Perhaps the most undesirable part of anyone's cruising experience is the embarkation and disembarkation process. For the former, the time taken checking-in can be an agonizing an experience. You yearn for that first taste of the cruise's lunch buffet or that first sip of champagne while waiting in line and marching through security. For the latter, you feel sadness as nostalgia already begins to take hold of you with thoughts of how your comfortable vacation and the over-indulgence of excellent food and wine has come to a sudden end. And then you find yourself trekking through the boring corridors of a cruise terminal as it welcomes you back to mundane reality. Maybe your experiences are different, but let's be honest about one thing. Most cruise terminals are just what they are - a terminal, a point of connection to something else.
Celebrity Cruises is trying to upend the conventional cruise terminal concept - trying to end the dread of having to spend time in a cruise terminal - with another brand new concept, just as they're a putting the finishing touches to their newest ship, the Edge. Celebrity Cruises is constructing a state-of-the-art, modern cruise terminal in Port Everglades that will act as the new home for their ships sailing the Caribbean. For Celebrity, the key is to extend the guest experience on board their ships to the point at which their customer sees the ship for the first time. From Celebrity Cruises press center:
Brought to life in collaboration with Broward County’s Port Everglades and seasoned architectural firm Bermello Ajamil & Partners, Inc., T25 melds a gorgeous, warm design with unique technology, such as Frictionless Arrival, which will make the check-in process absolutely seamless, and an interactive light wall art installation. T25 will also offer Suite Class guests a singular experience along the path to The Retreat, with an exclusive lounge, elevator lobbies, screening areas and even a private rooftop terrace.
T25 also features a 1,463 sq. ft. GKD Mediamesh that will wrap the terminal’s exterior, juxtaposing the more than 18,000 sq. ft. of outward facing glass, and the first purpose-built crew lounge of any Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. terminal. This crew lounge will have complimentary Wi-Fi connectivity, TV access, optimized storage, quiet places for employees and more.
Scheduled for completion in late October 2018, T25 will be the new home to many Celebrity ships during their winter deployment, including Celebrity Edge, Celebrity Infinity, Celebrity Reflection and Celebrity Silhouette. Along with these ships, the terminal will be LEED certified and able to accommodate up to a 1,150-foot-long ship. When Celebrity is not using T25 the facility will be open to other cruise lines.
Currently, Port Everglades welcomes on average approximately 335,000 Celebrity guests annually, representing about nine percent of its overall passenger traffic. Once the new cruise terminal is completed, it is anticipated that Celebrity will generate nearly 500,000 travelers at Port Everglades – representing no less than 14 percent of the port’s projected passenger traffic.
