NEW YORK-Celebrity Solstice is going green, and not just environmentally. The ship, Celebrity Cruises newest debuting in December, is adding real grass to its top deck, calling the area "The Lawn Club." The announcement, Celebrity Cruises' fourth ship reveal, was made in New York Thursday, fittingly, at Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park.
The Lawn Club is promised to be a country club environment replete with putting greens, croquet, bocce ball and other patches of grass for picnicking or just relaxing. In total, the area will be just over a half-acre in size. Additionally, the area will also comprise the Sunset Bar and the glassblowing studio presented in collaboration with the Corning Museum of Glass. That partnership was announced in November as part of another Solstice reveal.
The creation of the area came from having this unique space said Richard Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., which operates Celebrity, and "what should we do with it?" At first artificial turf was mentioned but quickly dismissed. "It had to be authentic," said Fain, who also had the funniest line of the night: "I had no idea how many types of grass there were, and I went to Berkeley." They settled on Bermuda grass to outfit the area and will employ a full-time groundskeeper.
Television spots touting the new innovation begin on Friday and Celebrity says Lawn Courts will appear on each of the four Solstice-class ships. Visit http://www.celebitycruises.com. (DE)