A very unusual cruise ship has been under construction at the STX shipyard in France.
It's the Celebrity Edge, the first of an entirely new class of ships by Celebrity Cruises...
The premium cruise line operated by Royal Caribbean.
And Celebrity Edge has got some really unusual features and design elements!
Construction has been underway for about the last two years...
And the maiden voyage of the Celebrity Edge is coming up this December.
Things are really coming together onboard the ship now...
And I finally got some real video of the ship to share with you so you can see how she's turning out.
Now this right here is an animated artist's rendering of the signature feature of the Celebrity Edge...
That sets it apart from just about any cruise ship you've ever seen.
It's an exterior deck called "The Magic Carpet" that moves up and down the side of the ship like an elevator.
Here is actual video of the nearly completed Magic Carpet.
It's a multi-purpose part of the ship.
At times that'll be where you board or disembark the ship.
At other times it's a dining venue, and also a bar.
From a distance it kind of looks like there's a construction scaffold attached to the ship.
But that's the Magic Carpet, and no other ship has anything like it!
Here's an artist rendering of "the Grand Plaza".
And this is actual video of how construction is coming along on it.
There's still a lot of work to do, but when it's all done this is going to be one of the big focal points of the ship...
A place you'll go to be with people, have a drink, and be social.
As you can imagine, there's a lot of work involved in constructing a big cruise ship like this.
And they've got hundreds of craftsmen working full-time to get it ready for the first cruise, in December.
Another unique space on Celebrity Edge is called Eden.
You know, like the Garden of Eden.
We're looking at some artist's renderings here.
You can see Eden will have lots of foliage... thus the name.
Now here's actual video of the unusual ceiling of Eden.
The green color will be a great complement to all the plants that'll be in this space.
You can see construction is coming along but there's still a lot of work to do on Eden, at this point.
Another distinctive feature of the ship is the area on the top deck known as the Rooftop Garden.
This animation was the design concept of what the space would look like...
And here's actual video to show you what it looks like at this point in the construction process.
It's a really distinctive look.
You have to hand it to the design team for coming up with something that really sets the ship apart from all the others.
Can't you just imagine relaxing out here in the Sun on a Caribbean cruise?
Here's a photo of the ship's theater...
And there's something really unusual about the theater that you might not notice at first glance.
I think it'll be easier if we take a look at an artist's rendering of the theater in action.
Now what strikes me about that artist's rendering is that this looks very much like 270...
The amazing theater at the back end of Royal Caribbean's Anthem Of The Seas.
So I'm pretty sure that Celebrity is going to use that same technology that they used on Anthem Of the Seas...
For an amazing theater like I've never seen before.
If you look at this picture of the back of the ship.
You can see it looks very much like the back of Anthem Of The Seas... with that amazing theater.
So, I'm pretty sure that that's what's going on here on the Celebrity Edge.
And finally... Have you heard about the staterooms with what Celebrity is calling an "Infinite View Veranda"?
I wish I had better pictures of it, but...
What they've done is taken the Veranda (the balcony) and really integrated it into the cabin.
The glass doors that separate the cabin from the veranda can be closed, when you want to keep the weather out...
Or they can be fully opened, to make the cabin and the veranda just one big space.
I think this is a brilliant idea and I could totally see myself enjoying a cabin like this.
Celebrity Edge will be based in Hollywood, Florida at Port Everglades and the completely renovated terminal 25...
The biggest investment that Port Everglades has ever made in a cruise terminal.
And you can expect it'll have all the latest innovations to improve the process of both boarding and disembarkation.
Well that's an update on the construction of the Celebrity Edge...
A very innovative cruise ship that is going to make a big splash... (pardon the pun!)
When she makes her debut in December.
If you like cruising on the newest ships with the latest features on the cutting edge of design...
Celebrity Edge is definitely a ship that you should check out.
I'm Jim Zim... Always happy to shine a spotlight on the newest cruise ships!
Here are links to some of my other videos featuring the best cruise ships I've found...
With features that put them way ahead of all those older cruise ships you may have sailed on.