2018
Celebrity Edge
The original, and the argument. Everything that follows is a refinement of what she proved — that a mainstream line could hire outsiders and produce something genuinely new. Recently a fixture on Alaska seasons.
01
The brief was: don’t make it look like a cruise ship
Most ships are designed by firms that design ships. That is exactly why most ships look like each other.
When Celebrity started work on its first new class in a decade, it went looking for designers specifically because they had no cruise experience. The line has said so openly: it wanted every aspect of Edge to be a departure from traditional thinking about cruising, so it hired people who didn’t know the traditions.
The result is a ship where the most famous feature exists because a man who had never designed a vessel didn’t know you weren’t supposed to hang a tennis court off the side of one.
You don’t notice the design decisions individually. You notice that you keep stopping walking.
That is the honest test of this class, and it is why we treat it differently from every other guide on this site. A Royal Caribbean Icon-class ship impresses you with scale — more slides, more neighborhoods, more of everything. An Edge ship works on you slower. It is a smaller ship than the Royal giants, with fewer headline attractions, and it still stops people mid-sentence.
There are five of them now, built between 2018 and 2025 at Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France. A sixth, Celebrity Xcite, is announced for 2028. And critically — as you’ll see below — they are not five copies of one idea. Celebrity kept rebuilding the concept ship by ship.
02
The people who drew it
Four names, none of them from the cruise industry. Tap any of them.
The Edge design team · tap to explore
Seabound Insight
This is the detail that tells you how seriously they took it: the ships carry more than 4,000 works of art — not prints in corridors, but a curated collection including a one-tonne bronze horse called Mr. Edge standing at the Rooftop Garden entrance. You are walking through a gallery that happens to float.
03
The Magic Carpet
A platform the size of a tennis court, cantilevered off the starboard side, that moves. Drag it and watch what it becomes.
Interactive · move the platform
Tom Wright — the architect of Dubai’s sail-shaped Burj Al Arab — is responsible for it, and for the outward-facing Resort Deck and the Rooftop Garden above it. It is the first cantilevered moving platform ever built into a ship, and it is the single clearest expression of what happens when you hand a vessel to someone who designs buildings.
Seabound Insight
Dinner on the Edge — the Magic Carpet at its top position, set for dinner service — runs a handful of nights per sailing with very few covers. It books out within hours of the cruise planner opening, long before you board. If it matters to you, that is a day-one booking, not a decide-when-we-get-there.
04
Five ships, and Celebrity kept changing its mind
This is the part most guides get wrong. These are not five copies — the concept was rebuilt as it went.
All five share the bones: the Magic Carpet, Infinite Verandas, the three-deck Grand Plaza with its LED Chandelier over the Martini Bar, the outward-facing Resort Deck. But the further along the run you go, the more Celebrity edited itself.
2020
Celebrity Apex
The second, and the one that most often sails Europe on a UK doorstep — multiple seasons homeported in Southampton for Norwegian Fjords and Arctic Circle runs, which spares British guests a transatlantic flight entirely.
2022
Celebrity Beyond
The first stretch of the design — an extra deck, a larger Retreat sundeck, and Le Voyage by Daniel Boulud. Works a year-round Caribbean rotation from Florida, including Celebrity’s first dedicated Grand Turk calls.
2023
Celebrity Ascent
The refined one — the same enlarged platform as Beyond with the kinks worked out. Tends toward longer Southern Caribbean voyages of 10–14 nights, including Panama Canal itineraries, and Mediterranean summers.
2025
Celebrity Xcel
The reimagining. Seven major new venues, and the big one: Eden is gone, replaced by The Bazaar. Also Bora, a Mediterranean rooftop restaurant, and IYKYK, a phone-free 1920s speakeasy. Florida winters, Mediterranean summers.
2028
Celebrity Xcite
Announced, not yet built. The sixth Edge-class hull — and on the evidence of Xcel, unlikely to be a copy of anything currently sailing.
Seabound Insight
Because the class evolved, “I sailed an Edge ship” tells you less than people assume. Someone who sailed Edge in 2019 and someone who sailed Xcel in 2026 had materially different holidays on paper-identical hulls. If a review is more than two years old, check which sister it was written about.
05
Where the Edge ships actually go
Four regions, five ships. Pick a region, filter by ship, tap any port.
Ringed marker = home port · Coastlines are stylised for legibility, port positions are true to latitude and longitude · Deployments shift season to season — verify your sailing
Seabound Insight
The pattern worth noticing: Edge ships cross the Atlantic twice a year, repositioning between Florida and the Mediterranean each spring and autumn. Those crossings are the cheapest way onto this class by a wide margin — a stack of sea days on a ship built to be looked at, with a one-way flight to solve.
06
Eden, and the room that replaced it
The clearest evidence that Celebrity kept rewriting this class rather than repeating it.
On Edge, Apex, Beyond and Ascent, the signature room is Eden — three storeys of glass at the stern, designed by Patricia Urquiola with Scott Butler. A conservatory by day, and after dark something stranger: an adults-only performance space where costumed performers called Edenists move through the room around you.
On Xcel, Eden is gone. In its place is The Bazaar — three decks, a 90-metre ramp winding through it, and programming that changes with the port. Sail to Cozumel and it becomes a Mexican festival: papel picado strung between the arches, cactus murals, mezcal tastings, a market of local artisans who board the ship to sell their work.
Seabound Insight
This matters for booking, not just for interest. If you have sailed an Edge ship and loved Eden, Xcel does not have it. And if The Bazaar is what drew you in, only Xcel has that. It is the one genuine feature difference between the sisters, and no amount of “they’re basically the same ship” makes it go away.
07
The Infinite Veranda, and whether you’ll like it
The most divisive cabin design at sea. Worth understanding before you book, not after.
Kelly Hoppen designed every stateroom on these ships, and the brief she was given was to make a cabin feel like “an urban apartment that opens onto the most beautiful scenery on Earth.” The answer was the Infinite Veranda: rather than a sliding door separating room from balcony, the balcony is inside the cabin. The top half of the window drops at the touch of a button and the whole room becomes open air.
When it works, it is genuinely better — you get the balcony’s square footage as living space rather than as a separate box you visit. When it doesn’t work, it’s because you wanted a door. Some travellers want to leave someone sleeping inside and sit outside with coffee. An Infinite Veranda cannot do that, and no amount of design intent changes it.
The signatureInfinite Veranda
The class-defining cabin. More usable space than a traditional balcony room and a better view from bed. Book it if you treat the balcony as part of the room — avoid it if you need to separate sleeping and sitting.
If you want a doorSunset Veranda
Aft-facing, with a conventional outdoor balcony over the wake. The answer for anyone the Infinite Veranda doesn’t suit, and arguably the best standard view on the ship.
Worth the jumpAquaClass
Includes Blu, a restaurant reserved for AquaClass guests, plus spa access. The most cost-effective step up on the ship — you are buying a dedicated dining room, not just a nicer cabin.
The ship within a shipThe Retreat
Private sundeck, private restaurant (Luminae), private lounge and a butler. Genuinely separate from the rest of the ship. Expensive, and honest about it.
08
The honest downsides
We like these ships enormously. That is exactly why this section matters.
Some people find it cold. Bloomberg’s reviewer called Edge a cruise ship trying too hard, and that critique lands for a certain traveller. The design is assertive. If what you want from a holiday is familiar and warm rather than surprising, the confidence of these interiors can read as showing off.
The Infinite Veranda genuinely doesn’t suit everyone. See above. It is the single most common source of disappointment on this class, and it is entirely avoidable by booking a Sunset Veranda instead.
It is a premium fare and it feels like one. Celebrity sits above the mainstream lines on price. Compared with a Royal Caribbean Oasis-class ship the same week, you get better food, better design and a calmer ship — and fewer things for children to do, by a wide margin.
These are not children’s ships. There is a kids’ club and families sail happily, but there is no water park, no ice rink, no surf simulator. A child expecting the Royal Caribbean experience will notice within an hour.
And the class is not uniform. Eden versus The Bazaar is a real difference. So is the extra deck on Beyond and Ascent. Check which sister you are actually booking rather than trusting a review of “an Edge ship.”
09
Which Edge ship is yours?
Four questions. We’ll name a sister — and tell you the catch.
The Seabound Ship-Matcher · 30 seconds
Five sisters, one of you.
We’ll do the overthinking. It’s kind of our job.
Your match
10
The verdict
The most beautiful mainstream ships at sea — and they know it.
The Edge Class is what happens when a cruise line stops asking cruise designers what a cruise ship should look like. Five ships, more than 4,000 artworks, a platform that climbs the hull, and a standard cabin that dissolves the wall between room and ocean. On the right sailing they produce the reaction this page is named for: you stop walking.
Book them for design, food and calm. Book something else — almost certainly Royal Caribbean — if you are travelling with children who measure a ship by how much there is to do. And book the specific sister deliberately: Eden and The Bazaar are not the same room, and only one of them is on the ship you’re looking at.
11
Quick answers
What are the Edge Class ships?
Five: Celebrity Edge (2018), Apex (2020), Beyond (2022), Ascent (2023) and Xcel (2025). A sixth, Celebrity Xcite, is announced for 2028. All were built at Chantiers de l’Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France.
What is the Magic Carpet?
A cantilevered platform roughly the size of a tennis court that moves up and down the starboard side of the ship, designed by Tom Wright — the architect of Dubai’s Burj Al Arab. It serves as a tender platform low down, outdoor dining mid-ship, and a bar at the top, 13 storeys above the water.
Does every Edge ship have Eden?
No — and this is the most important difference between the sisters. Edge, Apex, Beyond and Ascent have Eden. On Xcel it was replaced by The Bazaar, whose programming changes with each port.
What is an Infinite Veranda?
A cabin where the balcony sits inside the room and the top half of the window lowers at the touch of a button. You gain living space and lose the ability to step outside and close a door behind you. If that trade doesn’t appeal, book a Sunset Veranda instead.
Are Edge Class ships good for families?
They work, but they are not built for it. There is no water park, ice rink or surf simulator. Families who want the ship itself to entertain the children are better served by Royal Caribbean’s Icon Class.
Which Edge ship is the newest?
Celebrity Xcel, which entered service in November 2025 — and she is the most changed, with seven major new venues including The Bazaar, the Bora rooftop restaurant and IYKYK, a phone-free speakeasy.
12
Thinking about an Edge sailing?
Tell us about your trip.
Your dates, your crew, and what drew you to these ships — and we’ll tell you which sister fits, whether the Infinite Veranda suits you, and what to book the moment your planner opens.
Which Edge ship should I book?
Is the Infinite Veranda worth it?
Eden or The Bazaar?
Is Celebrity worth the premium?
Tap a question or the button and an advisor will answer against current pricing before you book.