Celebrity Cruises has been working on its fifth Edge Class series ship, and it is setting sail ahead of schedule!
The 3,260-passenger Celebrity Xcel is currently still under construction at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in France.
However, things are moving ahead of schedule, and now there will be an additional four-night Celebrity Xcel Preview Cruise available for interested passengers.
While the vessel was already set to debut in November 2025, the inaugural cruise was originally set for November 18, 2025. This new itinerary being offered is a 4-night cruise that departs out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida on November 9, 2025.
Celebrity Cruises sent out a communication stating, “Our teams have been working diligently on building our new ship, and the completion is now earlier than we recently anticipated.”
This letter was also sent out to travel agents to inform those who had booked the later cruise of this new opportunity.
Seeing that some passengers were hoping to be the very first to sail on the all-new vessel, the communication from the cruise line that was shared on social media said that any guests seeking to switch to the earlier cruise were welcome to do so.
With the information provided, Celebrity outlined that if guests were seeking to switch to the earlier cruise that reservations were limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.
Since the November 18 sailing is one night longer, passengers swapping their bookings to the earlier one can expect refunds if warranted.
It was also encouraged that if cruisers booked for the now later cruise were interested in joining for both voyages, they would still receive priority booking over the general public.
Read Also: Celebrity Cruises Ships By Age: Newest to Oldest
“We understand that for some guests, it’s important to be the first onboard, and we wanted to give you an exclusive opportunity to be the first to join us for our new sailing, or have the option of switching,” the cruise line added.
Those guests who booked the first cruise currently have priority in booking the new cruise, a nice gesture from Celebrity since some passengers might not feel like it is the inaugural sailing.
The November 18 voyage will still go on as planned as Celebrity Xcel’s inaugural sailing and will call on Bimini, Bahamas, and Cozumel, Mexico.
Those seeking to update their booking can do so directly through the cruise line — and it is yet to be known when the booking for the November 9 cruise will open to the rest of the public.
Regardless, both voyages on the 141,420 gross-ton Celebrity Xcel will feature some all-new experiences not available yet on the rest of the Celebrity Cruises fleet.
Not the Only New Cruise Ship Arriving Earlier Than Expected
Celebrity Xcel is not the only ship ahead of schedule this year, as Royal Caribbean’s 5,610-passenger Star of the Seas is also being completed early.
Similar to the communication sent out by Celebrity Cruises, Royal Caribbean emailed passengers already booked on the new Icon class ship’s “showcase sailings” with the opportunity to either add a new reservation or switch their booking to the earlier cruise.
The two original “showcase sailings” were set for August 23 and August 27, but the newly added one is set for August 20, 2025, and is a three-night Perfect Day Cruise out of Port Canaveral.
Guests had one week from the announcement made on March 18, 2025, to update their sailing option before it became open to the public for booking.
When cruise lines like Celebrity Cruises and Royal Caribbean decide to give priority to passengers who have already booked these once-in-a-lifetime experiences, they are proving just how important their guests are to them.
Cruisers can expect to see Celebrity’s sixth Edge-class ship around 2028, which has already been officially ordered by the cruise line.
