The incredible new cruise ship with its own moving “magic carpet”
The chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises is willing to bet $5 billion that he can take everything you know about cruising and flip it upside down. Or at least outside in.
On Monday, Richard Fain and Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, CEO of Celebrity Cruises, announced a new category of ship that, among other transformational design moves, brings stateroom balconies indoors.
With a push of a button, the floor-to-ceiling windows of Celebrity Edge-class staterooms retract like a super-sleek garage door, leaving nothing but a simple glass railing between your living room furniture and the crystal-blue sea.
But fast forward to December 2018, when the first of five Celebrity Edge-class vessels is scheduled to leave the shipyard, and both portholes and balconies will become a thing of the past. At least, that's what Fain and Lutoff-Perlo are betting on.
These balconies on-demand are just one of the first-to-market design features raising the price tag of Edge-class ships to US$1 billion ($1.44 billion) a piece. Here's what else to expect on these tricked-out ocean liners, which are packed with enough bells and whistles to make even the most fervent anti-cruiser consider a trip on the high seas.
"Infinite" Verandas
By redefining the balcony, Celebrity is able to expand cabins right up to the edge of the ship-almost like an infinity pool. As a result, stateroom floor plans are (on average) 23 per cent larger than before, with bathrooms gaining an extra 20 per cent of square footage. This is a feat of engineering much larger than meets the eye: Currently, balconies help distribute the weight of a boat, and bringing them indoors requires boatbuilders to redesign the vessel's support system.
Making ships bigger isn't the answer if you're looking for increased square footage, either, as many ships are already too large to dock in popular ports. (They solve that issue by dropping anchor off shore and ferrying guests to land in smaller boats.)
A Magic Carpet Ride
Imagine a mini-deck-it's the length of a tennis court-that hovers off the edge of the ship, moving up and down along a vertical track almost like an elevator.
That's the Magic Carpet, a new public space that will serve different purposes at different times of the day. When it's positioned on Deck 2, it's a stylish disembarkation point. On Deck 5, it becomes a lunch spot with wraparound views. Up on Deck 14, it's an extension to the pool area, sometimes with a DJ. (Think of it as a pool party that comes and goes, explained Lutoff-Perlo.) And in the evenings, the Magic Carpet will anchor at Deck 16, where it'll become a fine dining restaurant that's cantilevered over the sea.
Written by Nikki Ekstein. First appeared on Stuff.co.nz.