CELEBRITY orders ANOTHER new ship!

[poetic license]

:D

Celebrity Cruises Orders Second Ship in New Solstice Class MIAMI, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Celebrity Cruises has exercised its option to order a second 118,000 gross-registered-ton ship today, reaffirming its commitment to innovative products and high guest satisfaction. German shipbuilder Meyer Werft will build the new tonnage, with delivery of the first ship planned for Fall 2008 and the second ship in Summer 2009. Celebrity also announced names of both new ships.

The first new ship will be called Celebrity Solstice, and the second ship will be named Celebrity Equinox. The new series of ships will be known as the Solstice class. Terms for the second Solstice-class vessel are substantially the same as those of the first ship.

Both new ships will be 2,850-guest vessels measuring 1,033 feet in length and 121 feet in width. Their added size will allow Celebrity to offer larger standard staterooms, a higher percentage of balconies and an exceptional range of guest-inspired services and amenities.

"The Solstice-class ships accelerate the tremendous growth and excitement that continues to build with this brand," said Richard D. Fain, chairman and CEO of parent company Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. "We owe a lot of our inspiration to guests and travel partners, and we think they will be enormously pleased with this collaboration. We also thank our shipbuilding partner, Meyer Werft, for working with us to produce so many of our beautiful ships."

"Meyer Werft is proud to be a part of Celebrity Cruises' continued growth," said Meyer Werft Managing Partner Bernard Meyer. "These new ships demonstrate Celebrity's tradition of breakthrough design and leading innovations."

Celebrity Cruises offers comfortably sophisticated, upscale cruise experiences with highly personalized service, authentic five-star dining, and extraordinary attention to detail. Its nine ships and their service, cuisine and spas consistently dominate top travelers' surveys. Celebrity sails in Alaska, Bermuda, California, the Caribbean, Europe, the Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, the Mexican Riviera, the Panama Canal and South America. For more information, call your travel agent, dial 1-800-437-3111, or visit the Celebrity web site at http://www.celebrity.com.

SOURCE Celebrity Cruises

-0- 02/16/2006

[chessbriar]

Nice to hear this progressing. Not sure I like the names. Equinox not bad, but not sold on Solstice

[tuggers]

Not sure I like the names, darn sure I don't like the size! Pax and crew that'll be about what 4500 people to wade through? Not for me!:(

[gkm]

This is great to hear! Solstice series--guess we'll have to get used to that. I'm looking forward to seeing a floor plan.

 

Garry

[venicecruiser]

not for me, either!

[hajekfam]

I guess there will only be two ships in this class as there are no other names for the first day of the seasons.

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

Not sure I love the names (but I am glad to see it is not Challenger). No matter what the New ships are named, I am thrilled to hear that the second ship is finally ordered. GREAT work Celebrity !!!

 

Congratulations to everyone at Celebrity !!!

[Andy]

Nice to hear this progressing. Not sure I like the names. Equinox not bad, but not sold on Solstice

 

Hi Rick !

 

I agree, Equinox not bad (5 on a scale of 1-10), Solstice ? (3 on a scale of 1-10). I definately feel they can do better with the Names.

[Druke I]

I'm not a fan of either the names or the size.

 

Any ship that can't go through the Panama Canal is too damned big!

[joeyanddavid]

Although We prefer smaller ships we are willing to keep and open mind.

[stinsowm]

As a huge Celebrity fan I am also thrilled that the order for the second ship has been placed. Would have been great if we as cruise critics could have picked the names though.

 

Walter

[Danno]

Oh well...I still have four ships to pick from...

[Andy]

As a huge Celebrity fan I am also thrilled that the order for the second ship has been placed. Would have been great if we as cruise critics could have picked the names though.

 

Walter

 

Hi Walter !

 

I agree. It would have been great if Celebrity did some sort of Poll, or at least polled the Elite Members. As Elite Members, we are supposed to be on some sort of email list to be polled on new ideas from Celebrity, yet I NEVER get any of these emails from Celebrity.

 

Wouldn't this have been a great item to poll us on, BEFORE they announced the names :) ?

[kelmac]

I agree the names aren't the best (as in a little lame), but I welcome the larger Celebrity ships! Perhaps we will see two alternative restaurants?

Everyone cried when we went from 77,000 tons to 91,000 tons, but most love the Millennium class ships now. I think it will be the same going from 91.000 tons to 118,000 tons. However, that said, I think they are making a mistake by not limiting the passenger number to less than 2,500. The new ships will have less of a passenger/tonage ratio. The Century class ships and the Millennium class ships have had a + - 45 ratio. This new Solstice class ship will be around 42. More people, less space.

We sure need more ships, as there are too many in Alaska! (IMHO)

 

Enjoy!:)

Kel

[ocngypz]

The new ships will be a little bit bigger than the current Caribbean Princess.

 

And if you don't think that is a huge ship.......!!!

[darrencantwait]

What is wrong with the names? I personally think they are great names, especially for a pair of ships. I was afraid they might call them Winter and Summer. Ick!

 

Definitely glad they dropped "Challenger"

[templed]

Personally, I have no issue with the size... but, I've only cruised on larger ships... so far...

 

The names are interesting... Just as well, as long as they don't call it "Victory" or some other trite concept...

 

I don't think that size necessary means crowds... as long as it's designed right.

[dkjretired]

Some of the old timers will remember the old review of the Century wherein the poster commented that Celebrity named their ships after cars. Looks like the tradition has held true again. The review was not kind to Celebrity and the car comment was made sarcastically. Looks like Mel was right.

 

By the way, another rumor about the name has been debunked. We kept hearing Challenger series all these months. Don't believe anything you hear on board.

[ECCruise]

2850 PAX + 118,000 tons = crowds

Source: Caribbean Princess, ~ 90% capacity, November 2005

[poetic license]

I am a fan of smaller ships, but am happy to hear that X is finally adding some new builds to the fleet. While I probably wouldn't book these ships for most cruises, I would consider it for a transatlantic, when there are a lot of sea days ... the exercise of getting around and exploring the ship would be welcome. ;)

 

Cheers,

[Bruin Steve]

2850 PAX + 118,000 tons = crowds

Maybe we're all a bit spoiled...

 

I'm taking a quick weekend getaway in a few weeks...

Since Celebrity doesn't have a ship out here in the west doing 3-nighters, I'm taking the Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas (where at least my Captains Club Elite status gets me RCCL's Diamond benefits)...

 

The Monarch of the Seas is 73,941 gross tons...and sails at double capacity with 2,744 passengers!!!

 

The new Solstice will have 60% more space than that...and only around 100 more passengers! No, it's not quite as roomy as the M-Class, but, compared to a lot of ships on a lot of other lines, it's pretty danged spacious...

 

I can't wait to see the layout and amenities myself...

 

I have no problem with larger ships--so long as they're not too crowded and have great amenities...

 

I trust Celebrity to design the ship and run the ship in a manner that will allow me to enjoy the cruise...

[more mangos please]

I am shocked to hear all the disgust over the size.

 

It's as if everyone believes that there is some magic number that is the perfect amount of guess any more is just too many.

 

The 'crowdedness' of a ship has alot to do with programing and design. Celebrity has mastered the are of avoiding lines.

 

A ship can feel crowded at 1500 and spacious at 2000 depending on how many of the guess show up at that same time, in the same place.

 

"Night Bites" are just not a way for X to serve less food late at night--it's a creative way to keep all of us pigs from forming a clot somewhere in the ship so that we can get our grub.

 

Before you pan the ship to pax ratios, remember that we have no idea how much space is alocated for crew/operations vs. pax.

 

Maybe, JUST MAYBE, they have found ways to use far less space for food panty, spare parts, HVAC.

 

If you still feel that you are unwilling to give them new ships a chance, all I can say is: Great--that will make getting the cabin of my choice that much easier!

 

(Am I the only one that finds it ironic that the largests X ships are their most popular?)

[Blazerboy]

Well I LOVE it. That many more people booking the "latest and greatest" means potentially more space on the ships I want to sail on!:D

 

Names? It does sound like they're about to do a cross-promotion with General Motors! On the other hand, when Crystal first started sailing, I thought that name (both line and ship) were bad (Sounded like it would be all "Dynasty" glitz....of course, some would argue that that's just what Crystal is!:eek: ...I'm kidding - I actually like the ships/line). Now they're held up as one of the standard bearers...:rolleyes:

 

 

Andrew

[poetic license]

(Am I the only one that finds it ironic that the largests X ships are their most popular?)

 

IMHO,

the reason they are more popular is that they are also the newest ships in the fleet. I wonder what the occupancy rates will look like on CENTURY after her complete facelift.

 

Cheers,

[goouchjac]

Hi Walter !

 

I agree. It would have been great if Celebrity did some sort of Poll, or at least polled the Elite Members. As Elite Members, we are supposed to be on some sort of email list to be polled on new ideas from Celebrity, yet I NEVER get any of these emails from Celebrity.

 

Wouldn't this have been a great item to poll us on, BEFORE they announced the names :) ?

Hi Andy,,,We don't get those emails either,and we are Elite Members also;) ..Looking forward to the new "Century", only thing that bothers me is that it will only do short sailings out of FLL. is that right? We loved the Century and would love to sail her again, just don't know about the shorter cruises:o , do you have any info??

Ann