My wife and I just had our first cruise on the brand new Celebrity Edge back in November of 2018. What separates this ship is the beauty of it. Celebrity actually hired artists to work with the ship design team so you would feel a difference in the ship. It worked. The other thing that stood out from previous ships we reviewed is that this is a much different experience. In this first blog post I’m going to go over the Ambiance, Art, and Entertainment. In the second post I’ll talk about the rooms and food. The last post will go over the fitness and spa areas.
This ship was much different from other ships that we toured in that it is meant to be much more laid back. This is a ship you go on to relax. It actually took me awhile to figure this out and embrace it for what it is (I have a hard time sitting still). They make a point of not having multiple activities going 24×7 over-saturating the senses. Sure there is entertainment, nightly shows, entertainers throughout the day, but it is not overwhelming.
There are so many great areas of the ship to relax in, it’s hard to know where to start. Want a champagne glass hot tub. Got it. Want a private cabana. Ok, for an extra charge we will hook you up. Adult Solarium, yep. Want to watch a movie or the big game outside under the stars, check out the rooftop bar. Want to have lunch alfresco hanging over the ocean, check out the magic carpet. The Sunset Bar on the back of the ship is an awesome place to take in great views of the ocean. Of course there is the spa, which will be explored in a future post. You really can’t go wrong in picking a spot to relax.
As you are going around the ship, you will notice at times feels like you are walking through an art gallery. We were told they actually worked with 6 different artists from the design stage on. There were so many places where this stood out. I’m putting some pictures in here of my favorites, but by no means all of them. Plenty of more art to discover so I’m not ruining all the surprises. That would just be mean.
At one point they also had an art auction that my wife and I attended. We actually left disappointed in the individual running the auction as we did not feel he was being ethical. Now, I’m no expert in auctions so I will freely admit, I could be wrong on this one. However, the auctioneer made a big speech about how great a deal you could get and once an opening bid was established they had to sell. Right after the speech, a couple bid on a piece and the auctioneer said, “That’s too good a deal, I’m going to buy that back” and outbid them. That felt unethical to us so we left immediately.
The entertainment on-board was hit or miss. The singers they had in the rooftop bar throughout the day were great! There was a lady who sang everything from Adele to Joplin and was amazing. As for the nightly entertainment, it’s quite possible the entertainers were just having an off night but the first night the show was unimpressive. The talent was average and the story line was, well, just not that enthralling. It also seemed like there just wasn’t that much going on or not a lot of options for nightlife. The staff explained part of this is by design. As we mentioned earlier it’s meant to be relaxing. Not sure if it was truly the less is more design that explains the difference between night one and two, or the feedback got back to the staff, but the following night they stepped it up. The show was more like a concert. The singers and dancers were fabulous. The main singer reminded me of “Little Sweet” from the Dr. Pepper commercials without the long hair. He was awesome.
After the show there was an event called Andromeda in the bar that was themed and somewhat futuristic. The idea is you are given a new identity when you come into the bar, so here is your big chance to be someone else for the night. The cast from the play came in dressed as futuristic characters and danced and mingled with the guests. There was a person reading tarot cards. Entertainers randomly jumping up and dancing on tables, acrobats, never a dull moment. This was probably the highlight of the cruise for us from an entertainment perspective. My wife rarely gets out and dances unless I drag her out or there, but she was leading the charge for a change. We had a lot of fun.
Last thing to review on the entertainment side is a new concept they are testing called “Eden”. This one is a bit difficult to describe. Now, I’m well aware that not everyone enjoys the same thing. This particular venue is not for everyone, and I seem to fit that category. The space is incredibly designed. I LOVED going in there and was so excited b/c it had so much potential. The entertainers are costumed spectacularly, and they have very cool looking (and very expensive) specialty drinks. The entertainment itself has to be experienced to be understood. It is very interpretive and free-form. They don’t necessarily follow a story line. At one point an entertainer made a big show of not being able to get comfortable on a hard stage. At another time the cast was sitting around playing oboes and lyres. I just didn’t get it, and really couldn’t find anyone else who could explain it. Most frequent comment was “It was weird”.
If you would like to see more pictures of our trip on Celebrity Edge feel free to visit our Celebrity Edge Facebook Album. Warning, there may be spoiler alerts for the next posts!