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Editorial Cruise Ship Wiki's take on Celebrity Apex
Celebrity Apex is the second Edge class ship, built at Saint-Nazaire for about 2,900 guests, handed over on 27 March 2020 by video conference after the Southampton ceremony was cancelled and the naming postponed. One design decision governs the rest: the Infinite Veranda, which pulls the balcony inside the cabin wall behind a window whose upper section drops. Her first paying guests sailed from Athens on 19 June 2021 at reduced capacity, and Europe has stayed her main job. Summer 2026 is based at Southampton, with an October crossing to Port Canaveral for the Caribbean winter.
She is calm, well finished and reliable at the table. Main dining is split into four rooms, Cosmopolitan, Cyprus, Normandie and Tuscan, which keeps the scale down. Eden, over three decks aft, works as bar, restaurant and performance space, and is the most convincing room aboard. The Magic Carpet, the cantilevered platform on the starboard side, moves between decks and hosts Dinner on the Edge. Fine Cut Steakhouse, Raw on 5, Le Petit Chef, Cafe al Bacio and the Rooftop Garden Grill fill in.
The criticism is consistent enough to take seriously. The Points Guy found that unless you shut the folding doors, lowering the window mainly admits warm air, and that Apex arrived with no revisions after the mixed reception on Edge. Cruise Critic member reviews are blunter, several titled around the veranda not being worth the money. The Oceanview Cafe draws repeated complaints of congestion and poor flow, and some suite guests report the Retreat falling short of its price. Cruise Critic's editors nonetheless rate her five out of five, against a member average nearer four.
She suits adults. Celebrity is a premium line priced above Royal Caribbean, and the product is quieter for it: no waterslides, no climbing wall, a children's club that exists rather than dominates. Couples and solo travellers in their forties and up will find it well judged. Families wanting the children occupied all day, and anyone chasing the lowest fare, should look elsewhere.
Cabin choice matters more here than on most ships, because the standard balcony is not a balcony. The Infinite Veranda hands you the square footage indoors, with a larger bathroom and a usable sitting area, and it is pleasant in cool weather. The trade off is that you cannot step outside, the side walls narrow the view, two cannot comfortably share the space, and several reviewers report the air conditioning cutting out while the window is open, which matters more in the Caribbean than the fjords. For an open rail, the aft Sunset Verandas and the suites keep conventional balconies. AquaClass adds Blu and the thermal suite; the Retreat, from Sky Suites up, adds Luminae, the Retreat Lounge, a private sundeck and pool and a Retreat Host. Our per cabin quiet and convenience scores are not yet published for Celebrity Apex, so treat this as guidance.
Read the deck plan before booking: on this ship, cabin position decides more than the category name.
Sources
This is Cruise Ship Wiki's own editorial summary of published reviews and reference sources. It is not a guest review and does not describe a stay aboard. Member reviews appear separately below.
Photo: kees torn, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Celebrity Apex is the second ship of Celebrity Cruises' Edge class, following the template that the line's president Lisa Lutoff-Perlo had championed of designing a ship "outward" toward the sea rather than inward toward an atrium. Like her lead sister, she was built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint-Nazaire, France, at a cost of roughly US$900 million, and floated out of the yard as a 130,000-plus-GT vessel of some 306 metres, carrying around 2,900 guests at double occupancy across fifteen decks. She was delivered in early 2020, arriving just as the global cruise industry was thrown into an unprecedented pause.
Apex carries the full suite of Edge-class innovations that reset expectations for the premium segment. The signature feature is the Magic Carpet, a bright-orange, tennis-court-sized cantilevered platform that rides up and down the starboard hull on rails, serving in turn as a specialty restaurant, an open-air bar, an extension of the pool deck, or a tender embarkation platform at its lowest position. The Infinite Veranda staterooms fold the balcony into the cabin itself, with bi-fold windows that lower at the touch of a button. Inside, the double-height Grand Plaza is crowned by an illuminated sculptural chandelier, while the three-deck Eden venue wraps a glass-walled lounge and restaurant around sweeping sea views.
The ship's christening reflected Celebrity's public emphasis on gender equality: her godmother is Reshma Saujani, the founder of the nonprofit Girls Who Code, chosen to underscore the line's advocacy for women in technology and leadership. Because of the pandemic, Apex did not enter regular commercial service until 2021, when cruising resumed.
Since then, Celebrity Apex has become a mainstay of the line's transatlantic deployment, homeporting at Southampton in the United Kingdom for European summers with itineraries including the Norwegian Fjords, and repositioning to the Caribbean for winter seasons. Registered at Valletta, Malta, and sailing under the call sign 9HA4960, she operates as one of four near-identical Edge-class sisters and remains in active service with Celebrity Cruises.
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Onboard Highlights
Signature attractions, dining, bars and entertainment aboard Celebrity Apex.
Top attractions
- Magic Carpet
An innovative experience that allows you to soar above the sea. - Rooftop Garden
An outdoor garden space where you can surrender to carefree pleasures. - Grand Plaza
A majestic, open, three-story venue inspired by Italian piazzas. - Eden
A breathtaking outward-facing venue that transforms throughout the day from chillful mornings to playful afternoons to wonderful evenings. - Spa and Fitness Center
An indulgent escape offering wellness and fitness amenities.
Specialty dining
- Normandie
A modern, upscale restaurant featuring contemporary French cuisine in a refined space evoking the romance of Paris.
Entertainment
- The Theatre
A contemporary performance space designed to blur the line between audience and performance with innovative entertainment experiences.
Where She Sails
Ports of call on Celebrity Apex itineraries, with a signature highlight at each.
Specifications
| Status | In service |
|---|---|
| Entered service | 2020 |
| Cruise line | Celebrity Cruises |
| Class | Edge class |
| Gross tonnage | 130,818 GT |
| Guests (double occupancy) | 2,910 |
| Guests (maximum) | 3,521 |
| Crew | 1,320 |
| Est. annual guests | ≈ 155,000 / year (estimated) |
| Length | 306 m (1,004 ft) |
| Beam | 39 m (128 ft) moulded |
| Draught | 8.4 m (28 ft) |
| Decks | 15 |
| Staterooms | 1,473 |
| Shipyard | Chantiers de l'Atlantique (Saint-Nazaire, France) |
| Build cost | ≈ US$900 million |
| Christened by | Reshma Saujani |
| Flag | Malta |
| Port of registry | Valletta, Malta |
| IMO number | 9838383 |
| Call sign | 9HA4960 |
| Home port | Southampton |
| Region | Northern Europe / Caribbean |
About the Edge class
Celebrity's flagship "E-class" ships, known for the cantilevered Magic Carpet, the Infinite Veranda, and a resort-style outward-facing design.
Ownership & loyalty
Part of Royal Caribbean Group (NYSE: RCL).
Sister brands: Royal Caribbean International, Silversea Cruises, TUI Cruises, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.
Loyalty status match - members keep an equivalent tier across the group's brands:
- Crown & Anchor Society (Royal Caribbean International) ↔ Captain's Club (Celebrity Cruises)
One-for-one tier status match across Royal Caribbean Group brands: Gold <-> Classic, Platinum/Emerald <-> Select, Diamond <-> Elite, Diamond Plus <-> Elite Plus, Pinnacle Club <-> Zenith. - Crown & Anchor Society (Royal Caribbean International) ↔ Venetian Society (Silversea Cruises)
One-for-one status match with Silversea Venetian Society: Gold <-> 1 day, Platinum/Emerald <-> 100 days, Diamond <-> 250 days, Diamond Plus <-> 350 days, Pinnacle Club <-> 500 days.
References
Descriptions on Cruise Ship Wiki are original write-ups paraphrased from public sources; facts are compiled from the references below and cross-checked. How we source our information.
- Photograph by kees torn (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons - Primary ship photograph