Celebrity Cruises to bring three Edge-class ships to Europe in 2026

Celebrity Cruises has unveiled more than 600 sailings visiting 280 destinations across 70 countries for the 2026 and 2027 seasons.

Three Edge-class ships – Celebrity Apex, Celebrity Ascent and Celebrity Xcel – will sail European itineraries in 2026.

Celebrity Apex, which became the first Edge-class ship to homeport in the UK earlier this year, will continue to be based in Southampton in 2025 and 2026, said EMEA vice-president and managing director Giles Hawke.

“The contribution of the UK market and the attractiveness of the itineraries for the North American and international markets means Apex is performing really well from Southampton,” he added.

For 2026, Apex will sail north to the Arctic Circle and Norwegian Fjords, while Celebrity Ascent and Celebrity Xcel, which is due to launch in November 2025, will sail the Mediterranean.

Hawke added: “At that time, we’ll end up with three of our five Edge-class ships sailing in the European region, so we’ve got a really excellent choice.”

Celebrity Ascent will sail out of Amsterdam and Celebrity Xcel will sail its first winter season in the Caribbean before its European debut in summer 2026.

Itineraries for Northern Europe, Alaska, Australia, Bermuda, Canada and New England, Iceland and Japan will go on sale on October 1, 2024.

Other highlights include the newly refurbished Celebrity Solstice sailing the line’s first Grand Voyage – a 110-night cruise from Canada to Hong Kong comprising 55 destinations and 15 countries.

This is available to book as a full package or in segments, with the longest section being an 18-night sailing to Tahiti and Fiji.

The Grand Voyage itinerary has resulted in “a lot” of customer and agent feedback to introduce more longer voyages to exotic destinations, Hawke added.

He said: “We feel really comfortable in the standard of the product, the accommodation, the level of service we can deliver to make sure that we can keep people entertained in exciting, innovative ways right the way through their cruise, so we think now is the right time for Celebrity to step into this arena.”

The Grand Voyage will leave Canada in September 2026 and arrive in Hong Kong in December 2026, and Hawke said: “There’s a really good opportunity for those travel agents who are used to selling high-value customers who do have that length of time available to them.”

Celebrity Cruises will also operate a solar eclipse sailing on Celebrity Silhouette in 2026 giving passengers the option to see the eclipse on August 12, 2026, off the coast of Iceland.

Cruises in the Mediterranean and South America will go on sale on November 5, 2024, while the Caribbean and Canals voyages will go on sale on November 19, 2024.

Cruises to the Galapagos in 2027 will go on sale in spring 2025 and the winter 2027 season in Asia and the Grand Voyage will go on sale on December 10, 2024.

Celebrity will also introduce a two-week pre-registration period for Mediterranean and South America sailings following the success of its trial for specific northern European and Mediterranean itineraries.