CELEBRITY Cruises has taken delivery of its new ship Celebrity Xcel, and has announced its next ship set to join the fleet, called Celebrity Xcite.
The cruise line celebrated two major milestones at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard today, welcoming Xcel to the fleet, and cutting the first steel on Xcite, its next Edge-class ship.
Executives from both Royal Caribbean Group (RCG) and Chantiers de l’Atlantique were present for the event.
This included RCG President & Chief Executive Officer Jason Liberty, Celebrity President Laura Hodges Bethge, the shipyard’s General Manager Laurent Castaing, and Xcel Captain Kyriakos Matragkas.
They were joined by more than 1,600 of the ship’s crew members in the celebration.
The milestone was marked with time-honoured maritime traditions, including a formal signing ceremony, the symbolic changing of flags aboard the vessel, and a celebratory toast in the ship’s spectacular three-storey Grand Plaza.
Xcel will set sail next month, offering seven-night itineraries alternating between the Bahamas, Mexico, the Cayman Islands, Puerto Plata, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.
“Celebrity Xcel has been designed with our guest as our north star, we even involved them in the design process through the Xcel Dream Makers program, so we know she will be the happy place of vacationers globally,” Hodges Bethge said.
Xcel will be joined by Xcite in 2028, which is scheduled to be the last ship in the Edge-class. MS
