Celebrity Cruises’ president & chief executive Lisa Lutoff-Perlo told UK agents to “sell the hell out of Celebrity Edge” in order to ensure one of the next Edge-class cruise ships is based in Southampton UK.
“It’s in agents’ hands. We have five Edge-class ships coming between 2018 and 2023 and depending on how the UK trade reacts to the first ship, then there’s always a chance I could deploy a future ship to Southampton.
“It’s in your hands. Sell the hell out of Celebrity Edge and you will leave me no choice but to bring a future one to Southampton.”
Celebrity has not staged an inaugural cruise for trade partners in Southampton UK since the launch of Eclipse in 2010.
The next generation ship will be showcased to the United Kingdom travel trade from May 13-15, 2018 in Southampton prior to setting off on a 11-day UK to Mediterranean repositioning cruise (Southampton to Rome-Civitavecchia) visiting various ports in Portugal, Italy and Spain.
From there, the vessel will offer 7-, 9-, 10- or 11-night cruises from Rome and Barcelona. Clients who want to sail for a total of 14 nights can book the 2 full B2Bs (back-to-back cruises) and call at only one repeat port.
Ports of call include Capri, Mykonos and Monte Carlo, along with the likes of Valencia and Ibiza, where Celebrity Edge will feature longer evening port stays.
The ship will visit two new ports – Nafplio (Peloponnese, Greece) and Santa Margherita (Italian Riviera).
Rzymowska added that Edge would sail to 30 ports of call, 10 countries with 5 overnights in one season (from May hrough October).