After enjoying the Celebrity Solstice (Silhouette and Solstice) and Millennium Series Ships (Constellation), we were thrilled to discover that Celebrity Cruises was sending one of their Edge class ships to Australia for the summer season. To celebrate my birthday, we booked a 10-night South Pacific Cruise in a Sky Suite, with VIP access to “The Retreat”—Celebrity’s swanky and exclusive haven for suite guests.
After spending the first 24 hours on board, we began to question whether Celebrity had lost its Edge (no pun intended). Initially, the Edge felt small, compact, and somewhat challenging to navigate compared to Celebrity’s Solstice Class ships. However, it didn’t take long for us to readjust and settle back into cruise life, enjoying the numerous benefits and exclusivities that came with booking a suite room. These included priority tender service, complimentary Wi-Fi, premium drinks, butler service, access to Luminae, the suite-only restaurant, reserved theater seating, and the Retreat Lounge and sundeck, just to name a few.
THE RETREAT SUNDECK
Being a summer cruise we used the Retreat Sundeck daily. Situated on deck 16 the Retreat Sundeck offers incredible views from the front of the ship, and all-suite guests have exclusive access to this area, complete with a pool, hot tub, bar, and plenty of sun loungers. The pool bar serves a limited lunch menu and is a great alternative on port days when Luminae is closed. We particularly enjoyed the extra treats brought around by staff throughout the day, our favourites being the mint gelato and fruit skewers.
BLU RESTAURANT
Could the retreat be any sweeter? As a suite guest, you not only get access to Lunimae, but you also have the option to dine at Blu, the exclusive anytime dining restaurant that serves breakfast and dinner for Aqua Class guests. The opportunity to also dine at Blu with its unique menus, which aren’t available in other onboard restaurants, was truly a highlight of our cruise.
Blu has become one of our favorite Celebrity dining spots. Renowned for its fresh and vibrant flavors and decorated with crisp whites, navy blues, and rosettes of butter on each table, we were always excited by the array of delicious food and wine options, often sharing three or four main dishes. Our top choices were the Oven Roasted Lobster Tail, Angus Beef Stuffed Pasta Shells, and the iconic Baked Alaska filled with Neapolitan ice cream for dessert. We enjoyed dining at Blu on both formal nights; the elegant white tablecloths, intimate setting, and exceptional service elevated the experience to a whole new level.
SKY SUITE STATEROOM
We stayed in Sky Suite 11203, on deck 11 midship, where our stateroom included premium drinks and high-speed Wi-Fi. The room was ideally sized for two, featuring a seating area, a spacious bathroom, and a generously sized verandah, providing ample outdoor space. We particularly enjoyed the king-sized bed with views looking over the verandah and water, and each morning, we used the Celebrity app to open the blinds and turn on the TV while we waited for our room service breakfast to arrive.
Having access to a dedicated head butler and retreat host was incredibly helpful, especially on my birthday. They arranged for a cake, decorated our stateroom door with balloons, and placed a bottle of red wine, a card, and flowers in our room – an extremely thoughtful gift from the crew!
Two suite perks that we appreciated were the reserved seating in the theater for evening chic nights and priority disembarkation and embarkation. This was particularly beneficial when using the tender service to Mystery Island, as we could skip to the front of the line, allowing us several additional hours onshore compared to non-suite guests. We were ready to get back onboard when non-suite guests were still getting off.
Being our first cruise onboard an Edge Class Ship we welcomed Celebrity’s new design with the fixtures, fittings, and neutral tones making it feel like we were staying at a high-end hotel. With the addition of The Retreat Lounge, Retreat Sundeck, and two additional restaurants (Blu and Luninae) Celebrity has found a way to make suite guests feel exclusive in a luxury setting.
Spending much of our time enjoying the retreat sundeck, we felt that options for relaxing onboard would have been quite limited without this space. We wish Celebrity would’ve used the fitness center space as an observation lounge, allowing all guests to enjoy the stunning views from the front of the ship.
The Edge has so many inclusive and specialty restaurants to choose from, ranging from burgers by the pool to Le Petit Chef a 3D-animated dining experience. The Rooftop Garden Grill was our favourite specialty restaurant, offering all your BBQ favourites like pulled pork burgers, steaks, kebobs, ribs and so much more!
Exclusive for suite guests Luminae Restaurant is designed with style in mind, we loved the thought of having a dedicated anytime dining restaurant exclusive for suite guests that we could dine at for breakfast, lunch on embarkation and sea days, and dinner. With a variety of menu items and a restaurant large enough to accommodate the majority of suite guests, we rarely had to wait too long to be seated.
Although Lumine offered new menu items daily and regular signature dishes, we felt that Blu Restaurant provided superior service, menu choices, and overall ambiance. We also found room service for breakfast was a great alternative, especially having it while sitting on your verandah.
There are many different suite room categories to choose from, including the two-story Edge Villa with a private terrace, plunge pool, and direct access to the retreat sundeck. Outside of the retreat Celebrity Edge also offers guests the option of staying in an infinite verandah stateroom, where with a click of a button your stateroom window lowers turning your stateroom into one large verandah.
Another great addition to the Edge is the Magic Carpet, a multifunctional platform that moves up and down the side of the ship for embarkation and disembarking. At all other times, the platform transforms into a restaurant, bar, and place for guests to hang out. For us, it was the perfect place to enjoy sailing away out of Sydney Harbour.
Like all Celebrity Cruises, the Edge offers a full daily activity program including some incredible nighttime entertainment in The Theatre, Eden, and The Club, Stephen Barry (a hilarious cleptomaniac singer) and Michael Shafer (a down-to-earth comedian) being our favourites.
It’s true what they say “Life is sweet when cruising in the retreat”, after experiencing the benefits and exclusivity associated with the retreat we never want to book any other room type when cruising with Celebrity. We love how Celebrity has created exclusive areas for suite guests making us feel special and elevating our experience and time onboard. We love Celebrity and can’t wait to see how they redefine and reinvent cruising with their newest addition Celebrity XCEL due to sail in November 2025 and Celebrity River Cruises due to set sail in 2027.
Good to Know | Celebrity Cruises | Discover The Exclusive Retreat on Celebrity Edge
♡ Retreat guests can check in anytime on embarkation day via the priority lines at the cruise terminal
♡ Your “Sea Pass” (room key + onboard charge card) will be on your cabin door on embarkation day
♡ Guest staying in a retreat room will earn between 8 and 24 Captain Club points per night depending on your suite category
♡ For an additional fee and based on availability retreat guests can invite family or friends not staying in a suite room to dine at Lumine, they are not however able to visit the retreat sundeck or retreat lounge
♡ Specialty dining restaurants are included for retreat guests staying in the following suite categories – Iconic Suit, Edge Villa, Reflection Suite, Penthouse Suite, Royal Suite, Signature Suite
♡ Drinks and snacks in your mini-bar are not included in your suite room package or any drink package. Our room attendant was happy to supply us with drinks as we requested them, and they are also available in the Retreat Lounge and Sundeck Bar.
♡ Download the Celebrity Cruise app via the App Store before you set sail, here you can complete your online check-in, safety briefing, pre-book specialty restaurants, and view the daily planner and captains club points. The app also allowed us to control the blinds, lights, and TV in our suite
♡ Menus for all dining venues are available on your cruise app daily, before deciding which restaurant to dine at check the menus first
♡ On certain days Blu Restaurant will offer breakfast on the outdoor verandah
♡ Suite guests have access to an upgraded room service menu. We requested cafe lattes from Café al Bacio when ordering room service for breakfast and our room service attendant made sure they were delivered right on time
♡ Being a suite guest we didn’t pay an additional fee for room service or to watch in-room movies
♡ On disembarkation day we always choose the “Self Assist Program” so we can carry our luggage off, this way we don’t have to leave our suitcase out the night before or worry about being allocated a disembarkation time slot
Ready to Discover The Exclusive Retreat on Celebrity Edge? Book Direct Here
Thoughts, opinions, and photos shared about Celebrity Cruises | Discover The Exclusive Retreat on Celebrity Edge are entirely my own.
