Celebrity Xcel Making Waves With Bold New Spaces and Experiences

Laura Hodges Bethge, president of Celebrity Cruises, felt “massive, massive pride” as Celebrity Xcel set sail on her inaugural voyage and began making waves. The line’s newest ship departed Port Everglades just before sunset on November 14, heading out to sea for a two-night cruise with company executives, travel advisors and other invited guests.

“To bring a small city like this together and to have it hum the way that it does is … it’s something that I will never get used to and never take for granted,” Hodges Bethge tells TravelPulse. 

Celebrity Xcel is the fifth ship to being making waves in Celebrity Cruises’ Edge Series, with Captain Kyriakos “Kirk” Matragkas at the helm. It features seven new spaces and experiences, plus an array of new entertainment offerings. Brazilian chef Janaína Torres, who was named Best Female Chef in the World 2024 by World’s 50 Best, is the vessel’s godmother. Torres officially christened the ship during a ceremony in Fort Lauderdale on November 16.

The ship can accommodate up to 3,260 guests across an array of stateroom categories, including 198 suites, 163 Aqua Class cabins, 299 Concierge Class cabins, 664 Verandas and Infinite Verandas, 153 ocean view cabins and 169 inside cabins. 

Celebrity Xcel is spending her first season making waves sailing from Fort Lauderdale, offering seven-night itineraries alternating between The Bahamas, Mexico, Cayman Islands, and Puerto Plata, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. Next summer, the ship will sail across the Atlantic Ocean to offer seven- to 11-night Mediterranean journeys out of Barcelona and Athens, including all-new overnight stays in Madeira, Portugal.

Celebrity Xcel: Making Waves with New Spaces and Experiences

With Celebrity Xcel, the cruise line is debuting several new spaces and experiences. 

The big one is The Bazaar, a multi-sensory, three-story space that seamlessly combines entertainment, activities and culinary experiences. It’s designed to bring the destination experience onboard, with festivals, markets and food and drinks inspired by the ports the ship visits.

“Our guests are selecting where they go on vacation because of the destination,” says Hodges Bethge. “So when you get back onboard the ship, you’re leaving the destination behind. And we always thought, ‘What if we could bring that destination, that immersion onto the ship?’”

Travelers can shop products made by local artisans, snack on local food and beverage offerings, participate in hands-on crafting activities, join cooking and dance classes and enjoy live pop-up entertainment. 

The Bazaar transforms throughout each voyage, rotating through four Caribbean destination-inspired festivals—Aqua, Viva, Flora and Carnival—that bring the beauty of The Bahamas, Mexico, the Cayman Islands and the Dominican Republic to life. And when the ship heads to Europe next year, the space will feature festivals, markets and culinary experiences inspired by Mediterranean destinations. 

“Guests will get to experience three of those [four festivals] on a seven-night vacation, and they’re all based on the destinations we’re visiting,” says Hodges Bethge.

The Bazaar is also home to Mosaic, a new, open-kitchen dining concept that replaces Eden on the line’s other Edge ships. Hodges Bethge describes Mosaic as a “love letter to the destinations we visit.”

“It is just exquisite culinary at its finest,” she adds. “So it is similar to Eden in that it’s a very elevated, fine-dining restaurant, but it is immersive, destination-focused food.”

Another new eatery onboard Celebrity Xcel, also located in The Bazaar, is Spice Cafe, a casual dining concept open for breakfast and lunch serving up dishes like custom acai bowls, empanadas and more.

Overall, with The Bazaar, Celebrity wants to not just blur the line between ship and shore, but to erase it completely.

“What I’m so proud of is the way our teams have collaborated in The Bazaar,” says Hodges Bethge. “The shops, the entertainment, the food, the drink and all those things are run by different segments of our operation. And they’ve all had to come together in a really nice symphony to bring it to life… To watch them work together is just awesome.”

Celebrity Xcel is also debuting The Celebrity Pool Club, an enhanced poolside space offering chilled towels, card games, sunscreen, storage, shade and private cabanas with dedicated service. On the last sea day of every Caribbean itinerary, the Celebrity Pool Club will become the “Poolest Day Ever,” with Caribbean-inspired live music, DJ-spun tunes, pop-up shows, pool games and exclusive poolside drinks. At night, the space will host the “Shine the Night” poolside party. 

Celebrity Xcel also has an adults-oriented arcade lounge called Attic at The Club featuring retro games like Pac-Man, NBA Showtime, Golden Tee and more. Other activities include pool, darts, foosball and shuffleboard, as well as a private event space with karaoke and a golf simulator. 

The ship is also home to Celebrity’s largest spa yet, offering more than 120 treatments and therapies, an expanded salon and an interactive shopping experience. The relaxing space features the line’s first-ever Hydra Room, which offers water-focused wellness experiences like a warm, bubbling pool with massaging jets and heated lounge chairs. The spa also has a new outdoor Vitamin D Deck that’s exclusive to Thermal Suite guests. 

Additionally, travelers can find Celebrity Cruises’ first-ever Celebrity Flagship store onboard. Part retail experience, part exhibit, the space celebrates Celebrity’s brand and history, complete with trivia questions, insider facts, historical artifacts and vintage collectibles. The store offers a range of customizable items that can be engraved, embroidered or printed, such as water bottles, cocktail kits, keychains, caps and robes. Celebrity Flagship will also offer one-of-a-kind Celebrity products only available on Celebrity Xcel. 

Beyond Mosaic and Spice Cafe, Celebrity Xcel also has a new alfresco restaurant called Bora. Located at the top of the ship, the breezy eatery is open for brunch and dinner, featuring an over-the-top Bloody Mary bar and Mediterranean-inspired fare like salt-crusted whole branzino, gambas al ajillo, sea bream “a la espalda” and Moroccan lamb tagine, just to name a few.

“It’s not just the place you go for dinner or for brunch,” says Hodges Bethge. “It’s the place you go for what we call the Bora experience… it’s really fun.”

One new space on Celebrity Xcel you won’t find much information about on the cruise line’s website? IYKYK—short for “if you know you know”—a brand new speakeasy concept. To find IYKYK, head inside the photobooth in The Club and snap three photos. Once you’re done, a secret door will slide open to reveal a dimly lit, Prohibition-era club with clever craft cocktails and pop-up performances from singers, dancers, jugglers and musicians. No photos and videos are allowed once you’re inside, and your waitress will implore you to keep IYKYK a secret. After an hour, a waiter will hurry you out by explaining that the cops have shown up.

Celebrity Xcel Making Waves: Entertainment Lineup

Entertainment is a top priority onboard Celebrity Xcel. The ship has more than 75 resident performers offering three new theater productions, two interactive club shows, music, high-energy dance parties, interactive activities and more.

“We are all about creating moments of connection from day to night, and on Celebrity Xcel, you will see the most expansive entertainment lineup in our fleet,” says Lisa Lehr, vice president of entertainment at Celebrity Cruises. “We have more shows, more experiences, we have over 75 resident performers living onboard Celebrity Xcel, more than ever. Very exciting.”

The new production shows, offered in The Theatre, feature world-class singers, dancers, parkour artists and specialty aerial performers, as well as kinetic lighting, laser video etching, projection mapping, pyrotechnics and a 110-foot curved kinetic LED screen. 

“Mainstage” is a high-energy live music concert inspired by the world’s most iconic music festivals, featuring hits from top artists across the decades. “Between Takes” is set in a 1920s Hollywood backlot and features vocals, high-flying stunts and choreography. “Chapters,” meanwhile, is a “poetic and visually stunning journey through nature, transformation and self-discovery,” according to the cruise line.

In The Club, guests can enjoy two new interactive shows. “254 West” has 1980s club vibes, complete with an after party, while “HOTEL” is a comedic musical mystery.

Other entertainment offerings include piano bar entertainment, country music dance parties, a candlelit concert experience, roaming musicians and more. Guests can also enjoy the popular Shine the Night party. 

Celebrity Xcel also features new games, including “High Stakes,” an elimination game show; “Brain Spin,” a game show that combines spinning a wheel with strategic thinking; and an escape room-style game that challenges guests to bring a robot to life. There’s also a destination-themed mystery game, plus a retro arcade experience called Game On at The Club. Camp at Sea is an interactive digital game wall with more than 50 new games for guests under 18.

What’s Next for Celebrity Cruises

While Celebrity Cruises is celebrating the launch of Celebrity Xcel, it’s also looking ahead to what’s next. Sister ship Celebrity Xcite, the sixth Edge Series vessel, is slated to launch in the summer of 2028. Beyond the Edge Series, Celebrity’s leaders are developing the next class of ship, under an initiative known as Project Nirvana.

The brand is also preparing to launch its first-ever river cruises in 2027, with two ships announced so far—Celebrity Compass and Celebrity Seeker. 

“We spent a lot of time listening to our customers, and over half of our customers have taken a river cruise before,” says Hodges Bethge. “They leave our ecosystem to go do that, and so we believe the river landscape was ripe for innovation, we’re a very innovative company, and so we thought we could do it quite well… We want to make sure that we have the variety of experiences that our customers want so they stay in our group… Our guests are already doing it, and so we wanted to provide them with a new way to river cruise.”

Celebrity Solstice will be entering dry dock in Singapore early next year, part of a broader $250 million investment to upgrade the Solstice Series ships. Crews will update all 1,479 staterooms and add eight new spaces to the ship, with work slated for completion in March 2026. 

Celebrity Cruises will also be taking full advantage of Royal Caribbean Group’s continued investment in private destinations, which will jump from two to eight by 2028. For example, the brand will have a “meaningful” presence at the newly announced Royal Beach Club Santorini, slated to open in 2026, says Hodges Bethge.

“We will be using it quite extensively, which we’re very excited about,” she adds.

This article originally appeared in TravelPulse.

Contact My Journey Begins Travel to book your cruise on Celebrity Xcel and start making waves!