Celebrity Ascent completes sea trials

The fourth vessel in the line’s Edge class completed a series of “manoeuvrability skills to test its functional and operational capabilities.”

The tests were conducted in the Bay of Biscay near the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in St. Nazaire, France where the ship has been under construction.

Nearly 200 crew members were on board for the trials together with Demitrios and Tasos Kafetzis – the cruise industry’s first brother cruise captains.

Celebrity Ascent is scheduled to sail on a four-night Western Caribbean preview cruise on November 22 out of Fort Lauderdale. This will be followed by a three-night Bahamas preview sailing on November 26.

The 3,260-passenger ship will then be officially named during a ceremony on December 1 in Fort Lauderdale.

Following this, Ascent will depart the Floridian port on December 3 for its seven-night round-trip Eastern Caribbean inaugural voyage, calling at Saint Maarten, Saint Thomas, and the Dominican Republic.

The vessel will then spend the winter rotating between eastern and western Caribbean sailings before repositioning to Europe in summer 2024.