Celebrity Cruises leads charge to add local festivals to cruise ships

Cruises have been ramping up on-board cultural offerings. Now this soon-to-launch game-changing ship is about to bring the biggest festival in the world from shore to ship. 

I’ve sought out many cultural celebrations in my travels. Saint Patrick’s Festival in Dublin, Ireland. La Tomatina in Buñol, Spain. Frozen Dead Guy Days in Denver, Colorado. I’m determined to make it to the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling in Gloucestershire, England, but for now it remains a beautiful dream.

Festivals are a way to experience the best of a place in a brief pocket of time. Only got a day in New Orleans? Fat Tuesday. A week in Edinburgh? Fringe Festival. There’s a reason the world’s biggest festival, Rio Carnival, attracts two million people a day: it’s unique, it’s vibrant and it’s Brazil in a nutshell.

Local performers are set to bring Rio's Carnival - the world's biggest festival - to Celebrity Xcel.

Celebrity Cruises – which also recently announced its foray into river cruising – is working to bring this festival-based enthusiasm to its flagship vessels in the form of The Bazaar: a multi-floor destination that will launch along with its newest ship, Celebrity Xcel, in November 2025. The Bazaar will replace what is the Eden space aboard Celebrity’s other Edge Series ships and has spots carved out for markets, crafting, cocktail sampling, dining, performances and even a chef’s table experience.

It’s part of a movement that’s seeing ships engage in all kinds of efforts to bring the shore to ship and not just the ship to shore. Princess Cruises also leans into the gala atmosphere with its Festivals of The World series recreating Oktoberfest, Rio Carnival and the Celtic Festival, among others. Royal Caribbean invests heavily in colourful, OTT experiences to keep the celebration going, such as its Promenade street parties and mixed-reality dining experience, Royal Railway Utopia Station. The aim is always to blur the line that separates the on-board experience from what you get on land.

Celebrity Cruises' new ship Celebrity Xcel will launch in December 2025.

Celebrity Xcel takes that ambition up to 11. Her Caribbean cruise season will launch four festivals: Viva, Flora, Aqua and Carnival, one for every sea day of her itinerary. While Viva honours Mexican traditions and Flora focuses on the Dominican Republic, Aqua highlights the Caribbean Sea and Carnival replicates its namesake festival. These will be flipped once the ship enters her European season, with new food, festivals and performers indigenous to the area.

And that’s where The Bazaar aims to differ – by tapping local artists and merchants for the real deal, rather than a facsimile from the cruise gift shop. It’s a concept that works particularly well for passengers who, for whatever reason, choose not to disembark on port days, giving them a destination experience without needing to bust out the SPF.

The space itself is designed to transform to suit the festival of the day, with morphing LED arches and other structures which are truly a feat of light engineering.

The Bazaar on Celebrity Xcel will host markets, craft, cocktail sampling, dining and performances.

Pop-up performances and interactive crafts like jewellery making, customised cosmetics and art lessons are led by locals who’ll hop on board.

An additional novelty comes from how the finer design details are honed: by the passengers themselves via Celebrity’s Dream Makers program – a novel approach to including passengers in decision-making. Would you choose Jamaican lamb curry or corvina with achiote pepper? Cigar rolling lessons or local dance classes? These are just two of the guest-led selections that will make their way into The Bazaar when Xcel hits the high seas on November 16, with many more to come (lamb curry and dance classes won, FYI).

Worth noting: voting in Dream Makers polls could also win you one of several prizes, including a free cruise on Xcel’s maiden voyage.

Originally published as Celebrity Cruises leads charge to add local festivals to cruise ships