Celebrity Cruises' new Celebrity Edge ship introduces floating bars, private verandahs and plunge pools on ships

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Celebrity Cruises' new Celebrity Edge ship introduces floating bars, private verandahs and plunge pools on ships

By Andrea Black
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Cruise line Celebrity has unveiled a new, technologically advanced "Edge" class at parent company Royal Caribbean's new 3D Innovation Lab in Miami.

In an ultra-competitive tourism industry where cruise lines are constantly trying to outdo each other with new innovations, Celebrity aims to raise the bar in modern luxury cruising.

In a transformational move the ship Celebrity Edge, set to launch in December 2018, addresses two common cruising desires. What do guests want? Bigger staterooms. And why are they at sea? To enjoy the view.

In their new class, Celebrity will bring cruisers closer to the outside vista, right up to the edge in fact, with a new innovation known as the infinite verandah.

"Our guests don't want to just skim the world like a magazine – they want to feel a human connection with it," says Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, president and chief executive of Celebrity Cruises.

Forget the portholes and the balconies of yore. Each of the 918 Edge staterooms will effectively blur the boundaries between outside and in. With the push of a button, a floor-to-ceiling window can retract to create a glass railing together with folding french doors, if a balcony is desired. And because of this open flow, there's more space to play with: bathrooms are now bigger; there's more storage space.

Edge suites will make up 12 per cent of the ship's accommodations, upping the luxury a notch. Choose from one of two Iconic suites, perched above the bridge offering a captain's-eye views, or perhaps one of the six double-storey Edge villas, glorious glass boxes offering full ocean views as well as a private plunge pool. Celebrity's new design ambassador, Nate Berkus, noted that the spacious Penthouse suites look like something he had seen in high-end real estate listings in New York or London.

Across the whole ship, the design highlights the great outdoors. Chaises longue that once encircled the pool face outwards towards the sea. The pool is tiered, so even when lolling in the water you can view the ocean. A two-storey jogging track, where one part is elevated and another winds through the verdant rooftop garden, is designed to make you feel like you're traipsing a varied landscape.

Also impressive are the new colour palette and textures used in the design. Working with renowned London designer, Kelly Hoppen, Celebrity Edge has the feel of a modern boutique hotel. There are Eames lounge chairs, leafy potted plants, and a good dose of velvet soft furnishings in indigos, greens and purples. It's fresh; dark woods are out, with a more neutral grey-wash wood finish and marble adding to the luxe feel.

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But it's an innovation known as the Magic Carpet that has Richard Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises, most excited. What looks, at first glance, like a stylish bar and lounge elevated above the top deck on the starboard side also serves as the disembarkation platform to transfer cruisers to their launch (no longer called a tender in Edge-speak) from ship to shore.

Tasked with finding a hassle-free way of getting on and off the ship, architect Tom Wright (of Dubai's Burj Al Arab fame) has brilliantly executed a multifunctional cantilevered floating platform to replace the rickety gangway. At night it returns to top deck and transforms into a romantic perch on which to dine under the stars.

As has been the ongoing trend with Royal Caribbean, advanced technology plays a big part. The tedious task of embarking is made easier with facial recognition; you can enter your room and turn the lights and the heat on with your mobile phone; and an app allows you to order a cocktail or book dinner from wherever you are – your bed, or even from the martini-shaped hot tubs mounted above the outdoor pool. The app will also have daily schedules and suggest experiences according to your tastes, as well as act as a concierge.

Take a look at the designed for the Celebrity Edge in the photo gallery above.

The 2918-guest ship will sail from Fort Lauderdale in Florida from December 16, 2018 to the Caribbean. It is the first of five ships to be built in the Edge class. Bookings are now open at www.celebritycruises.com/edge.

The writer was a guest of Royal Caribbean.

See also: 10 things you might not expect from your first cruise

See also: 25 things you never knew about cruising

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