Celebrity Apex

Celebrity Apex is an Edge-class cruise ship operated by Celebrity Cruises, a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Constructed at Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France,[5] she is the second vessel in the company's Edge class of ships, following the delivery of her sister ship, Celebrity Edge, in 2018. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, her debut sailing was from Athens on June 19, 2021 to the Greek Islands.

Background and design

On 4 December 2014, Celebrity's parent company, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., announced that they had finalized an order with STX France for two new ships that would compose a new class of vessels for the Celebrity Cruises fleet.[6] The two ships were known under Project EDGE and were planned to be at each, with a guest capacity of 2,900 passengers.[6]

History

Construction and sea trials

On 21 November 2016, the day of Celebrity Edge's steel-cutting ceremony, Celebrity also announced the name of the second ship in the Edge class as Celebrity Beyond.[11] On 23 July 2018, Celebrity marked the beginning of construction for the ship with a steel-cutting ceremony at the shipyard[5] and also announced a name change for the second Edge-class ship from Celebrity Beyond to Celebrity Apex.[12] A ceremony marking the laying of the keel was celebrated on 31 October 2018, performed in conjunction with the delivery of Celebrity Edge.[13] She was floated out from the shipyard on 17 May 2019.[14]

The commencement for the ship's sea trials were hampered twice.[15] The first set was initially set for 15 January 2020, but were cancelled due to bad weather.[15] The new date of 17 January 2020 faced a second setback, a tugboat and port sailors' strike.[15] The ship ultimately left for her first set of sea trials in the Bay of Biscay on 4 February 2020[16] and completed them on 8 February 2020.[17]

Construction on the vessel was completed in early March 2020.[18]

Delivery and christening

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the ship's delivery process and christening timeline. In what was believed to be the first virtual delivery of a cruise ship due to the travel restrictions that were in place, Celebrity took virtual delivery of Celebrity Apex on 27 March 2020 via a video conference between officials from Celebrity and Chantiers de l'Atlantique.[19][20][21] The ship was initially scheduled to be delivered a week prior, on 20 March, at the shipyard.[16][22]

On 16 January 2020, Celebrity originally announced that Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, would christen the vessel at the inaugural ceremony in Southampton on 30 March 2020, but it was announced on 5 March 2020 that all naming festivities would be postponed until the ship arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in late 2020.

Operational career

On 26 March 2020, the Regional Health Agency of the French region Pays de la Loire reported that seven crew members aboard Celebrity Apex had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.[25] At the time, Celebrity Apex had just been constructed at Chantiers de l'Atlantique and was waiting to be delivered to Celebrity.[26] There were 1407 crew members already on board at the time.[25]

Before the first positive cases were reported, reports showed practices aboard the ship did not reflect the seriousness of the progression of the pandemic at the time.[26] For example, a large party was held on 21 March 2020, even when France had been under a national lockdown beginning on 17 March 2020.[26][27]

country	Malta
owner	*Celebrity Apex Inc. (Royal Caribbean Group)
operator	Celebrity Cruises
registry	Valletta, 🇲🇹 Malta
builder	Chantiers de l'Atlantique (Saint-Nazaire, France)
ordered	1 February 2015‡R1R‡
laid down	6 July 2018‡R1R‡
launched	17 May 2019
completed	March 2020
acquired	27 March 2020‡R1R‡
christened	late 2020 by Reshma Saujani
yard number	K34‡R2R‡
identification	Callsign: 9HA4960 * *