MAGIC CARPET MAIN ATTRACTION
A few weeks ago I was invited for a few nights on the inaugural sailing of Celebrity’s newest ship, the Celebrity “Edge”.
The Godmother of the Celebrity Edge is Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban for advocating for Pakistani girls’ education. She was 15 at the time. When she was 17 she was awarded the Nobel Prize, the youngest recipient to ever receive it. It was such a treat to be able to attend the “naming ceremony” and honor such a brave young lady.
Celebrity choose the name “Edge” because of the ship’s edgy design. The contemporary design has the feel of a well-designed city center. But the focus of the ship is the cuisine. There are 29 total restaurants, cafes, bars, and lounges. Included in that total are four main dining rooms. Each of the those dining rooms has a different ambiance with a few unique cuisine selections. In addition, there are SEVEN specialty restaurants.
Two of the dining venues are special experiences. Eden is a three-deck spiraling restaurant/lounge/theater with floor to ceiling windows on the aft of the ship. Performance artists encourage unsuspecting guests to join them in their acts. The other is a high tech French Bistro with an animated dining experience.
The main attraction is the Magic Carpet. It’s a tender platform, bar and restaurant that moves between decks 5 and 16 on the exterior of the ship! The tender platform is where you leave the ship to board a small boat, also known as a tender, to take you to shore. The Magic Carpet turns that experience into a party.
One main difference on the Celebrity Edge is their Infinite Verandahs – verandahs more like a solarium that are included in the space of the stateroom. With floor to ceiling windows, you get fresh air by the push a button. The top window slides down. I stayed in one of those Infinite Verandahs staterooms. The plus side is you have more space in your room especially if the weather is bad. The negative side is you don’t get the peripheral views of the traditional verandahs.
There are no water slides and no climbing walls. Celebrity’s tagline is “Modern Luxury”. This is a great choice of ships for adults.
Next Month: The only all-inclusive resort in the U.S.