There were things I encountered on my latest
Celebrity cruise I had not on previous ones. The couple, probably early 70s, sitting in
the Grand Plaza looking a bit startled with what they saw going around them. It wasn't their familiar Celebrity Cruises. Realising I was now amongst the eldest on
board, unlike past trips and they now had baby change toilets, teens taking over the
deck parties and pools, and while the guest entertainer performance by the old cruise
standard, the Barricade Boys, singing old show and Frankie Valli songs was almost empty,
the family-friendly, pop music led review show with acrobats (Kaleidoscope) was packed. When the cabin controls on my app failed and
had to try switch on lights and open and close the curtains manually, I also realised that
on Celebrity Edge that if you were not a smartphone user, you would struggle as it’s all designed
to be done by phone. I am Gary Bembridge. Welcome aboard as I look at how Celebrity
Cruises has changed, and if they have fallen out of love with, and don’t want passengers
like me anymore? While my experiences were magnified by going
on Celebrity Edge during the summer school vacation, I felt strongly I am seeing the
emergence of a two-type cruise line within Celebrity. First, there’s the more traditional experience
on the older Solstice and Millennium-class ships. These are traditional ships in terms of layout,
venues, and program. It's pretty much an old school cruise ship
experience with a more modern spin, so more contemporary music in the shows, scheduled
activities later at night and more parties. Something many classic cruisers will feel
more familiar and comfortable with. Then there is the new direction. The future. This is the Edge-class with Edge, Apex, Beyond
and Ascent. I was asked on my Livestream after the trip
what was different on Edge versus Solstice-class ships. My answer was pretty much everything. First, it looks completely different from
the outside. The shape and the hull is very different. They've introduced the Magic Carpet which
is both a gimmick and a practical solution to tendering. It means they can tender many people much
quicker off the ship by lowering the Magic Carpet and use bigger tenders. Next, Dining has totally changed. They followed the Silversea and the Virgin
Voyages approach of scrapping the main dining room, which traditional cruisers are used
to and like. Now you rotate between four restaurants. Cosmopolitan, more traditional, Normandy,
more French, Cypress, more Mediterranean, and Tuscan, more Italian. They still have the big buffet restaurant. They scrapped the specialty venues on Solstice-class
ships replacing them with new venues. While on Solstice-class, there’s Sushi on
Five, Tuscan Grille (Italian steakhouse), Murano (the French Bistro), Silk Harvest the
Asian fusion, but on Edge, there’s Fine Cut Steakhouse, Le Grand Bistro, which is
French, where they also do the Le Petit Chef, which is this interactive 3D table thing. Raw On 5, which is more than just sushi. They also have Eden, which is a big venue
with more avant-garde dishes for dining as well as a quirky shows. A big and divisive change, especially with
more traditional cruisers, is replacing balcony cabins with what they call Infinite Balconies. While they argue the cabins are 20% bigger,
basically you lose the balcony and have a sliding window with some seating inside. They’ve added big spaces for active crowd-pleasing
high-energy activities, like The Club which has replaced Celebrity Central on Solstice. This is a two-level venue hosting high energy
activities and quizzes, and some quirky cabaret more akin to what I’ve seen on Virgin Voyages. The theatre is a big high tech one with big
projection screens. Outdoor is much more focused around, in some
ways almost posing, being seen, people watching and socialising. There’s the pool resort deck, with a focus
on a big pool. The Lawn Club on Solstice ships has been replaced
with the Rooftop Garden, which has a grill and the sunset bar at the back. They’ve also got one of the longest and
best running tracks which weaves its way through the resort deck. As I mentioned, there are other changes like
those baby changing toilets and bigger kids club. On the Edge-class, the daily program looks
and reads very similar to the Solstice ships but is even more youthful, interactive, louder,
and energetic. For example, the 80s quiz, has the teams doing
dance offs, air guitar band battles. The Passengers versus Officers challenge was
loud and noisy. The deck party was boisterous and interactive. The other thing that I noticed is Celebrity
using younger people and families in their ads and on-board materials, like the excursion
videos, and adopting and promoting more issues that appeal to a younger crowd. For example, the ship godmothers. Malala for Edge, who of course, became famous
for being injured by the Taliban for promoting woman education. Reshma Saujani for Apex, who is the founder
of the “Girls who code” to really improve women in tech. Simone Biles for Beyond, the well-known U.S.
gymnast who was very public on mental health issues during the Tokyo Olympics. They make a big issue of crew diversity, mostly
woman-focused in senior roles, including Captain Kate, the first North American woman captain
as their face and social media ambassador. I also saw a very different experience on
Edge with Dress Code, even though there were still Chic nights, few bothered. On my previous trips on Celebrity Solstice
and Silhouette, guests did dress up a bit more. But again, this was because it was full of
more traditional cruisers, and on Edge it was only really those among the guests that
did dress up more. All these factors mean that Edge-class shops
are without a shadow of a doubt, attracting to Celebrity a younger and more family group
– on those ships. Less so on the other classes from what I’ve
seen. This revelation was strengthened by how I
held back on booking an Edge-class ship but would a Solstice class ship on a trip we are
planning. My partner, Mark, and I, are looking at taking
his Mum to Australia, a place she has always wanted to go. Celebrity Edge is going to be in Australia
and would be an easy way to explore more, but after being on Edge, I decided there's
no way I would take her on Celebrity Edge. It's too modern. The infinite balcony would alienate her. She doesn't use a smartphone, so controlling
the things in her cabin would be more challenging and booking things on the App would be a no-go. She would miss the more dressing up. However, if there was a Solstice or Millennium
class I would, as I do believe that will attract and be more classic and with guests to match. There is one other big development at Celebrity
that appeals to me but is driving some away. It is affecting some other of my plans though
as I will explain. Celebrity wants to become a luxury line, not
just seen as a premium line. In the category that they're officially classed
in there’s P&O Cruises UK, Princess, Holland America, and Virgin Voyages. All with similar experience and pricing. Until now. Celebrity have increased their prices above
those and many people tell me they're looking for alternatives as feel it’s getting too
costly. Celebrity now calls themselves in all their
marketing materials, a luxury line, and call their ships luxury cruise ships. And the fare changes reflect this. Fares changes were driven by two key reasons. First, to be more like luxury lines they went
more all-inclusive, with “Always Included” fares, which include gratuities, standard
drinks package, regular Wi-Fi. This was going to be the only fare, but I
have seen now when you're booking, they have quietly reintroduced a cruise-only fare. I guess because they are seeing some pushback
still. The second reason is they want signal they
are a luxury line. But where is our fare money going and how
are they doing on that? The decor has significantly gone plusher,
on the Edge-class ships but also with the refits, they're doing on the older Solstice
and Millennium-class ships You can see the impact of the designer Kelly
Hoppen, and others, as the ships feel and look more luxurious. The soft furnishings, the bed linen, the towels,
they are all up in quality. The food across the ship is much improved
and excellent across all venues. The style and flair of presentation and well
as taste. There are little touches that show luxury. For example, I don't drink alcohol or caffeine. I drink caffeine free diet Coke. On some of their close competing lines they
don't stock it at all. On Celebrity, they not only do but if any
bar I frequented did not have it as standard, they made sure it was. Service was high, even though gratuities are
now included. What I did find though interesting is the
crew were very interested now in me mentioning their names in the post cruise survey and
on what ratings I would give for the overall experience in a venue and for the service. When I was discussing this with my waiter
in the restaurant, he was saying that the most important score for them on the survey
is the overall experience in there, not just the service. So, they're clearly making passenger scores
for service essential to crew performance reviews and incentives. Another touch I normally see on ultra-luxury
lines was here. In the daily program from the very first day,
was a QR code and contact encouraging us to submit issues or things we wanted sorted or
improved direct to the Hotel Director to ensure it was taken care of. There are high end brands, Apple, Cartier,
Bulgari, and Tiffany shops. They have Peloton bikes in the fitness centre. There's a real sense of upping the sense of
luxury. They also have upped the premium side of the
line, with a class-based system fairly like Cunard, where based on what grade of cabin
you're cruising in, determines what restaurant you eat in. If you're booked in an inside, ocean view
or balcony cabin, you eat in one of those four that I was talking about. If you're in an Aqua Class, you eat in the
Blu restaurant. If you are in a suite, what they call The
Retreat, you eat in the Luminae. Along with many other unique features. I had the suite, a butler, Luminae restaurant,
a lounge with concierges to help make arrangements, a large deck with a pool, hot tubs, bar, and
I could eat lunch out there. Then priority with boarding, disembarking,
tendering and I had reserved seating on Chic nights in the theatre. They have really elevated that whole suite
luxury experience. People not travelling in The Retreat did get
a little bit miffed because the exclusive retreat spaces do take up quite a lot of space. Celebrity does in my mind feel more luxurious
than on Holland America, Princess, P&O Cruises, and Virgin Voyages. So, I realised that it has become a good alternative
when I want to go luxury without the cost of those ultra-luxury lines. Of course, I don’t get the small ship experience,
but The Retreat is a wonderful experience. My partner Mark is a big fan of Cunard Queens
Grill, but I want to change a future Cunard plan into a Celebrity Retreat as it’s more
contemporary and the lounge, deck and perks are much better than Cunard equivalents. However, if after hearing this, Celebrity
doesn't appeal to you and you crave a more classic experience, watch this video where
I blow apart some of the myths that people have about Holland America starting with the
one that talks about it being stuffy and old-fashioned. See you over there.
