If you spotted a Celebrity Cruises ship sailing along the South Florida coast on Sunday, it probably was Celebrity Reflection, the line’s newest ship. And if you noticed an odd addition to one of the top decks, what you were seeing was an example of a trend in cruise ship design: a cantilevered space.
The feature that’s getting all the oohs and aahs on the Celebrity Reflection, which took travel agents, writers and VIPs on a short cruise-to-nowhere over the weekend, is a glassed-in shower in the ship’s biggest suite that extends out over the edge of the ship.
As people toured the 1,636-square-foot suite and the shower on Sunday, it was hard to tell which characteristic they found most provocative – the glass enclosure or the fact that only a thick pane of what looked like frosted glass came between their feet and the ocean 14 decks below.
“This is kind of scary,” said a travel agent, as she stepped into the shower.
“Are you sure that people can’t see in?” asked another.
The shower is enclosed with a special reflective glass that is supposed to guard the occupant’s privacy, but as a back-up, the flick of a switch will turn the glass from transparent to translucent.
The shower is in the “Reflection Suite,” a one-of-a-kind stateroom that also boasts a bathtub and rain shower on its private veranda.
On Sunday, a line of people waiting to see the shower wound up one side of the living room, down the other, and through a bedroom.
Some people stepped into the shower, others regarded it from a secure distance.
It’s not the first cantilevered space on a cruise ship. Some ships have jacuzzis that extend out over the side. Two Disney ships have a flume ride in a clear tube that loops out over the water. The new Royal Princess ship, which will arrive in Port Everglades late next year, will have SeaWalk – a glass-bottomed walkway that will be cantilevered 28 feet beyond the starboard side of the ship.
Rendering of SeaWalk by Princess Cruises
