Celebrity Xcel: The Bazaar and What’s New

Is the Bazaar on Celebrity Xcel a real upgrade over Eden, or just a different way to fill the same stern? Here is the honest answer: it is a genuinely different idea, and for most travelers it lands better than the venue it replaces. Eden was a beautiful three-deck glass conservatory that many guests admired and few actually used. Xcel tears that concept up and rebuilds the same space as a living market that changes theme through a season and even reinvents itself for the Mediterranean. That trade will not please everyone, but it fixes Eden’s biggest flaw, which was that people walked through it rather than into it. This review looks at what the Bazaar actually is, how it differs from Eden, whether the swap was worth it, and the other fleet-new venues that make Xcel the boldest of the Edge-Class sisters.

What makes Celebrity Xcel different in the first place

Celebrity Xcel is the fifth and newest Edge-Class ship, a stretched-hull sister running about 140,600 gross tons across roughly 17 guest decks and carrying around 3,260 guests at double occupancy. On paper she reads like her siblings: the Magic Carpet still rides the outside of the hull, the Infinite Veranda still blurs the line between cabin and balcony, and the Rooftop Garden, the glass-domed Solarium, The Retreat, and Luminae all carry over. If you have sailed an Edge ship before, most of Xcel will feel familiar in the best way.

The one thing that breaks the pattern is the stern. Every previous Edge sister devotes that soaring aft space to Eden. Xcel does not. She has no Eden at all. In its place sits the Bazaar, and that single decision reshapes how the back half of the ship feels from morning coffee to late-night music. If you want the full walkthrough of how she compares to the rest of the class, the Edge-Class ship guide lays out what she shares and what she does not.

Eden, and why it needed replacing

To judge the trade fairly you have to be honest about Eden. It was one of the most photographed spaces at sea: a three-level glass conservatory wrapped in greenery, with a spiral of curved seating that opened to the wake through floor-to-ceiling windows. By day it was a quiet lounge. By night it became a restaurant and a slightly theatrical bar with performers weaving through the room. When it worked, it was unforgettable.

The problem was that it often did not work for the average guest. Eden asked you to commit. You either booked the specialty dinner, sat for a full cocktail experience, or you simply admired the architecture on your way somewhere else. There was no casual reason to linger. Plenty of travelers loved the look and never once sat down. A space that gorgeous sitting half-empty for much of the day is a hard thing to justify on a ship where every square foot competes for attention.

The Bazaar: a market that changes

The Bazaar takes that same multi-level, glass-walled stern and fills it with a market. Picture stalls, lanterns, layers of color, cooking happening in front of you, live music, and roaming performers moving between the levels. Instead of one grand statement you get many small invitations: somewhere to grab a casual bite, somewhere to watch something being made, somewhere to drift in for a drink and stay for the atmosphere. It is designed to pull you in and give you a reason to stay, which is exactly what Eden struggled to do.

The genuinely new idea is that the Bazaar is built to change. It rotates through themes across a season rather than presenting the same face every night, so the market you see early in a voyage is not necessarily the one you see later. That variability is the point. A venue that changes gives repeat guests and back-to-back cruisers something Eden never offered, which is a reason to return to the same room and find it different.

• Multiple levels staged as market stalls rather than a single restaurant floor
• Live cooking, music, and roaming performers built into the daily rhythm
• Casual dining options woven through the space instead of one bookable dinner
• Rotating themes that shift the look and feel across a season
• A full transformation to a Mediterranean identity for the European season

That last point is the boldest part. For her Western Mediterranean season the Bazaar transforms to take on a Mediterranean identity, so the ship leans into the region she is actually sailing through. No other ship attempts to become the place it visits. Whether that fully delivers or reads as set dressing will depend on your sailing, but the ambition is real, and it is the kind of swing you rarely see on a class of ship this far into its run.

The practical effect is that the stern earns its keep across the whole day. Where Eden had one energy, the Bazaar has several. Early on it works as a casual spot to grab a bite away from the Oceanview Café crush. Through the afternoon the cooking stations and music give it a slow hum. After dark it becomes the ship’s most theatrical room, with performers moving between levels and the glass walls framing the wake. That layering is the real argument for the redesign: one space doing the work of three.

If the Mediterranean angle is what draws you, it is worth pairing the venue with the itinerary. The Western Mediterranean sailing guide covers how the ports line up with the season the Bazaar is themed around.

Was the trade worth it?

Here is where a review has to take a side. If you loved Eden specifically for its architecture and its hushed, dramatic evenings, you may miss it. The Bazaar is busier, louder, and more social by design. It trades a single stunning set piece for a space that is always doing something. That is a real loss for a certain kind of traveler who valued the calm.

For most guests, though, the trade is a clear win. The Bazaar solves the one thing Eden could never solve: it gives you a reason to be there without a reservation, at almost any hour. A market with food, music, and movement is simply more usable than a beautiful room you were afraid to sit in wrongly. Add the rotating themes and the Mediterranean transformation and you get a venue that rewards curiosity and repeat visits. On a ship built to be sailed more than once, that is worth more than a photograph. My honest read is that Celebrity gave up a masterpiece that underperformed for a workhorse that overdelivers, and that is the right call.

The caveat is noise and placement. Because the Bazaar runs evening programming, the trade-off shows up on the deck plan. If you are sound-sensitive, avoid cabins stacked near the Bazaar’s nightlife and check the deck plan before you pick a stateroom.

Bora: the fleet’s first brunch concept

The Bazaar is the headline, but it is not the only thing that makes Xcel the most fleet-new of the Edge sisters. Bora is a Mediterranean restaurant set in the Rooftop Garden, and it doubles as the line’s first brunch concept, serving Mediterranean fare that shifts to brunch by day. That matters more than it sounds. Celebrity’s specialty roster has long been strong at dinner and thin in the late-morning slot, when many guests are back from a port or easing into a sea day. A proper sit-down brunch venue fills a genuine gap in the daily schedule.

Bora is a specialty venue, so it carries an extra charge on top of Always Included, but the setting in the Rooftop Garden gives it an airy, open feel that suits both a leisurely brunch and a Mediterranean dinner. It pairs naturally with the region she sails, and it gives the Rooftop Garden a stronger dining identity than it has had on earlier ships in the class.

Timing is the tip worth remembering. Brunch venues at sea tend to book out fastest on sea days and on the mornings after a long, tiring port like Rome from Civitavecchia, when nobody wants to rush a full-service dining room. If you know you will want a slow brunch after a marathon day ashore, reserve Bora early in the cruise rather than hoping to walk up. Confirm the current pricing and hours in the Celebrity app, since specialty rules can vary by sailing.

The Sunset Bar, Amalfi style

The Sunset Bar has always been a quiet favorite on Edge ships, tucked aft with some of the best views on board. On Xcel it gets a specific personality: it is styled like an Amalfi Coast terrace. That is a small change with an outsized effect. Instead of a generic aft bar it feels like a place, and it ties directly into the Mediterranean thread running through the Bazaar and Bora. Sail into Naples with the Amalfi Coast on the horizon, then return to a bar dressed like the coast you just visited, and the theming stops feeling like decoration and starts feeling like a through-line.

It is also just a good bar in a good spot. Aft sunset views, a relaxed crowd, and a terrace feel make it one of the easier places on the ship to lose an hour. If you are new to the line and mapping out where to spend your evenings, the first-timer’s guide to Celebrity on Xcel is a good companion for finding the quieter corners.

Dream Makers: venues shaped by real travelers

Several of Xcel’s fleet-new spaces were shaped by real travelers through Celebrity’s Dream Makers programme, and you can feel the intent behind it. Rather than designing venues purely from the top down, the line brought guest input into the process, which helps explain why the new spaces lean practical and social rather than purely architectural. The Bazaar’s usability, Bora’s brunch slot, and the Sunset Bar’s sense of place all read like answers to what guests actually wanted more of.

It is worth keeping expectations grounded. Dream Makers is a design input, not a promise that every space will suit every taste. But taken together, the fleet-new venues on Xcel feel more considered and more lived-in than the “look at this” set pieces of earlier ships. That is the quiet story of this ship: not just new rooms, but rooms built to be used.

What she keeps from the Edge class

None of this comes at the expense of the signatures that made the class popular. Xcel keeps the Magic Carpet, the Infinite Veranda, the Rooftop Garden, The Retreat and Luminae, and the glass-domed Solarium. The four included main dining rooms carry over: Cosmopolitan, Cyprus, Normandie, and Tuscan. The specialty roster still includes Le Voyage by Daniel Boulud, Fine Cut Steakhouse, and Raw on 5, with Bora and the Rooftop Garden Grill added to the mix. Always Included still bundles a drinks package, Wi-Fi, and gratuities, so the core value proposition is unchanged.

Space	Earlier Edge sisters	Celebrity Xcel
Stern venue	Eden (glass conservatory)	The Bazaar (changing market)
Rooftop dining	Rooftop Garden Grill	Grill plus Bora (Mediterranean, brunch)
Aft bar	Sunset Bar	Sunset Bar, Amalfi-styled
Theming	Fixed year-round	Rotates and turns Mediterranean in season

In other words, Xcel is not a reinvention of the Edge class. She is the same well-liked ship with a braver back end and a handful of smarter new rooms. If you want the complete picture of her layout, cabins, and dining before you book, start with the full Celebrity Xcel cruise guide.

How the Bazaar changes your cabin choice

A livelier stern venue makes stateroom placement matter more than it did on Eden ships. Eden ran quieter evenings, so the aft cabins above and around it were rarely a problem. The Bazaar’s evening programming, with music and performers running late, changes that math. If you are a light sleeper, steer away from cabins stacked directly over or beside the Bazaar’s nightlife and check the deck plan carefully before you commit.

The rest of the cabin advice holds steady across the class. The best value is still an entry Infinite Veranda, which gives you the signature indoor-outdoor balcony without paying up. For the steadiest ride and the best light, a midship Infinite Veranda is the smart all-rounder. AquaClass suits foodies and spa lovers with access to Blu and the Solarium, and The Retreat is the splurge, with Luminae and the private Retreat area. Beyond the Bazaar, the usual rooms to avoid apply: those under the pool deck or the buffet, forward high-deck cabins if anyone in your party is prone to motion, and any veranda listed as obstructed.

The Sunset Verandas aft are worth a special mention on a Bazaar ship. They deliver the wake views that made Eden ships feel special, and they sit close to the Amalfi-styled Sunset Bar, so you get the atmosphere without being directly over the late-night programming. On a Mediterranean sailing, an aft-facing balcony as you pull away from Naples or Ajaccio is hard to beat.

Why the theming works in the Mediterranean

The Bazaar’s Mediterranean transformation is not a gimmick divorced from the itinerary. Xcel’s marquee season is the Western Mediterranean, round-trip from Barcelona and from Civitavecchia for Rome, typically seven to eleven nights. The ports she visits are exactly the ones a Mediterranean-themed market draws from: Palma de Mallorca, Marseille and Provence, Cannes and the French Riviera, Florence and Pisa from Livorno, Naples with the Amalfi Coast, and Ajaccio in Corsica. When the ship dresses herself in the flavors and colors of that coastline, she is reflecting the actual voyage rather than a generic idea of the sea.

That coherence is what lifts the concept above set dressing on a good sailing. Come back from an afternoon on the Croisette or a morning in Pompeii and the ship keeps the mood going instead of resetting to a neutral cruise-ship interior. It also does real work on sea days between distant ports, when the theming and the market energy give you a sense of place the ocean alone does not. If you want to map the venues against specific stops, the guide to Xcel’s Barcelona and Rome ports is a useful next read.

Who the Bazaar ship is really for

Choose Xcel if you like a ship with energy in the evenings and you value venues you can actually drop into without planning. The Bazaar rewards the wanderer, the sampler, the traveler who likes to follow music and food rather than book every night in advance. Pair that with a Western Mediterranean itinerary and the theming pays off, because the ship is leaning into the region outside your window.

Think twice only if what you loved most about Edge ships was Eden’s calm, architectural grandeur. That specific feeling is gone. But if you were one of the many who admired Eden and never used it, the Bazaar is the version of that space you will finally walk into and stay.

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Get the complete Celebrity Xcel playbook

Go deeper than any single review with “The Ultimate Guide to Sailing on Celebrity Xcel,” part of the Ultimate Ship Guides series by Leo Sotropa, with clear action steps in every chapter so you can book the right cabin, plan the Bazaar and Bora, and make the most of every Mediterranean port.

Frequently asked questions

Does Celebrity Xcel have Eden?

No. Xcel is the only Edge-Class ship without Eden. In place of Eden’s three-deck glass conservatory at the stern, she has the Bazaar, a multi-level, glass-walled market staged with stalls, lanterns, cooking, music, and roaming performers.

What is the Bazaar on Celebrity Xcel?

The Bazaar is a re-themable, multi-level market that occupies the stern space earlier ships gave to Eden. It rotates through themes across a season and transforms to a Mediterranean identity for the European season, making it the only venue at sea designed to become the region the ship is sailing through.

How is the Bazaar different from Eden?

Eden was a fixed, architectural conservatory that centered on a bookable dinner and a cocktail experience, and many guests admired it without ever sitting down. The Bazaar is a casual, social market with food, music, and performers woven through it, so you can drop in without a reservation. It also changes over a season, which Eden never did.

What is Bora on Celebrity Xcel?

Bora is a new Mediterranean restaurant in the Rooftop Garden and the line’s first brunch concept, serving brunch by day and Mediterranean dining otherwise. It is a specialty venue, so it carries an extra charge on top of Always Included. Confirm hours and reservations in the Celebrity app.

What is special about the Sunset Bar on Xcel?

On Xcel the aft Sunset Bar is styled like an Amalfi Coast terrace, giving it a stronger sense of place than on earlier ships and tying it into the Mediterranean theme running through the Bazaar and Bora. It keeps the same excellent aft sunset views the venue is known for.

What are Dream Makers venues?

Dream Makers is Celebrity’s programme that brought real travelers into the design process for several of Xcel’s fleet-new spaces. The result is venues that lean practical and social, which helps explain why the new rooms feel built to be used rather than just admired.

Is it worth choosing Xcel over another Edge ship for the Bazaar?

For most travelers, yes. The Bazaar gives you a reason to use the stern space all day, which Eden struggled to do, and the rotating and Mediterranean theming rewards repeat visits. Choose an earlier Edge sister only if Eden’s quiet, architectural grandeur was the specific thing you loved most.