Celebrity Cruises to sail year-round from Florida, make 1st visit to CocoCay
Celebrity Cruises is planning on keeping its newest ship sailing from Florida year-round in 2024 and for the first time will give its customers access to sister line Royal Caribbean’s playland Perfect Day at CocoCay.
The line announced Celebrity Beyond, which debuted last fall, will remain at Port Everglades and shift to mostly six- and eight-night Caribbean itineraries.
In addition, Celebrity Reflection will join the summer sailing lineup from the Fort Lauderdale port with three- and four-night voyages.
Royal Caribbean’s upgraded Bahamas island CocoCay about to open
Both ships will make visits to the private Bahamas island CocoCay, which features a 13-slide water park with the tallest slide in North America, a helium balloon ride and zip line among other features. It also has the largest freshwater pool in the Bahamas, several beaches and the private Coco Beach Club with a heated infinity pool, specialty restaurant and overwater cabanas.
Debuting in January 2024 is the new island spot Hideaway Beach only for adults that features private cabanas and its own food venue.
Celebrity’s first sailings to the island will begin April 2024. Celebrity and Royal Caribbean are both owned by Royal Caribbean Group, which also operates Silversea Cruises.
“Our customers are consistently asking for more opportunities to visit this stunning region year-round, have more weekend options so they can getaway easier, and have expressed a desire for a private island destination,” said Celebrity Cruises President Laura Hodges Bethge in a press release. “By introducing this new program, we can meet this demand and offer something new and historic to all our guests.”
Celebrity Beyond is the third in the Edge class of ships that features among other unique features, the Magic Carpet, an exterior elevator platform that acts primarily as an innovative way for passengers to disembark and reboard the ship when it tenders at ports of call, but also doubles as an entertainment and dining venue.
A fourth Edge-class ship, Celebrity Ascent, will make its way to Port Everglades for winter sailings this year. The first ship in the class, Celebrity Edge, debuted in 2018 followed by 2019’s Celebrity Apex, then Beyond in 2022.
Celebrity Beyond’s itineraries will sail to places such as Grand Cayman, Mexico, Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao, and other ports in the Bahamas in addition CocoCay.
Celebrity Reflection is serving up the cruise line’s short cruise program running every weekend for the first time, with three-night Friday-Monday and four-night Monday-Friday options, with close to 40 sailings with stops in Perfect Day on top of options like Key West and Bimini.
More details an be found at celebritycruises.com.
