Entertainment on Cruise Ships Is Finally Earning Respect—and Serious Cash

Somewhere in the middle of the Mediterranean, a painter seeks to find his muse in an original new show: It involves flying bicycles, a beatbox musician, and acrobats hanging from silks and ladders. If the show sounds Cirque du Soleil-ish, it is. The Montreal-based troupe just launched its first at-sea extravaganza, complete with the option of a preshow dinner, onboard the new 4,500-passenger MSC Meraviglia.

When the 2,908-passenger Celebrity Edge is launched next year, it will feature an interactive spectacle created with producers of off-Broadway's experiential Queen of the Night dinner theater. The restaurant where it will be performed nightly has been designed to evoke the Garden of Eden, and when diners enter, actors called “Edenists” will whisper mysterious, scene-setting phrases into their ears before vocalists, acrobats, and dancers take the stage.