A celebrity is a widely-recognized or famous person who commands a high degree of public and media attention. The word stems from the Latin verb "celebrere" but they may not become a celebrity unless public and mass media interest is piqued. For example Virgin Director Richard Branson was famous as a CEO, but he did not become a global celebrity until he attempted to circumnavigate the globe in a hot air balloon.
About Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Cruises is entering a new era of larger ships and higher capacity -- competing even with the likes of Carnival Cruise -- but don't mourn just yet for the little cruise line that offers personalized service. After all, no one believed that Celebrity could maintain its standards with the birth of Millennium-class ships -- and it managed quite nicely, adding a series of enhancements that pleased even the most stalwart fans of smaller ships.Celebrity Solstice, Celebrity Equinox and Celebrity Eclipse -- debuting in 2008, 2009 and 2010 respectively -- will come in at 122,000 tons, bigger than even the largest ships in Carnival's fleet. With these 2,850-guest ships, Celebrity aims to rock the notion that a cruise line that positions itself in the "premium" market must keep its ships small and cozy. Celebrity has also announced it will build a fourth Solstice class ship. That new vessel will enter service in the fall of 2011. Like its sister ships, Celebrity's fourth Solstice-class liner will have larger standard staterooms, 90 percent of which will be outside; 85 percent of all staterooms will have verandahs. All are about 30 percent larger than the line's newest Millennium-class ships.Aside from these "new ship" developments, Celebrity Cruises has spent the past few years, pretty much since the launch of its last Millennium-class ship, Constellation, in 2002, upgrading onboard services and amenities. The goal in turning its attention inward was to introduce enhancements that would position the cruise line as a competitor to Crystal, albeit with a younger passenger demographic.
