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Popular onboard hangout spots include the adults-only Solarium, the buzzy Rooftop Terrace, and, for suite guests, The Retreat. The ship also has a handful of specialty dining restaurants (in addition to complimentary ones, of course). Le Petit Chef is well worth the added fee thanks to a combination of gourmet eats and exhilarating entertainment complete with tabletop animations. That makes the latter vessels a good choice for someone who wants to try Celebrity but isn't eager to travel with big crowds.
Celebrity Apex (
The most obvious difference between the two classes of ships today is the smaller size of the Millennium Class vessels. Among other unusual features, some of the Solstice Class ships also have a glass-making pavilion next to the Lawn Club that offers glass-making classes conducted in partnership with Hollywood Hot Glass. Comprising five vessels, Celebrity's Solstice Class is the biggest class of ships at the line and it accounts for nearly half of the brand's total capacity. In addition to being Celebrity's newest and most innovative ships, the Edge Class vessels are the line's biggest ships — though they aren't all that much bigger than the line's Solstice Class ships. The bigger size allows for a few more onboard venues than can be found on the line's older vessels.
Celebrity Solstice® Series
Last refurbished in 2019, Millennium now features a more contemporary design aesthetic, similar to what you’d find on the newer ships. Last refurbished in 2018, Celebrity Xpedition was purposely built to cruise the Galapagos. The immersive onboard experience includes nightly lectures by certified naturalists from Galapagos National Park, who will be on board the entire sailing. Enjoy postcard-worthy views from the Panorama Deck, or take a dip in the hot tub on the Sunrise Deck.
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But it's not as difficult as it might at first seem to hit the more rewarding higher level tiers in just a few years if you're cruising a lot. The third-to-highest tier, Elite, brings such perks as access to the Captain's Club Coffee Lounge, where you can enjoy a coffeehouse-style breakfast each morning, and a complimentary bag of laundry on every sailing. As is typical with cruise line loyalty programs, lower tiers don't bring all that much in terms of truly valuable benefits. You'll get things like access to a loyalty desk (at the Preview tier) or an invite to a private party (at the Classic tier).
As big as a tennis court, the platforms are cantilevered over the side of the vessels and can be raised and lowered to serve different functions — from a waterside bar to a water shuttle boarding area. The spas on the Edge Class ships are also known for some of the most wide-ranging treatments found on any cruise ship. The WellMassage4D, notably, allows for a "zero gravity" immersion massage. Soaring three decks high and lined with glass walls, the Eden venue on each of the ships comes alive at night with a bar that serves up unusual concoctions. It also offers a place to relax or grab a quick bite during the day in a garden-like setting with stunning views of the ocean.
You'll find a lot of consistency from ship to ship in the Celebrity fleet in the type of venues that you find on board. Marvels of cruise ship engineering, the Lawn Clubs are maintained by full-time greenskeepers who oversee a complex filter and irrigation system to keep the grass looking shipshape. Home to Adirondack chairs, hammocks and lawn games such as bocce and croquet, these Lawn Club areas offer a quiet, park-like respite from the activity in other parts of the ships. Note that all Celebrity ships are renovated and upgraded on a regular schedule every few years, so even the oldest Celebrity cruise vessels have newer carpeting, updated furniture, modern decor in cabins and other updates.
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The oldest ship in the Celebrity Cruises fleet is Celebrity Millennium, which entered service in 2000 — more than two decades ago! Despite the age, though, the ship still manages to be relatively modern and offers Celebrity’s characteristic luxury, thanks to recent renovations that occurred in 2019, bringing the ship up to modern standards. From 2015 to 2018, Kate McCue was the ship’s captain, and now McCue boasts the status as the first American woman to captain a mega cruise ship. Also updated as part of Celebrity’s Revolution initiative that brought a good portion of its fleet up to the most modern of standards, Celebrity Equinox was the second Solstice-class ship for the cruise line. This class premiered in 2018 with Celebrity Edge and it’s a class that Celebrity is still building out.
In all, the Edge Class spas offer more than 120 different treatments, including acupuncture and salt stone therapy. Every Celebrity ship also has a casino and spas are big on Celebrity ships. Celebrity's newest ship, Celebrity Beyond, has its very own Daniel Boulud restaurant called Le Voyage.
MSC Magnifica Cabin and Experiences Guide
Each itinerary features one to two “formal” nights that we call Evening Chic. Choose from 3 to 12-night cruises with stops in Costa Maya, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. A Western Caribbean cruise means an array of experiences—from sun-bleached sandy strands, ancient ruins, or scuba dives on a coral-encrusted wall.
Celebrity has a point-based frequent cruiser program, the Captain's Club, that has six tiers, ranging from Preview (at 0 points) to Zenith (3,000 points or more). While the free programming for children ages 3-12 ends at 10 p.m., you can pay extra to leave your kids at shipboard Camp at Sea centers past 10 p.m. For a supervised "slumber party." This is essentially a group kid-sitting service. While not huge with families with young children, Celebrity does draw a fair number of multigenerational family groups. It's one of the lines you take if you want an affordable ship that will appeal to your 70-year-old parents as much as your 12-year-old kid.
A particularly cool feature of the Cellar Masters venues is that they have self-serve Enomatic wine dispensers. Just swipe your card and you can get a sampler of wine in varying sizes. The Celebrity Central venues on Solstice Class ships are in "entertainment courts" that are also home to nightclubs called Quasar.
There's also an exclusive restaurant on Edge Class ships for passengers staying in The Retreat suites called Luminae. Every Celebrity vessel has one and sometimes up to four main restaurants where meals are included in the fare, and these dining rooms are at the heart of the dining experience on Celebrity ships. Many passengers have all or most of their dinners in one of these main restaurants. The Iconic Suites aren't the only over-the-top suites on the Edge Class ships. Each of the vessels also has two multi-room Penthouse Suites that measure more than 1,575 square feet, as well as the line's first two-deck-high suites. Celebrity Infinity is a favorite among laid-back cruisers — primarily couples and adult friend groups.
Among other unusual features, the Edge Class ships have top deck plant-filled "playscapes" called the Rooftop Garden with an outdoor eatery called the Rooftop Garden Grill. Inspired by childhood playgrounds, they're designed to "awaken the inner-child in everyone," the line has said. Compared to such cruise operators as Carnival Cruise Line, which has eight different classes of vessels, Celebrity has a relatively easy-to-understand fleet. The line's somewhat older Solstice Class ships also offer a number of features that were groundbreaking in their time and — in many cases — remain rare and alluring more than a decade after they first debuted. Each of these groups — known as "classes" in cruise industry lingo — is made of ships that were constructed around the same time with the same basic design. Newer Celebrity Cruises ships generally are bigger than older Celebrity ships — in some cases by as much as 35% bigger.
If a smaller, more intimate ship is more your style, you probably want to take a look at the line's Millennium Class vessels. And if you have any interest in visiting the Galápagos — a once-in-a-lifetime-type destination — it's hard to beat the line's three small Galápagos vessels. The Solstice Class ships are also home to some of the most stylish outdoor pool decks at sea. Like the Edge Class ships, they also feature indoor, adult-only pool areas that, notably, are topped with glass panels embedded with solar panels that contribute to the ship's power grid. Just a tad smaller than the Edge Class ships, the Solstice Class vessels are perhaps best known for the innovative, half-acre Lawn Club areas on their top decks, which feature real grass. When this class of ship first started rolling out in 2008, they were heralded for their game-changing design and features, including a few things that still are unique in the cruise world.
Celebrity Silhouette is the fourth ship in Solstice Class and sister to the Celebrity Reflection, Celebrity Eclipse, Celebrity Equinox, and Celebrity Solstice. Celebrity Reflection is the final ship in Solstice Class and sister to the Celebrity Silhouette, Celebrity Eclipse, Celebrity Equinox, and Celebrity Solstice. Celebrity Edge is the first ship in the very popular Edge Class and sister to the Celebrity Ascent, Celebrity Apex, and Celebrity Beyond. Celebrity Apex is the second ship in Edge Class and sister to Celebrity Ascent, Celebrity Edge, and Celebrity Beyond. Celebrity Ascent is Celebrity Cruise Line’s newest ship in the fleet, the fourth ship in the popular Edge Class, and sister to Celebrity Edge, Celebrity Beyond, and Celebrity Apex.
