On 4 December 2014, Celebrity Cruises' parent company, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., announced that they had finalized an order with STX France for two new ships that would compose a new class of vessels for the Celebrity Cruises fleet. Known under Project EDGE, these two new ships were planned to be at 117,000 GT each, with a guest capacity of 2,900 passengers. Deliveries were planned for Fall 2018 and early 2020 for the two vessels, respectively. Each ship is reported to come at a cost of $1 billion.
Construction
Celebrity Cruises marked the inauguration of construction for the first new Edge class vessel with the steel-cutting ceremony on 21 November 2016 at the STX France shipyard. On the same day, Celebrity Cruises announced the name of the first newbuild as Celebrity Edge, and her sister ship as Celebrity Beyond, which was later changed to Celebrity Apex in July 2018. Celebrity Edge had her keel-laying and coin ceremony at STX France on 21 June 2017, six months following the steel-cutting. She was officially launched on 23 January 2018, marking its float-out from the shipyard. On 27 July 2018, she began her first round of sea trials and completed them four days later, on 1 August. Her second and final round of sea trials were performed in September 2018.
Debut
23 months after construction began, Celebrity Edge was delivered to Celebrity Cruises on 31 October 2018. Following her delivery, Celebrity Edge jumpstarted her inaugural season on 6 November 2018 with a transatlantic sailing from France to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As a result of construction progressing faster than expected, Celebrity Cruises announced four three-day preview cruises on 21 November, 24 November, 1 December, and 6 December. Celebrity Cruises had previously named 2014 Nobel Peace laureateMalala Yousafzai as the godmother to Celebrity Edge in April 2017 and upon the ship's arrival in Fort Lauderdale, Yousafzai christened the ship on 4 December 2018. Her official maiden voyage started on 9 December 2018, calling in the ports of Key West, Grand Cayman, and Costa Maya.
Deployments
Since December 2018, Celebrity Edge has been homeported at Port Everglades, operating weekly Eastern and Western Caribbean sailings during the winter season, and sailing in the Mediterranean during the summer season.
Design and facilities
Of the ship's newest features, her most notable is an orange protruding platform, called the "Magic Carpet," that is suspended along the starboard side of the ship, which is designed to facilitate safer and more accessible tender embarkation and disembarkation, as well as host dining and lounge space while the ship is at sea. Celebrity Edge is also installed with balcony staterooms, called "infinite verandas," that incorporate the outward patio of the balcony into the stateroom by moving the steel superstructure of the ship inward. The ship's bow is also designed to maximize fuel efficiency by having a parabolic shape that vertically rises towards its decks. It provides extra sheathing for the bulbous bow and the propellers to reduce drag.
