Celebrity Cruises' $500m modernisation programme to start with Millennium
James ChappleCelebrity Cruises says Celebrity Millennium will be the first of its ships to benefit from its $500 million (£384 million) fleet modernisation programme - its largest to date.
Announced last October, the line says it will bring its fleet up to the standard of its latest ship, Celebrity Edge, which is currently due to launch in early December.
The five-year revitalisation programme will get under way in the New Year, with Summit and Equinox next up after Millennium. Silhouette, Eclipse, Constellation and Infinity will follow in 2020 and Solstice in 2021, with the programme concluding with Reflection in 2023.
Celebrity says it will work with more than 500 “leading” architects, designers and engineers during the refit, including renewing its partnership with British designer Kelly Hoppen MBE.
Hoppen has designed the accommodation for forthcoming Celebrity Edge, and will bring her “signature style” to the line’s Reflection and Signature suites, newly added to Reflection, Solstice, Eclipse, Equinox and Silhouette.
“This was a new and exciting challenge to recreate something stylish and luxurious yet totally different from the accommodations that I have designed for Celebrity Edge,” said Hoppen.
With Edge, Celebrity introduced The Retreat, a Hoppen-designed hideaway for suite class guests, which will now be extended fleet-wide encompassing a sundeck and lounge.
Fleet to share 'same quality and design essence'
Hirsch Bender Associations will transform the line’s staterooms on Millennium, Constellation, Infinity and Summit, and both the staterooms and many suites on Solstice, Eclipse, Equinox, Silhouette and Reflection. All staterooms will be fitted with eXhale bedding, cashmere mattresses and RFID locks.
Brian Abel, Celebrity senior vice president hotel operations, said the works would ensure the entire Celebrity fleet would share “the same quality, design essence, and consistency of modern luxury”.
Celebrity will redesign its Qsine restaurant and take it fleet-wide, and also redesign its main restaurants and Oceanview Cafes.
Other improvements include expanding its SEA thermal suites, bringing new shopping experiences, brands and designers onboard, and reimagining other venues like its Passport bar and Gastrobar.
James Chapple
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