The French shipbuilder Chantiers de l'Atlantique (STX France, St Nazaire Shipyard) officially delivered to Celebrity Cruises the second Edge-class vessel - Celebrity Apex, via video conference on Friday, March 27. The newbuild liner is scheduled to start its inaugural cruise from Barcelona on May 20th.
The 2900-passenger ship is the second of four units scheduled to debut for Celebrity Cruises under "Project Edge" (ship class). These vessels are with bigger passenger capacity than Millennium-class and smaller than Solstice-class.
Celebrity's parent company (RCCL-Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd) extended the suspension of sailings of its global fleet through May 12 as a result of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
On March 27, the French Public Health Agency reported 7 crew (out of 1407) who tested Coronavirus-positive (COVID-19). Two of the ill crew (suffering breathing difficulties) were medevaced from the ship and hospitalized ashore. The newbuild vessel was then still under construction (not delivered to Celebrity Cruises) and docked at Chantiers de l'Atlantique Shipyard (Saint-Nazaire, France). On March 28, the number of tested Coronavirus-positive crew grew to 29.
French authorities initially tested only the crew with flu-like symptoms (78 reported on March 27), but later decided to test everybody on the ship and repatriate all not infected. The infected crew remained on the liner and isolated in separate cabins.
For Coronavirus updates on cruise ship quarantines (infected passengers and crew) and top-pandemic countries (COVID-19 cases and deaths, daily updated statistics) see at CruiseMapper's Norovirus page.