page_title: Celebrity Cruises
section_title: Royal Caribbean Group (1997-present)
hierarchical_section_title: Celebrity Cruises / History / Royal Caribbean Group (1997-present)
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the Norwegian Cruise Line and Celebrity Cruises passenger embarkation terminal, Port of Seattle, downtown Seattle, Washington, on Alaskan Way.
context_page_description: Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Miami, Florida and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group. Celebrity Cruises was founded in 1988 by the Greece-based Chandris Group, and merged with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in 1997. Celebrity's signature logo is an "Χ" displayed on the funnel of Celebrity ships, and is the Greek letter chi, for "Chandris".
context_section_description: In 1997, the Chandris family sold their interests in Celebrity Cruises to Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, leading to the formation of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (later Royal Caribbean Group) as a holding company to keep both brands separate, and the renaming of Royal Caribbean Cruise Line to Royal Caribbean International. During the same year Celebrity Cruises took delivery of the first Century class vessel, Century, that was followed by Galaxy in 1996 and Mercury in 1997. Following the delivery of the Mercury, the Meridian was sold to Singapore-based Sun Cruises. Between 2000 and 2002 Celebrity took delivery of a quartet of new ships, the gas turbine-powered and aptly named Millennium class ships Millennium, Infinity, Summit and Constellation. The Celebrity Expeditions sub-brand was launched in 2001 with the acquisition of Celebrity Xpedition, a small boutique ship offering specialized cruises around the Galápagos Islands. In 2005, the Horizon was transferred to the fleet Royal Caribbean's United Kingdom-based subsidiary Island Cruises. In the same year, the first ship of what was to be named Solstice class was ordered from Meyer Werft. By 2007, three more ships of this class were on order.
  In 2006, plans were made to transfer Blue Moon and Blue Dream from the fleet of Pullmantur Cruises to Celebrity Cruises under the names of Celebrity Quest and Celebrity Journey. The ships would have joined the Celebrity Expeditions sub-brand, but in the end the decision was made to form an entirely new line, Azamara Cruises, to operate these ships in 2007. Also in 2007 the Zenith was transferred to Pullmantur Cruises 'in exchange' for the Azamara ships. Transfer of the Zenith also meant the end of Celebrity Cruises' association with Bermuda for the time being, as no ship was brought in to replace her on the cruises to Bermuda. In April 2010, The Celebrity Summit reposition yearly to New Jersey and offers cruises to Bermuda.
  In 2007-2008, all of Celebrity Cruises' ships were renamed with a "Celebrity" prefix added to the pre-existing ship names. Celebrity Solstice, the first ship in the new Solstice-class, was delivered to Celebrity on 24 October 2008. In May 2009 Galaxy was transferred to the fleet of TUI Cruises, a joint venture between Celebrity Cruises' owner Royal Caribbean Group and TUI AG and renamed as Mein Schiff. Two more Solstice Class ships entered service – the Celebrity Equinox in 2009 and the Celebrity Eclipse in 2010.
  In 2011, Celebrity Mercury was sold by Celebrity fleet to become Mein Schiff 2 for TUI Cruises. The fourth Solstice Class ship the Celebrity Silhouette entered service in 2011. The Celebrity Reflection was delivered in 2012.
  In 2014, Celebrity Cruises launched a blog called "Catalyst," which covered travel, fashion and culture.
  In April 2015, Celebrity's oldest ship at the time, the Celebrity Century, departed the fleet.
  On 4 December 2014, Celebrity Cruises signed of a letter of intent for a new class of vessels. The two 2,900-guest, 117,000 GT ships, will be developed under the project name EDGE and will build upon the brand's Millennium-class and Solstice-class vessels. The company took delivery of the first Edge-class vessel, the Celebrity Edge, on 31 October 2018, and expects to receive the second Edge-class vessel, the Celebrity Apex, delivered in the early part of 2020.
  In December 2014, Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, a 32-year veteran of Celebrity Cruises, was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer, making her "the first woman to be named CEO of a major cruise line".
  On 14 March 2016, Celebrity Cruises announced the planned acquisition of Galápagos Islands tour operator Ocean Adventures and its two ships, the 48-guest M/V Eclipse (now Celebrity Xperience) and the 16-guest catamaran M/C Athala II (now Celebrity Xploration). The move expanded Celebrity's guest capacity in the Galápagos by 65 percent.
  Celebrity Cruises announced on 11 October 2017, that it will perform legal same-sex marriages on its ships while in international waters following the legalization of same-sex marriage in Malta, where mos
caption: Celebrity Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line embarkation point, Port of Seattle Bell Street Pier
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