The ship that's so good you'll never want to get off - and it's coming to Australia

It's then that the truth dawns on me. I've become that sort of cruiser. The sort who stays on the ship.

This is not the way I usually roll. For me, cruising has always been about the destination, about where I'm going rather than which ship I'm on. I don't come on a cruise to catch a theatre show or compete in a trivia tournament. I'm here to explore new places and rediscover old favourites.

Yet here I am, sitting contentedly on the ship as other people head off to explore Portofino. Celebrity Edge, it seems, has seduced me.

But then, that's exactly what it was created to do. The architects and designers who created the ship were chosen because they had never designed a cruise ship before. The brief for Celebrity Edge was to do things differently, and that's exactly what they did.

This is a ship where light pours in through floor-to-ceiling windows everywhere from the gym to your stateroom, where there are plenty of open spaces to enjoy the fresh sea air, including a leafy rooftop garden which converts into an al fresco cinema.

And then there is the cantilevered platform known as the Magic Carpet. Designed by Ton Wright, the architect behind the magnificent sail-shaped Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, the Magic Carpet slides up and down the side of the ship, creating a bar and restaurant suspended in mid-air.

Other big names on the design team include Kelly Hoppen, who brought her sleek style to the staterooms, and Patricia Urquiola, whose portfolio includes celebrated hotels such as Il Sereno on Lake Como. On a ship rich in eye-catching detail - from underlit staircases to fan-backed taupe leather chairs decorated with delicate embroidery - Urquiola and architect Scott Butler created my favourite space of all.

The oasis-like Eden, soaring over three levels at the back of the ship, is a bar, a restaurant, a lounge, and more. A living wall with moss and succulents dominates one side of the space, while 650 square metres of windows offer views out to sea. Meanwhile the slender walnut pillars and the many shades of green create a forest-like effect.

Eden also serves some of the most memorable food onboard, sophisticated dishes such as prawns teamed with peppers, chorizo, garlic and lemon, and sheep's milk gnocchi served with sage butter and smoked pecorino. I'd say it's my favourite restaurant but, after a week on board, I still haven't finished working my way through all 29 restaurants and bars.

Apart from Eden, my highlights include Raw on Five's superb seafood - everything from sashimi to crab cakes to seafood towers - and the Le Petit Chef experience, which uses digital projections to turn a four-course dinner into a multi-sensory experience.

Between each course the table becomes a canvas on which an exploration of culinary history unfolds. An ode to the delights of the tomato, for instance, features entrancing animated scenes of the Aztecs' island capital where the Spanish conquistadors first encountered this novel fruit. Our waiter then delivers the next course to our table: tarts topped with juicy tomatoes, dripping with the taste of summer.

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The longer I spend aboard Celebrity Edge, the more inviting spaces I discover, from the spa's chill-out zone with its hanging baskets and a spiral mosaic of black and white stones that channels a Zen garden vibe, to the gym where you can drink in a sea view from every treadmill, bike, rowing machine or cross-trainer. No wonder that I sometimes have to remind myself to leave the ship.

Every time I do, however, I'm blown away. Our seven-day itinerary from Barcelona to Rome stops in some extraordinary spots. Some I explore on my own. When I finally talk myself into disembarking in Portofino, for instance, I have a gorgeous walk along the coastal path which links a string of villages, each one more picturesque than the next, each one lapped by those extraordinary aquamarine waters.

Mostly, however, I sign up for one of the many excursions on offer. My personal favourite is a trip into the heart of Corsica, the famously independent French-owned island where Napoleon was born.

Leaving behind the sandy beaches of the coast we follow corkscrewing roads high into the verdant mountains and visit tiny villages where the pretty houses made of granite, many flanked by a pocket-sized orchard, prompt dreams of snapping one up and retiring to this verdant isle.

That fantasy is quickly put to rest by our guide. When one of our group asks what sort of prices the houses command, she replies, "Corsicans don't sell their houses."

"Not to foreigners?" someone asks.

"Not to anyone. And definitely not to the French."

The writer was a guest of Celebrity Cruises

The ship: Celebrity Edge

Size: 306m long, 1454 staterooms, 2908 passengers

Good to know: There are 16 single staterooms on Celebrity Edge.

Get on board: Celebrity Edge continues its Mediterranean season through the northern summer before heading to Australia at the end of the year, sailing a variety of Australian and New Zealand itineraries between November and April. The 12-night Italy, France & Spain itinerary departing 12 August from Barcelona has an average starting price of $1576 per person (cruise only, based on double occupancy).

Explore more: celebritycruises.com