Celebrity Cruises brings smart home automation to its latest ship class

By Julian Chokkattu March 13, 2017

Celebrity Cruises has unveiled a new ship that was completely designed in 3D. The Celebrity Edge won’t be operational for some time, but the company offered a sneak peak at how technology will improve a guest’s experience on the ship.

At 1,004 feet long and 128 feet wide, the Celebrity Edge can carry 3,373 guests in total, as well as 1,320 members of the crew. It features 1,467 staterooms, 14 passenger decks, 12 passenger elevators, and more.

As Carnival highlighted in its announcement earlier this year, Celebrity Edge will feature “friction-less arrival,” meaning guests won’t have to wait in long lines for a check-in process. This will work through a combination of facial recognition software and geo-fenced beacons.

Guests won’t also have to carry anything other than their smartphone to access their rooms — key-less entry is now possible via an app. Similarly, every part of a guest’s room will be controllable via a touchscreen panel — from lighting and window shares to room temperature and more. These smart home-like features include preset scenes that could be used to help guests go to sleep or wake up in the morning.

A Virtual Concierge app also allows guests to order drinks, book dinner reservations, and more. The map will make use of smartphone sensors to improve mapping services based on a guests’ location.

One of the many features that makes the Celebrity Edge unique is the Magic Carpet — a glass structure that’s the size of a tennis court. What’s neat is that it’s able to traverse 13 stories, like a massive elevator, and it’s uses can change depending on the deck where it’s temporarily docked.

Celebrity Cruises unveiled Celebrity Edge at an event in Miami on Monday, and we’ll add more details about the upcoming cruise as we learn more.

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Julian Chokkattu

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Julian is the mobile and wearables editor at Digital Trends, covering smartphones, fitness trackers, smartwatches, and more…

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