Here’s what happens when passengers design a cruise ship

The idea came about, according to Celebrity’s president, Laura Hodges Bethge, when some of the company’s creative teams were arguing as they kicked around ideas about concepts for the new ship. “One of them said, why don’t we just go ask our guests?” she told me. “And we’re like, that makes a lot of sense. Our guests are constantly saying, we want to dream with you, we want to help innovate with you. And that’s where it started. It blew us away how many people participated.”

The 3,260-passenger Xcel is the fifth in Celebrity’s state-of-the-art Edge series of ships (named for Celebrity Edge, the first of the five). I’ve loved all of these ships; they’re cool, grown-up and contemporary — Kelly Hoppen had a hand in some of the original interiors — with some really innovative venues, not least a platform called the Magic Carpet, an alfresco lounge that’s is suspended over the side of the ship, giving uninterrupted views of the sea. The food on board is always excellent and the shows in the high-tech theatre have an Abba Voyage-meets-Cirque du Soleil vibe. So I joined Xcel in Florida for a short preview cruise, wondering just what kind of taste these Dream Makers had.

Xcel feels more like a very swish and multifaceted beach resort than a classic cruise ship. There’s an air of celebration everywhere, of decadence, happy hedonism and fun. Mixologists juggle bottles and shakers with astonishing dexterity in the glitzy Martini Bar underneath a huge, modern chandelier that pulsates with colour. There are packed, late night Shine the Night deck parties with DJs and glow sticks. For one sea day on each cruise, the pool becomes “Poolest Day Ever”, with live music, rum-filled coconut shells, frozen cocktails and games. If that’s all too much, you can escape to the infinity-edge plunge pools in the leafy Rooftop Garden or listen to acoustic guitar in the deliciously dreamy Sunset Bar, overlooking the wake.

Sue Bryant aboard the ship

But what’s different about this ship? There’s a new Mediterranean restaurant, Bora, on the top deck, with hints of an upmarket Greek taverna (£41.50 for dinner). I loved it. We started with fluffy flatbreads, dips and olive oil hand-picked by the executive chef and oil aficionado Tato Garcia. I’d already gorged myself on this when sharing platters arrived and just kept coming: roast cauliflower with tzatziki, stuffed aubergines, lobster medallions, a magnificent grilled sea bream and sizzling garlic prawns. Just when you think it’s all over, big lamb tagines were handed round, and platters of pasta. Take my advice: arrive hungry.

Design suggestions from passengers

The Bazaar, spanning three decks, is like nothing I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship, or on land, for that matter. It replaces Eden, which on the other Edge-series ships is a light-filled lounge where you can chill with a book by day and dance at night. But seemingly, Eden was a little too serene and underused, so a new plan was hatched. “One of our guests’ passion points is the destinations we visit,” explains Hodges Bethge. “And they want to be immersed. They want to feel like a local so we try to do that for the shore excursions we offer. But then you get back on the ship and that’s gone.”

The “Vitamin D Deck” for a touch of sun bathing

So all that’s changed. While the ship’s in the Caribbean and the Bahamas, the party continues in the Bazaar in a day and night-long extravaganza of colour, sound and flavours. Floor-to-ceiling kinetic screens that display ultra-sharp 3D images glow with aerial shots of waves breaking on bone-white sand, as well as shots of the intense colours and patterns of Carnival. Local artisans have been invited on board (and Celebrity takes no commission) to sell their wares from brightly painted stalls, with produce ranging from boxed Tortuga Rum Cake to handmade soap and jewellery. The new Spice restaurant, reflecting the favours of the Caribbean, serves tropical fruit smoothies, rainbow-coloured salad bowls and, when I ate lunch there, an exquisite melt-in-the-mouth jerk salmon.

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There are activity stations where you can try painting your own maracas or designing your own rustic wooden sign with paint and stencils (£8), as well as rum and tequila tastings and bite-sized snacks, from coconut shrimp to dulce de leche brownies. What’s most impressive, though, is the electrifying shows, from pop-up singing and dancing to high-energy parades — the one I saw was called Carnival — the dancers in glittering, feathered costumes, all locally made. Four festivals will run for the Caribbean season and when the ship comes to the Mediterranean for summer, we’re promised Greek, Spanish and Italian themes and local performers and crafts.

Leave the bar before ‘the cops’ find you

A new and mysterious venue, IYKYK (If You Know, You Know), intrigued me as it’s not pictured on any of the ship’s deck plans. There was only one way to find out; my mates and I squeezed into a photo booth in a corner of the Club, the ship’s more intimate performance venue and nightclub, as instructed, scanned our key cards and posed for a few selfies. A door opened and we were suddenly immersed in a rowdy, smoky speakeasy bustling with flappers, gangsters and jazz musicians. Get your phone out and you’re immediately asked to put it away. After an hour or so, you’re invited to leave before the “cops” come. It’s a lot of fun.

Carnival parades and drinking dens aside, Xcel has a theatre so high-tech that it’s attracting big-name producers and directors who have staged shows for anybody from Diana Ross to Dua Lipa. The backdrop is a 110ft-wide curved kinetic LED wall that adds video in such high definition that you feel as though you’re right there, in the scene. There are lasers, aerial artists and, for the first time among the cast of 75 singers, dancers and musicians, astonishingly athletic parkour performers. Yes, the shows have themes rather than complex plots but the imagery, the powerful voices and the sheer energy are spectacular.

It doesn’t come cheap

While all the entertainment and seven restaurants are included, you could certainly run up quite a hefty bill on board; Celebrity doesn’t pretend to be all-inclusive unless you opt for the Retreat, a luxe complex of suites with its own pool, deck, lounge and restaurant. Elsewhere, wine starts at £9.10 a glass, smoothies at £7.60 and a cappuccino at £4.20. A 24-hour pass to the spa’s blissfully relaxing complex of saunas, steam, a quiet sunbathing place and a new pool with massage jets is £90.20 — and a 20 per cent tip is added to everything. If you want to enjoy a few drinks, decent coffee, bottled water and wi-fi, an “All Included” package at £347 per person for a week makes sense.

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If you don’t want to splurge on the Retreat, the Infinite Veranda cabins are bright and airy. Instead of a balcony, the floor-to-ceiling window drops down at the touch of a button to create a balcony effect and let the sea breeze in.

So what exactly did the Dream Makers bring to the party? It was more about nuance and detail rather than actual interior design. They selected “80s neon pop” as one of the soundtracks to the shimmering chandelier show in the Grand Plaza. They picked Nashville as the music style for Saddle Up Saloon, an energetic line dancing party in the Club. They voted for a dukkah-spiced lamb loin as one of the dishes in Mosaic, the classy new restaurant in the Bazaar (£72 for dinner) and picked a signature martini — Raspberry Limoncello — for the Martini Bar.

The Mosaic restaurant in the Bazaar

They were involved in choosing the centrepiece sculpture for the pool area, a giant, stainless steel sculpture of a monkey by the Australian artist Todd Lyndon Stuart. They chose the colour (pale peach) of a dramatic gown worn by one of the female vocalists who sang Coldplay’s Fix You so beautifully that it brought me out in goosebumps. It’s smart marketing; this sense of ownership no doubt means that many will book cruises to see “their” ship.

Celebrity Xcite, the next in the series, has already been announced. While it won’t necessarily have Dream Makers, Hodges Bethge says, there will most likely be some kind of guest involvement. Count me in.
Sue Bryant was a guest of Celebrity Cruises, which has seven nights’ full board from £1,111pp, sailing from Barcelona to Athens on July 11, 2026 (celebritycruises.com). Fly to Barcelona and from Athens