10 things – Emma Cruises

GUEST POST: Sparkx 10 things you should know before cruising with Celebrity 1. Royal Caribbean family Whilst Celebrity is a distinct brand in its own right, it is in fact part of the Royal Caribbean family of cruise lines. If you’ve sailed on Royal Caribbean International, you’ll notice some familiar touches across ships in the fleet. You can also transfer loyalty points you earn for an equivalent loyalty tier between the lines. 2. What’s with the X? The X is in fact the greek letter chi, for “Chandris”. It was founded in 1988 as a cruise subsidiary of the Greece-based Chandris group. The line was sold to Royal Caribbean in 1997. 3. Modern Luxury Celebrity prides itself on its cool, contemporary design and warm spaces, together with high levels of service. You will not find waterslides, rock climbing walls, or surf simulators on board. Instead you’ll find chic bars and spaces, impressive entertainment and amazing food. 4. There’s real grass? Celebrity is an innovative brand where it tries to push the boundaries of design. With the Solstice class of 5 ships, which first debuted on 2008, they introduced a new area on the top of the ship called the Lawn Club. And yes you’ve guessed it, it is a real lawn where people can sit, relax or play lawn games. The feature varies from ship to ship with some including exclusive lawn cabanas, live music, hot glass art shows, or speciality restaurants. It’s a great space to experience, especially whilst looking out over the sea. 5. Foodie heaven Celebrity ships are a foodie heaven, with a variety of venues serving cuisines to satisfy any appetite. This includes the complimentary main restaurants, to speciality dining, including Qsine, a quirky, unique experience where you order intriguing dishes, such as sushi lollipops and lobster escargot by iPad. Not to be missed. 6. Overnights and longer itineraries Celebrity offers a wide variety of itineraries across the globe. Destination immersion is a key part of this and the line offers regular overnight stays in ports to allow passengers to experience more and not feel rushed. Celebrity also tends to operate longer (greater than 7 day) itineraries depending on where you are sailing from. 7. Entertainment This is perhaps where Royal Caribbean’s DNA comes in to play the most. All the theatre shows onboard as produced by the same arm of Royal that produces all the West End shows on Royal Caribbean ships, so the quality is top notch, within an impressive theatre setting. You’ll also find regular parties taking place across a cruise, including the amazing silent disco. The ships also feature a comedy club, night club, the casino as well as a number of other venues. 8. Martinis The ice-topped Martini bar is a hugely popular space on Celebrity Cruises, and specialises in a range of classic and contemporary martinis, all within a luxurious social environment. More often than not this bar becomes the heart of the evening activities on board, with high-energy shows put on by talented bartenders. Celebrity offers bars to suit all tastes and styles, including the Sunset Bar overlooking the wake of the ship, or the World Class Bar, offering ‘fine drinking’ where mixologists create one-of-a-kind cocktails. 9. Staff and service For me what makes a good cruise experience great is the staff and service you receive. Celebrity provide a superb service wherever you may find yourself on board. They will try to anticipate your needs and provide special touches throughout your journey. 10. They’ve got the Edge In 2018 Celebrity will launch its newest ship, Celebrity Edge. Their first new ship in a number of years, it will look to take Modern Luxury to the next level. Using some of the world’s best interior designers, Edge will reimagine what a stateroom will be, including the new Edge stateroom, where at the touch of a button the living space becomes the balcony. The ship will feature a number of novel and innovative spaces, some of which have not yet been revealed. One such space is the Magic Carpet. Cantilevered over the side of the ship, this tennis court-sized space will move vertically between different decks transforming into different venues, including bars and eateries, depending on where it it situated. I for one cannot wait to see what Celebrity have up their sleeve with Edge! Emma says: Thanks for this one Sparkx (Marcus). Celebrity look absolutely incredible and I would LOVE to cruise with them. I fear though that they are a little out of my current price range, but maybe one day. I LOVE the look of the grass, the food and the drinks. Celebrity do seem to be one of the most exciting cruise lines for ship innovations, the magic carpet looks absolutely mad. I don't even think I would miss the waterslides/flowrider etc (maybe a little...) Marcus is a 30 something cruise blogger who I have been a fan of since I started this blog back mid 2016. I listed him as one of my favourite cruise bloggers for 2016 and he has continued to produce amazing content into 2017, way to go Marcus! (My favourite cruise blogs). He has since been nominated for the cruise international awards 2017 and totally deserves your vote (he's got mine!). You can find him here www.sparkx.org and on Twitter: @sparkx and Instagram: @sparkx_a. I hope Marcus will write for us again in future because I've genuinely learnt a lot from this post.