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‘This is a live testing environment’: Virtual plunge pools, tummy-flipping VR, and the future of river cruising

Opinion
Harry Kemble
25 August 2026

Celebrity Cruises is ready to give UK and Irish travel agents a unique opportunity to step onboard its highly anticipated river ships before they enter service. TTG's Harry Kemble takes a virtual reality tour of travel's newest river outfit ahead of the Celebrity team taking their £3,000 VR headsets to the Clia River Forum in Manchester this autumn for agents to try.

Celebrity River Cruises VR
Celebrity River Cruises/ TTG

TTG's Harry Kemble is among the first to step onboard Celebrity Compass, thanks to the wonders of a very expensive virtual reality headset

"This a live testing environment."

Those words transport me to Salisbury Plain, the UK's largest military training ground. I don't really know why, I have zero experience of being a soldier.

Thankfully, I'm actually sitting on a comfy swivel chair in TTG's new office near London Bridge wearing an Apple Vision Pro headset worth more than £3,000.