Speaking on Celebrity Xcel on Sunday (16 November), Jason Liberty, president of Celebrity's parent Royal Caribbean Group, told media each of the 69 ships the cruising giant had launched represented an opportunity to try out new onboard concepts.
Liberty said "one of the key feedback points" from previous Edge series ships was that during certain parts of the day there was "not a lot to do".
Reflecting on the changes made on Xcel, Liberty said there were "no more lulls" during programming and there were always "activations" to keep guests engaged.
"You'll see activations in the bars and in other areas," he said, adding: "You can now be as active or entertained as you want to be."
Celebrity president Laura Hodges Bethge said of the seven new venues and experiences on Xcel, the Bazaar was the "marquee product".
The three-storey space has replaced the Eden venue on previous Edge series ships – Celebrity Edge, Celebrity Apex, Celebrity Beyond and Celebrity Ascent.
Bazaar has the same layout as Eden but features two new dining areas – Spice Cafe and Mosaic. It hosts festivals on sea days themed to the ship's next destination, with entertainment, activities and food, while on port days the space will host local vendors. Celebrity later confirmed details were still being finalised.
Michael Scheiner, Celebrity's chief marketing and product officer, said: "We worked with some of the local communities to actually bring on local vendors to be able to sell and all of the money goes directly to them.
"It's about truly immersing our guests in this experience and giving them what they want and ultimately benefitting the community we're visiting."
Hodges Bethge added: "We, as a company, are insatiable about innovating new products for our guests who also evolve over time. We have a very rich consumer insights team.
"When I joined Jason [Liberty in 2023] to run the brand, I had the opportunity to take a step back and see where the spaces were where we could try out these ideas that would make our guests really happy."
She highlighted how new products trialed on Edge series will often get rolled out on other Celebrity ships in the fleet.
"If you're looking for something to do inside, every hour, on the hour you can come to The Club [on Xcel] and there will be something going on. You can be passive or active with it.
"We use the things that we learn on new ships to roll them back. Celebrity Solstice goes into dry dock in January and will come out at the end of March. It will have a lounge called Boulevard Lounge. It's built on the idea of having something to do every hour, so there's something going on consistently."
She confirmed the line had "a list of things" that would be rolled on the line's sixth Edge series ship, Celebrity Xcite, launching in 2028.
Best premium vacation ever?
Liberty, meanwhile, claimed Celebrity had achieved its goal of delivering the "best premium vacation ever", following the launch of Celebrity Ascent.
In December 2023, Hodges Bethge told guests at Celebrity Ascent's naming ceremony, passengers who sailed on the fourth Edge-series ship would have the "best premium vacation ever".
Liberty told TTG the line had increased its Net Promoter Score to "well over 70" in the past two years.
This score showed how the brand had beaten off competition from inside and outside the cruise sector to claim the unofficial title, he claimed.
Liberty said: "Celebrity has achieved that [premium vacation goal]. We're seeing Net Promoter Scores are well over 70. It has gone up by seven points."
