000-mile journey from the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France.
The 2,918-passenger vessel had been under construction at the shipyard for more than a year.
Edge is the prototype for an innovative new series of ships at Celebrity called the Edge Class. Designed using 3D imaging technology, the vessel features cabins that are open to the sea in a way that has never been seen before in ocean cruising. It also boasts public spaces designed by some of the world’s best-known architects and designers, including Patricia Urquiola and Kelly Hoppen.
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More than 60 percent of Edge’s 1,467 cabins are what Celebrity is calling Infinite Verandas. In what is billed as a first for an ocean-going vessel, the cabins have balconies that are incorporated into the main cabin area. Bi-fold doors in the rooms either can be completely closed, creating a traditional room area separated from a balcony area, or left open, creating a wide-open indoor space that is about 23 percent larger than traditional balcony cabins.
More than 80 percent of Edge’s cabins have the Infinite Verandas or another type of balcony. Edge also has Celebrity’s first cabins for solo travelers.
Among Edge’s other notable features: A 90-ton platform the size of a tennis court that is cantilevered over its side. Called the Magic Carpet, it moves up and down the side of the ship serving functions that range from tender boarding platform (when it’s positioned alongside Deck 2) to restaurant (when it’s positioned near the top of the vessel).
Edge is the first of four Edge Class vessels that Celebrity has ordered for delivery by 2022.
Edge is scheduled to be christened in early December at Port Everglades, which is in the Fort Lauderdale area. It initially will sail to the Caribbean out of the port before moving to the Mediterranean for summer 2019.
In the Caribbean, the ship will operate seven-night trips starting at $1,049. In the Mediterranean, it’ll mostly offer 10- and 11-night voyages starting at $1,899.
RELATED: Peek inside Celebrity Edge under construction
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