Thousands of bookings were made in the first few hours of Celebrity’s new ship Celebrity Edge going on sale, with over 200 taken within two hours in the UK.
Speaking at the Big Reveal of Celebrity Edge in Miami, chief executive and president Lisa Lutoff-Perlo said #celebrityedge was trending at number one on twitter and that sales had been “really robust” from the minute bookings went live on Monday.
In all markets, bookings for the suites were particularly strong, with the UK also ‘over-indexing’ on suite sales, according to UK, Ireland and Asia managing director Jo Rzymowska.
Lutoff-Perlo revealed 12% of the accommodation on Edge would be suites, compared to just 5% on other ships in the fleet, to meet increasing demand from affluent “modern luxury” clients.
She argued that Edge would put even more water between Celebrity and its competitors, but said: “This solidly puts Celebrity in the modern luxury category – which is a category of one, as we have truly carved out our own space now with this new ship.”
Asked if Edge made Celebrity even more ‘luxury’, Lutoff-Perlo said: “I don’t want to be luxury – luxury is pretentious.
“I want to be modern luxury which is for people who love the finer things in life and are prepared to pay for it, but is also comfortable and homely.
“And the great news is that these people love to book through an agent who can give them impartial advice and do it all for them,” added Rzymowska.
Lutoff-Perlo said agents at the event had described Edge as “revolution not evolution”, and that they did not know how Celebrity would improve on its Solstice class ships but it had managed it.
She added that there was a real sense of “it’s about time!” that a cruise line had properly been designed with an ‘outward-facing’ architectural approach, to better connect guests with the ocean and the destination, through its Infinite Verandahs in 918 staterooms, double-height resort deck complete with panoramic views of the sea, and sunloungers facing out to the ocean, not inwards to the pool.
Lutoff-Perlo would not be drawn on whether Edge would be deployed to Europe in its first summer season in 2019.
All she would say was: “It’s been six years since we introduced a new ship and 10 years since we designed a new one, so we needed Edge to start in the US so as many people as possible could see her.
“But she is not going to stay in the Caribbean all year. We haven’t decided her spring/summer itineraries yet but it’s not inconceivable that she will go to Europe at some point.”