Celebrity Cruises Orders 10 Ships For New River Cruise Brand

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It was simply a matter of time before one of the major cruise lines expanded into the growing river cruise market, and now Celebrity Cruises has done just that.

The upmarket line, owned by Royal Caribbean Group and best known for its popular Edge-class blue-water ships, announced on January 28, 2025 the creation of Celebrity River Cruises.

The new river brand will eventually have 10 ships sailing in Europe, and beyond that, few details were provided. However, Celebrity officials promise that the new river ships will feature the premium elements and design of the Edge-class vessels.

โ€œWeโ€™re thrilled to announce our entry into the river cruise market through our Celebrity Cruises premium travel brand.ย  Our guests and travel partners should expect us to do what we do best โ€“ innovate and elevate the river cruise experience as we meet the growing demand for intimate, culturally enriching travel experiences,โ€ said Jason Liberty, president and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group.

Besides Celebrity Cruises and Celebrity River Cruises, Royal Caribbean Group owns and operates the Royal Caribbean and Silversea Cruises ocean-going fleets. Part of the motivation behind the new river division came from guest feedback, which indicated robust interest in the river cruise vacation option.

โ€œWith about half of our guests having experienced or intending to vacation on a river cruise, we know they will enjoy Celebrityโ€™s elevated offering on the river,added Liberty.

He also noted that the parent company plans to leverage its loyalty programs from the three brands to “keep guests within our ecosystem” of vacation products.

Royal Caribbean Group in 2024 took steps to enhance its brandsโ€™ loyalty programs with a new incentive called Loyalty Status Match.

Starting in June 2024, a new policy enabled guests to apply their existing loyalty club tier level, earned on any of the brands, to all three brands. Whether these blanket loyalty benefits will extend to the new river line remains to be seen.

Details of Ship Design, Itineraries Are Yet to Come

Royal Caribbean Group has not revealed the name of the shipyard where the river vessels will be built, nor has it provided any timeline for the brand to launch.

However, since all of Celebrity Cruisesโ€™ Edge-class ships have been constructed at the Chantiers de lโ€™Atlantique shipyard in France, it appears likely that the river ships could be built there as well.

Read Also: River Cruise vs. Ocean Cruise: Whatโ€™s the Difference?

While the announcement referred to sailing the iconic rivers of Europe, no itinerary details were revealed either. Most river ships in Europe sail the Rhine, Danube, Seine, Rhone, Elbe, and Douro.

Celebrity Cruises Ship
Celebrity Cruises Ship (Photo Credit: Adam McCullough)

River ships typically accommodate between 150 and 220 guests, are about 400 feet long, and weigh 3,000- to 4,000-gross tons, a fraction of the size of contemporary mega-ships, so they do not take as long to build.

Few cruise lines operate both river and blue-water ships. The best known is Viking, which started as a river line in 1997 and expanded into ocean itineraries in 2015.

Another line, the former Crystal Cruises, an ultra-luxury brand that operated two ocean-going ships, expanded into river cruising with one vessel in 2016. It eventually expanded its river ships to four, before falling into bankruptcy in 2022 after parent company Genting Hong Kong became insolvent.

Celebrity Cruises, meanwhile, is forging ahead with more ocean-going ships as well. Just a week before unveiling its river division, the brand confirmed it has ordered a sixth Edge-class ship.

The new ship will be built at Chantiers de lโ€™Atlantique with delivery in 2028, and will be a sister ship to Celebrity Xcel, which is under construction and due to enter service in November 2025.

The 3,260-guest Celebrity Xcel will be based in Fort Lauderdaleโ€™s Port Everglades and sail 7-night cruises to the Caribbean. The ship marked held a traditional keel-laying ceremony in June 2024.

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Donna Tunney
Donna Tunney
Donna Tunney is a travel news/feature writer and editor with 20-plus years covering cruise news, luxury travel, and Europe and UK destinations. A former staffer at Travel Weekly and at the USAToday Network, she also was a luxury travel columnist at Travel Market Report, and a cruise columnist at Sherman's Travel.

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