Luxury Travel
This New Cruise Ship Reimagines What It Means to Be Outdoors
Its "indoor" balconies bring sea views to your couch. A "magic carpet" hovers off the edge of the ship.
Richard Fain, the chief executive officer of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., is willing to bet $5 billion that he can take everything you know about cruising and flip it upside down. Or at least outside in.
On Monday, he and Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, CEO of Celebrity Cruises—one of three brands in the Royal Caribbean family—announced a new category of ship that, among other transformational design moves, brings stateroom balconies indoors. With a push of a button, the floor-to-ceiling windows of Celebrity Edge-class staterooms retract like a super-sleek garage door, leaving nothing but a simple glass railing between your living room furniture and the crystal-blue sea.