MIAMI -- Celebrity Cruises brought its Leading Edge Mobile
Cinema experience to its headquarters to show off the Celebrity Edge ship
design to travel agents and loyal customers.
The 91-seat cinema was parked with a view of downtown Miami
next to a garage at PortMiami. Celebrity scheduled eight showings of a
15-minute video that included destination highlights, a narrative by Edge
design ambassador Nate Berkus, and 3-D animated renderings of the cabins,
public spaces, resort deck and other features of the 2,900-passenger ship.
Guests were served sparkling cider while waiting under a
shaded canopy and received truffled popcorn as they filed into the theater, a
customized 53-foot double expandable trailer.
Inside, the floor was raked to give patrons in the back a
clear view. Afterwards, at a twilight showing, guests were served prosecco and
hors d'oeuvres.
"I thought it was very informative," said Richard
Safaty, president of Freedom Travel, Wilton Manors, Fla., who has three groups
booked already on Celebrity Edge, which debuts in December 2018. Safaty said he
had seen parts of the show on a televised presentation aboard the Celebrity
Summit.
Other agents said they had seen the 3-D animations online.
Dan Mandich, a luxury cruise specialist at Luxury Cruise
Connections in North Miami Beach, said he'd seen part of the video previously
in a couple of webinars.
Mandich said cabin selection on the Edge will be especially
important because it will have a 90-ton moving platform on the starboard side,
partly obstructing some views. "Port side is going to be the best side to
be on," said Mandich, who added that having obstructed-view cabins was a
good thing because it allows for "price enhancements."
Billed as an industry first, the air-conditioned Leading
Edge Mobile Cinema launched its tour March 29 at the Sonoma International Film
Festival. The trailer, with Edge livery, is being supplied by CineTransformer,
which has built custom mobile cinemas for the Army National Guard, Walt Disney
Pictures, American Express, MTV and Subaru, among others.
The cinema is staffed by a Celebrity sales team that
includes local business-development managers in each tour stop. The 12-week,
48-stop tour continues this week in Orlando and St. Petersburg. The tour concludes June 20 in Oakville,
Ontario.