Gymnast Simone Biles Presides Over Celebrity Beyond Naming

Celebrity Cruises and ship godmother Simone Biles officially welcomed Celebrity Beyond to the Celebrity fleet in a low-key naming ceremony at Port Everglades last Friday. The ship, the third in the line’s Edge-class, has been sailing since April.

As is typical of a Celebrity Cruises naming, the ceremony kicked off with a bagpipe band leading Royal Caribbean Group’s board of directors into the theater, immediately followed by a rousing performance of “Fire Under My Feet” by three-time GRAMMY Award nominee Leona Lewis.

“With today’s naming ceremony we’re truly celebrating the future of cruise travel and its possibilities,” said Jason Liberty, just days shy of one year on the job as president and CEO of Royal Caribbean Group. “Celebrity Beyond lives up to its name taking the Celebrity Edge series above and beyond.”

“I love naming day. It truly is one of my favorite days,” Celebrity Cruises’ CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo told the audience, packed with dignitaries, travel advisors and media.

“All of us at Celebrity have been dancing over the flames for the last couple of years, but we’re moving beyond to bigger and better things – 20 meters longer and one deck higher to be exact… This ship really reflects her name in every way. She goes beyond expectations, beyond imagination and beyond all perceptions of what everybody thought possible for a cruise ship.”

Celebrity Beyond is the first in the series to be tweaked. Slightly longer and one deck taller, Beyond features one more restaurant – Le Voyage by Daniel Boulud – and one more bar – World Class Bar – than Edge or Apex. Additionally, many of the public spaces and restaurants were expanded, most notably the Sunset Bar and The Retreat.

As with the other ships in the Edge-class, the choice of godmother, seven-time Olympic medalist U.S. gymnast Simone Biles, for Celebrity Beyond was very intentional, Lutoff-Perlo said.

“These ground-breaking and transformational ships all have ground-breaking and transformational godmothers… while I marvel at her abilities and her historic accomplishments, she’s so much more than the greatest gymnast of our lifetime. She’s a courageous warrior who has spoken out to help others in times of struggle.”

“As we stand here together, I can’t help but thing about so many great memories of cruising with my parents while growing up,” Biles told the audience, shortly before officially naming the ship. “A lot of great family moments were captured while we vacationed on a cruise ship… As I reflect on my own career and life experiences, it is my greatest hope to inspire all girls, and especially girls of color as representation, which absolutely matters, to believe that they can succeed and excel beyond tradition, beyond what they see in front of them, beyond even their own imagination…

My wish for passengers from all cultures and backgrounds is that they can experience their own magical moments cruising together on this beautiful ship.”