Celebrity Cruises has announced that a new ship class is in the works.
Last week while at the CruiseWorld conference in Fort Lauderdale, Laura Hodges Bethge, President of Celebrity Cruises, announced there will be a new class of ships for the cruise line. As reported in Travel Weekly, this new project is called "Project Nirvana."
Few details about the new ship class have been released at this point, as the project is in its early stages. Currently, Bethge stated they were in the "dreaming stage" for this new cruise ship class.
“For those who have been doing this for a long time, you know you go from the dreaming stage to the receiving stage in five-ish years,” Bethge said to the attendees at CruiseWorld, “We’re excited about what’s next for the brand.”
Following this timeline, that means a new ship class will appear around 2029, if not 2030.
While the exact dates are yet to be disclosed, Project Nirvana is sure to include some of the most innovative and luxurious cruise ships at sea. Following the success of Celebrity’s award-winning Edge Class, a new ship class will be an exciting addition to the premium cruise line’s fleet.
In the meantime, Celebrity Cruises is gearing up for its next new cruise ship, Celebrity Xcel.
Celebrity Xcel will be the last ship in the Edge Class
Once Celebrity Xcel launches in November 2025, the Edge Class will be complete.
Joining Celebrity Edge, Celebrity Apex, Celebrity Beyond, and Celebrity Ascent, Celebrity Xcel will be the fifth and final ship in the revolutionary Edge Class.
Celebrity Xcel will feature Edge Class favorites like the Magic Carpet, Eden, and infinite verandas. However, she will not be a carbon copy of her sister ships. As mentioned on Celebrity Cruises' website, Celebrity Xcel will feature "entirely new experiences that will change the game all over again."
In fact, this ship will be the first in the fleet to have a Flex-Fuel Engine, which allows the ship to run off three different types of fuel. This aligns with the cruise line’s sustainability efforts as well.
At CruiseWorld, Bethge said there will be seven new products and experiences to look forward to onboard Celebrity Xcel.
This 141,000-gross-ton ship will sail from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to the Caribbean for her inaugural season. Most itineraries are a week long and make stops in Bimini, Cozumel, Grand Cayman or Puerto Plata, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.
More details about Celebrity Xcel will be revealed in the spring of 2025.
Read more: Top new cruise ships coming in 2025
Celebrity Cruises will be updating its Solstice Class ships
In addition to Project Nirvana, Bethge mentioned refurbishment plans for its older ships. The Celebrity Cruises President said the Solstice Class ships, including Celebrity Silhouette, Celebrity Solstice, Celebrity Eclipse, Celebrity Reflection, and Celebrity Equinox, will be updated soon.
“Those five beautiful ships are at what we call internally their half-life. Ships last around 30 years, and they’re about 15 years old, so right now we’re dreaming up what’s going to happen with the modernization of the Solstice ships,” Bethge said at CruiseWorld.
Celebrity Solstice, which was launched in 2008 and refurbished in 2016, will be the first to drydock in the spring of 2026.
The exact timeline of other refurbishments has yet to be announced, but more details of the Solstice Class modernization will be released in the future.
Read more: After taking over 45 cruises, here are 6 of the best cruise ships for adults
Angie Vognild
Angie Vognild has a love for cruising, with her first cruise at just one year old. Since then, she has traveled to nearly 40 countries and been on over 30 cruises. Her favorite cruises were to the Holy Land on Odyssey of the Seas in 2022 and Japan on Spectrum of the Seas in 2019.
