It's been more than a decade since the fifth and final ship in Celebrity Cruises' Solstice class entered service, and now the line is set to invest $250 million to renovate all of the vessels in the series.
First up will be Celebrity Solstice, the first ship in the class that debuted in 2008. Several new public spaces and experiences will roll out on the ship in 2026 along with four more stateroom categories, refreshed lounges and sundecks, and other exciting onboard destinations.
Guests booked to sail on Celebrity Solstice starting in March 2026 will be the first to see the bow-to-stern refit.
"Our Solstice Series ships represent the best of classic cruising, and now we're elevating this vacation experience even further by adding brand new experiences and enhancements at every turn," said Laura Hodges Bethge, president of Celebrity Cruises.
"Guests will enjoy more ways to explore and restore, all while staying true to what made our guests fall in love with these ships in the first place," Hodges Bethge added.
There are five ships in the series; besides Celebrity Solstice the class consists of Celebrity Equinox (2009); Celebrity Eclipse (2010); Celebrity Silhouette (2011); and Celebrity Reflection (2012). All but the final ship accommodate 2,800 guests, as Celebrity Reflection has capacity for slightly more — 3,000.
When Celebrity Solstice emerges from her renovation, guests will have four new stateroom categories to choose from, including the Panoramic Infinite Veranda Suite, Deluxe Panoramic Oceanview Suite, Panoramic Ocean View Suite, and Deluxe Panoramic Ocean View. Future guests can start booking these categories beginning in mid-June 2025.
Suites and public spaces in The Retreat, the line's all-inclusive luxury area, will get upgrades, including a new Retreat Sundeck, a hot tub, and a redesigned Retreat Lounge.
Celebrity Cruises is planning to debut new entertainment venues onboard Celebrity Solstice, including Boulevard Lounge, a cabaret-style venue that will also offer concerts and daytime events such as trivia contests.
The nearby Boulevard Bar will serve cocktails, and guests can enjoy a new sports bar, too, called Celebrity Barcade. Multiple screens will show major sports events, and guests can play games like darts and billiards.
Two new dining venues will be added to Celebrity Solstice. Fine Cut Steakhouse, which first appeared on ships in the line's Edge class, specializes in 30-day dry-aged steaks, plus seafood choices.
Also, guests can indulge in Italian cuisine at Trattoria Rossa, where classic dishes will be prepared table-side and include fresh pasta.
New outdoor spaces will be added to the ship. Sunset Park will be a half-acre recreational area on the ship's top deck, offering food and drinks, live music, lawn games, and other activities.
The refit will offer new private cabanas that guests can rent and a larger Sunset Bar.
The specific dates of Celebrity Solstice's dry dock were not revealed, but the ship currently has no sailings scheduled from January 15, 2026 to March 25, 2026. Her first published cruise shows a departure date of March 26, 2026 on a 14-night Australia voyage from Singapore to Sydney.
Read Also: Celebrity Cruises Dining: 14 Must-Try Venues
In April 2026, the ship will sail a 16-night "Fiji Transpacific" cruise from Sydney to Hawaii, followed by a 9-night Hawaii itinerary that ends in Vancouver, British Columbia, setting up the ship for her summer season in Alaska, starting on May 3, 2026.
A timeline for the renovations of the remaining four ships in the Solstice class has not yet been released, nor has the cruise line announced which shipyard will handle the dry dock refits. All of the Solstice-class ships were built at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany.
Celebrity Cruises' fleet has four classes of ships. Besides Solstice and Edge, it sails Millennium-class and Expedition-class vessels.
Donna Tunney is a travel news/feature writer and editor with 20-plus years covering cruise news, luxury travel, and Europe and UK destinations. A former staffer at Travel Weekly and at the USAToday Network, she also was a luxury travel columnist at Travel Market Report, and a cruise columnist at Sherman's Travel.
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