Celebrity Edge to feature bistro with digital entertainment

Celebrity Cruises unveiled most of the dining options on the upcoming Celebrity Edge, including one in which a small, animated chef appears on the diner’s tabletop.

The ship’s culinary lineup was revealed at an evening event at Pier 36 in New York, about nine months ahead of the Edge’s expected arrival in November.

In all, the Edge will offer 29 restaurants, cafes and bars — including four main dining restaurants, Suite and AquaClass restaurants that are reserved for guests in those accommodations, seven new specialty restaurants, and 11 bars and lounges.

The Dinner on the Edge restaurant will occupy the Magic Carpet, the movable space cantilevered off the side of the ship.

Among the most intriguing concepts will be Le Grand Bistro, which will use TableMation Studios’ digital-projection technology to turn the table top into a mini-theater. The star of the show will be Le Petit Chef, an animated 3-D character about the size of a salt shaker who uses creative and funny ways to assemble a digital meal on the diner’s plate. The digital meal is a preview of the actual food that will be served.

“We were looking for something really unique,” said Brian Abel, Celebrity’s vice president of hotel operations. “We are trying to be innovative with technology, using it in ways that enhance the guest experience.”

A preview of the experience was showed off at Pier 36, with Le Petit Chef making an ice cream sundae.

The 3-D show will be at dinner ($55 cover charge), with breakfast and lunch in Le Grand Bistro devoted to a bustling boulangerie-patisserie, with handmade macaroons, artisanal cheeses and freshly baked bread.

Rooftop Garden Grill will be a specialty restaurant serving barbecue.

Several dining venues on the Edge have already been previewed, such as Dinner on the Edge (a la carte), the venue on the cantilevered Magic Carpet when it sits at the top of the ship. Also previously revealed were the multi-story Eden restaurant ($65 cover charge) and Eden Bar.

Another departure from Celebrity’s other ships will be that instead of a main dining room, the Edge will have four complimentary restaurants.  Italian cuisine will be served at Tuscan, French at Normandie, Greek/Mediterranean at Cyprus and new American at Cosmopolitan.

Abel explained that over the last few years, Celebrity found that passengers were increasingly choosing “select dining” over traditional dining, allowing them to choose what time to eat in the main dining room, and that its Suite and AquaClass guests increasingly chose the restaurants reserved for those cabin classes.

“Guests seem to like smaller dining room experiences,” he said.

Fine Cut Steakhouse will charge a $55 cover.

Cuisine specialties include Italian at Tuscan, French at Normandie, Greek/Mediterranean at Cyprus and new American at Cosmopolitan.Guests can choose to make reservations in any of the restaurants at any time in the Select Dining Plus program or be assigned one of the restaurants at a fixed time, with the option to request one of the other restaurants, in the Celebrity Traditional Dining option.

Guests can choose to make reservations in any of the restaurants at any time in the Select Dining Plus program. Or, guests can choose the Celebrity Traditional Dining option and be assigned one of the restaurants at a fixed time, with the option to request one of the other restaurants.

“All of those restaurant are complimentary,” said Celebrity president Lisa Lutoff-Perlo. “That’s pretty amazing.”

The cover charge for the multi-story Eden restaurant will be $65.

Beyond Eden, Le Grand Bistro and Dinner on the Edge, there will be three more specialty restaurants — Fine Cut Steakhouse ($55), Rooftop Garden Grill (specializing in barbecue, $45) and Raw on 5 (a seafood and shellfish bar, a la carte).

Cocktails on the Edge start with the Martini Bar and continue with the Retreat Lounge and the Retreat Pool Bar, both exclusive for Suite Class guests. Other bars include the Theater Bar, Casino Bar, The Club, Cafe Al Bacio, the Pool Bar and Edge Cabanas, the Sunset Bar; and Il Secondo Bacio.