Are cruise NFTs the next major trend in the industry? It’s looking that way. Although cruise lines haven’t historically been known for adopting new technology, NFTs might be changing that. Norwegian Cruise Line was the first to roll out their own NFT collection, and it proved to be quite a success. Each art piece sold out quickly, and they were able to raise a lot of money.
Before Norwegian, though, a precedent had already been set for a collaboration between the cruise industry and the crypto community. A cryptocurrency cruise ship called the Satoshi was announced back in October 2020. Unfortunately, that plan didn’t go very well. The ship was sold for scrap not too long after being announced. Despite this experiment largely being a failure, it paved the way for future projects like Norwegian’s line of cruise NFTs.
Now that novel financial tech has been proved to be successful by Norwegian, another cruise line is hopping on the trend: Celebrity. On May 19th, the company announced their own line of NFTs. Designed by Rubem Robierb, the art pieces go on sale on June 1st via OpenSea. On the surface, this project seems incredibly similar to Norwegian’s. However, there are some key differences that make Celebrity’s foray into the blockchain unique.
First of all, each NFT is more than just a piece of art. Purchasing one gives the buyer the opportunity to attend the naming ceremony for Celebrity’s newest ship, Celebrity Beyond. Buyers will also be able to board the first sailing on Celebrity Beyond. Aside from that, Celebrity will also be releasing an alternate line of NFTs called “Peacemakers, Blue Sky.” Rather than just existing online, these cruise NFTs will be displayed onboard Celebrity Beyond, connecting the digital and physical worlds.
The brand is very excited about the project. “Innovation is a pillar of the Celebrity Cruises experience and a distinguishing characteristic of our ships, so it’s only fitting to bring this heritage into the new digital revolution of NFTs and the metaverse,” said Michael Scheiner, the CMO of Celebrity. Robierb, the artist of the NFTs, added, ” It has been an honor to continue my collaboration with Celebrity Cruises, and to push the boundaries of our artistic work together to new frontiers, from the metaverse to displaying the first NFT at sea.”
If you miss out on the June 1st sale of the NFTs, no worries. Each art piece will be tradable until July 1st, at which point the current owner will be sent an invite to the naming ceremony in early November. Make sure to keep an eye on OpenSeas if you’re interested!
