Newest Celebrity Cruises Ship Successfully Completes Sea Trials

The upcoming Celebrity Ascent cruise ship successfully finished her sea trials over the weekend, bringing her one momentous step closer to her November 2023 debut.

Sea trials are a critical step in the finishing phases of a ship’s construction and outfitting, as these tests ensure all critical systems are operating properly and the ship is ready to set sail.

Celebrity Ascent Passes Sea Trials

Celebrity Ascent completed several strenuous days of sea trials over the weekend, performing various tests and maneuvers in the Bay of Biscay near the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France, where the ship has been under construction.

With this milestone, Celebrity Ascent has “ascended” to the peak of her construction with her first open-ocean sailing, marking successful tests of propulsion, braking, turns, maneuvering, and emergency systems during her sea trials, passing the tests with flying colors.

The ship’s brother co-captains, Demetrios and Tasos Kafetzis, led the ship and nearly 200 crew members onboard through the various tests, putting the ship through her figurative paces from bow to stern. These tests show critical responses of the ship’s systems to ensure safe and efficient operation when the vessel puts to sea with guests aboard.

The tests began on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, and concluded on Saturday, September 30.

The fourth ship in the innovative Edge class from Celebrity Cruises, Celebrity Ascent first came into being with the initial steel-cutting on November 17, 2021, marking the beginning of the physical construction of the ship’s hull. In August 2022, the keel was laid and the assembly of the ship began, and in January 2023, the ship was floated out of the construction bay and moved to a nearby dock for continuing work.

The sea trials are the last major milestone of the construction process, and it is expected that the ship will be officially handed over to Celebrity Cruises in the coming weeks ahead of her November 2023 preview sailings.

Cruising on Celebrity Ascent

The 140,600-gross ton Celebrity Ascent will be homeported from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, alongside her sister ships Celebrity Apex and Celebrity Beyond, the second and third vessels in the Edge class, respectively. The premier vessel of the innovative class, Celebrity Edge, will be homeported from Sydney, Australia for the Southern Hemisphere summer season.

The ship’s official maiden voyage will set sail on December 3, 2023. The 7-night Eastern Caribbean sailing will visit St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Amber Cove.

Through the winter months, Celebrity Ascent will offer a variety of 7-night Eastern Caribbean, Western Caribbean, and Bahamas/Mexico sailings to top ports of call such as Nassau, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, San Juan, St. Kitts, and more.

In April 2024, the ship will reposition from Florida to Europe via 13-night transatlantic cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona, stopping at the Canary Islands, Madeira, and Malaga along the way, before the ship spends the summer months in the Mediterranean. Celebrity Ascent will return to Fort Lauderdale in late October 2024.

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Regardless of where she is sailing, guests onboard Celebrity Ascent are in for fantastic luxury, stellar entertainment, exquisite dining, and more.

The ship, which can welcome 3,260 travelers aboard per sailing, features all the amenities already outrageously popular on the other Edge-class ships, but reimagined for the new vessel.

Guests can choose from 32 restaurants, bars, and lounges, and will enjoy the stunning multi-deck Sunset Bar, the open-air Rooftop Garden, the cantilevered Magic Carpet floating platform, the immersive Eden transformative space, and so very much more.