Earlier this week, after more than four years of limitless passion and hard work on the part of thousands of engineers, architects, artisans, designers and crew, Celebrity Cruises set sail into a new era as Celebrity Edge officially joined the fleet.
Earlier this week Celebrity Edge was officially welcomed to the Celebrity Cruises fleet during a moving ceremony where the ship’s godmother, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, was joined by all on board to “bless this ship and all those who sail upon her.”
The naming event brought together more than 3,000 guests, employees, crew members and students to commemorate the debut of Celebrity’s first new ship in six years and first new ship series in more than a decade.
Yousafzai, who is now a college student at Oxford University, is the inspirational co-founder of Malala Fund, which advocates for a world where every girl can learn and lead by investing in local education activists, holding global leaders accountable and amplifying girls’ voices around the world.
She discussed those issues before the ship’s crew and guests in a one-on-one interview with Celebrity’s President and CEO, Lisa Lutoff-Perlo. From girls’ education to the power of diversity, both share a profound passion and commitment to these important issues.
Lutoff-Perlo is said to be especially proud to have Malala Yousafzai as godmother of Celebrity Edge, as Malala embodies Celebrity’s commitment to opening the world through education and gender equality.
Celebrity is proud to partner with Malala Fund and support them in their mission to see the 130 million out of school girls around the world get the 12 years of free, safe, quality education they deserve.
At the naming event, hosted by noted designer Nate Berkus, emotions ran high when acclaimed recording artist Andra Day took to the stage for empowering renditions of her Grammy-nominated single “Rise Up” and Oscar-nominated single “Stand Up For Something.” Both anthems were chosen for their bold statements about the power of girls’ education and its role in shaping the future.
The brand chose to forego the traditional champagne bottle at the launch, and instead smashed a custom-made 18-liter bottle of Badoit French mineral water across the ship’s Parabolic Ultra Bow. And with that the ship set sail on her long-awaited inaugural season which includes alternating seven-night eastern and western Caribbean itineraries before transporting guests to the stunning vistas of the Mediterranean with a range of seven- to 11-night sailings from iconic cities like Barcelona and Rome in 2019.
We had front row seats on board Celebrity Infinity when Celebrity Edge arrived home to Fort Lauderdale a few days earlier. To see some of the pictures we took of the arrival visit: “Front row seats at the arrival of Celebrity Edge“.