October 21, 2025

Martin Aquatic and Blue Mar Basins Named as Winners of WWA Leading Edge Award for Work on Carnival’s Celebration Key

Once again, Martin Aquatic was honored as a winner of the World Waterpark Association’s (WWA) prestigious Leading Edge Award for Celebration Key, while Blue Mar Basins was named on its first such award.

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During the annual WWA Show in Orlando, Florida, the WWA’s Board of Directors recognized outstanding projects and achievements in the waterpark industry from the past year, paying tribute to Carnival Cruise Line’s private Bahamian destination, Celebration Key, and the partners who contributed to its success. Martin Aquatic accepted an award alongside Blue Mar Basins, which provided the patented aquatic management technology for delivering pristine water quality to the two largest freshwater lagoons in the Caribbean.

Since opening in July, Celebration Key has welcomed more than 500,000 guests who have experienced the destination’s main attraction: two basins totaling seven acres of water surface area. Surrounded by amenities such as overwater cabanas, sun shelves, beach entries, swim up bars, and much more, the lagoons were designed by Martin Aquatic to offer vacationers every element of their favorite resort pool experience combined.

“We are thrilled at the recognition that Celebration Key has earned in our industry—not only as a Martin Aquatic-designed project, but also as a body of water that uses our Blue Mar Basins technology,” said Josh Martin, President & Creative Director of Martin Aquatic.

The technology powering these lagoons was delivered by Blue Mar Basins, Martin Aquatic’s sister company, which was recently awarded a patent on its water treatment system. Using precise Computational Fluid Dynamics modeling, the system was designed to create an aquatic environment that is entirely swimmable with advanced filtration solutions throughout the basins.

“Seeing the early success of Celebration Key is an incredible milestone for the development of the Blue Mar Basins technology,” said Alessandro Orio, VP of Blue Mar Basins, who was also on hand to accept the Leading Edge Award. “We have more projects under construction and different stages of development, and we’re incredibly excited for what lies ahead.”

This is the fifth time Martin Aquatic has won the Leading Edge Award. Last year, Martin Aquatic was recognized for the company’s work on Royal Caribbean’s ship-based Waterpark, Category 6, aboard Icon of the Seas. The team sharing in the honor of this year’s award includes: Carnival Corporation & plc, Bahamas Environmental Group, Bermello Ajamil & Partners, LLC (A Woolpert Company), Life Floor, Myrtha Pools®, PGAV Destinations, and WhiteWater.

The WWA Show kicked off the company’s conference and tradeshow season, which includes an appearance at Surf Park Summit in November at Virginia Beach, and then rounds out with IAAPA in Orlando later in November. Martin Aquatic will be exhibiting once again at the global attractions convention at Booth 1840. As well, Josh Martin will join project leaders from Carnival to speak during an educational session about Celebration Key on Tuesday, November 18.