cgolf1

So this is a special post for me and probably many others too. I started on this board back when the Edge was being built and was so excited for that cruise. I was one of original Edgeis I guess and I think the comments then were as bad if not worse than with the recent dining changes. VTCruising was super supportive over that time and kept me positive about our first Celebrity cruise on the Edge. I never met her in person but she was such a positive and genuine person and she is missed by all that knew her. I gave Mr Edge a pat on the nose and thought of VT.

Flight was good with the normal bumps along the way and we stayed in a different home 2 suites in Ft Lauderdale 161 SW 19th Court, Dania Beach, FL. No pictures for that room. It was an easy walk, probably 15 minutes each way with crossing the roads being the biggest pain, to the big lots to get beverages for the room and we ordered in Domino’s pizza and watched the super bowl. It was close to where we have stayed previously so we were super happy to find this hotel. For a fee the hotel offered a shuttle service to the port and their latest shuttle got us to the port around 10:15, which was the time the shuttle was supposed to leave the hotel. While we did have to wait till a little after 11 to get onboard, Celebrity and Royal have the embarkation process setup to be super easy.

For the flight down we stayed at a home 2 suites. It was a very nice room next to the runway. Surprisingly it wasn’t loud at all. I didn’t sleep much due to excitement and the heating system being strategically located to blow air at my face all night.

That is awesome and we were at the front edge of the Sunset bar on that side and stayed in our spot from 5:45 AM to 4 PM. It was a warm day.

The not so good Ocean view cafe Lunch: While the food that we ate was always very tasty I found it difficult to find new options every day especially being gluten free. I ended up eating pretty much the same base thing every day with one or two different items added in. I will detail this in the daily section of the report. My wife who isn't gluten free also thought that it was pretty similar each day with the exception of the one pod that had the theme meal. They also really didn't need two salad pods either. The biggest disappointment for me was the Indian food selections. It was a variation on a theme of a simple cut meat and sauce every day. No bone in lamb like we had on the Constellation. I unfortunately didn't eat a lot of Indian food this cruise. To the point of the Constellation, I felt that buffet had more food options for us even though there were under 600 people onboard. Mast Grill Lunch: Not a surprise my wife said the burger wasn't good. I did try the hot dog and I thought it was a good hot dog, but the family was split because my wife didn't like it. To me it tasted like the really bad for you but super tasty cheaper hot dogs made out of parts we don't want to know about. She generally prefers the slightly better hot dogs, believe the beef dogs. Oceanview cafe supper: We walked up there at night twice with one being a port night and it was going to be a no go for me as the gluten free options were super limited on what was already a super limited buffet. No need to pile on more here. Main dining room supper The only truly bad dish was the grilled chicken my wife had from the everyday menu she had the one night she couldn't find something from the rotating options that she wanted to try. She did comment that the Cyprus specific pasta was very one note. The one note was good, but she didn't eat the full dish because it just needed something else added to round out the flavor. The big issue I had was I felt that I could have used some more options each night. I felt like I settled a few nights which isn't normal for me on a cruise. Of course no prime rib for those that really want it. Also on a couple of nights the rotating menu didn't have any items that were gluten free, they had to be special orders to be gluten free. The lobster tail ordered as a secondary entree was what I expected. If there are people that really like it, well ok, it is still not a must have for me. I equate it to grocery store sushi rolls, decent but not a delicacy. Even though the not so good seems lengthy, it doesn't mean we hated it, like I said we were overall happy with the food we ate.

So I debated either working this into the review or putting it out front. Since the wife is doing the survey I will talk about the food quality and options available to us. The Good: Almost all dishes we had were cooked well and were seasoned well. Seasoning of course is a personal assessment, but I will say that the seasoning level on Celebrity is much heavier than when we cruised Disney and even Royal. IMO Celebrity takes a chance on the seasoning level knowing that some won't like it due to that. Cafe Al Bacio had more gluten free desert options, 3, than we have ever seen before on Celebrity. All of the cakes were very tasty. Oceaniew Cafe breakfast was fine and they had Salmon for me so no issues their. We mostly did oceanview, but my wife would grab a muffin from the spa cafe as well, which were very good including the gluten free one I tried. Oceanview cafe lunch they had the minute steak on all sea days and the food all tasted good and was well seasoned. The minute steaks were amazing especially with the tip I will share later. Main Dining room Suppers. Other than the gluten free pre order struggle that is an E class thing, will detail this with some tips later, all of the dishes except one or two were very tasty and well seasoned.

We just debarked the Edge yesterday and they were there every sea day. I also found a trick with them and if the picture turned out it will end up in my trip review thread. On the ships that pre cook them if you sort through them you can usually find a thicker one that ends up being roughly medium rare. The difference in taste is amazing. Don’t get me wrong they are good either way, but the medium rareish version just has a lot more flavor. I don’t know what cut of meat it is but it has a ribeye flavor to me.

All of the opinions and comments on here will be our honest opinions. I will fall on both sides of the debate line as you will see. I will answer questions about my opinions but I want to keep this as a review and not a debate thread. This review will be a bit slow as I started in the airport while waiting for the flight home. I have over 2000 pictures to sort to get ready for the review including all the daily sheets. I expect to have some started tonight, but the wife needs the computer to do real world things like bills.

About us, I am sadly now pushing 50 and wife is still mid 40s. This is our 3 Celebrity cruise and 2nd on the Edge. This was our 18th cruise overall. Onboard we go to relax and don’t do lot of the more social activities. It was the same pre Covid, we just love a nice cruise. The Panama Canal is a bucket list for us. We are lock junkies and take one or like five day or weekend trips to the various locks and dams along the Mississippi River.

I believe early on they found that the wind was a bit much to do dining comfortably while sailing. Not sure how much they have tried it since. I do believe that they changed some things on later builds to help with the wind. We liked it up top as that was one of our favorite hang out spots.

Honestly over our years of sailings my wife is always shocked that I skip the lobster. Well that is because it has always sucked across 3 lines. The flavor is there but the texture is just always wrong. I only take it now if they add a tail to what I chose and I can dump it in butter. So, get rid of the lobster to save some money and bring back the prime rib and the minute steaks in the lunch buffet. IMO the lobster would not be missed.

It was really well done and didn’t realize it was almost an hour until LLP mentioned the time that had passed, which is probably the best compliment I can give. We did play a pass and play game of Rummy while watching it as well to help pass the time.

On one of the many threads this year I had the same thought. We sail insides because well were thrifty cruisers, but not because we have to. At the price we got on the Constellation 130 per person per night with beverage, tips, and OBC it doesn't get any cheaper, I am sure we would mentally let some things slide. I am sure if we payed close to 1K per night per person, we would likely be a lot pickier on food and other things even while saying that we were trying not to. Somewhat related is we quit cruising Disney because the price went insane and on top of that they lessened the product offered, so here we are now on Celebrity and sometimes Royal.

Interesting on the MSC as we were looking to book a cheap cruise for my 50th and they are an option. Also have to figure out how they handle food allergies too. There are likely many reasons that they are so cheap.

For me its both. Mostly we sail to get away and it is one of the few places my brain slows down from overdrive. But, Celebrity does such a good job with gluten free, especially the buffet, vs other lines we have sailed, a lot would have to change for us to bail. So if they screw up gluten free, we will be checking out other lines.

I know that on all lines we have sailed there have been complaints about the limited vegetarian options, bummer they scaled that back too. Today I read somewhere on here there is a vegetarian menu if you ask, not 100% this is real, did you get that menu at all? If it is a thing I may look at it on board as vegetarian meals are generally gluten free.

While I am sure the food is good, we are so spoiled back home steak wise. We can go out and I can get a great cut of ribeye or T-bone or porterhouse and the wife gets a good fish fry and each have an old fashioned and we are out the door with a 20 plus percent tip for around 80$. I would love Eden, but our Constellation cruise was the first cruise my wife didn’t eat off the classic menu. She is not an adventurous eater so the specialty restaurants would be lost on her. I may try raw on 5 for the sushi rolls, time will tell. Honestly cruises for me are the time I get to eat all the different foods I don’t get around home. There is hope last weekend my wife sampled an Indian dish my daughter picked out at Costco and she really liked it. It was a little bland for me but baby steps:)

We are going on our third Celebrity soon and we have yet to see any speakers onboard. They list them on the to daily sheet right? I am guessing on the Connie with under 600 guests they didn't bother even though we were on a longer cruise. I am curious about the shows on the edge as it seems they are still running the same ones we saw when she first sailed, not sure if we will rewatch or not. Sounds like you had the same singing acts we had on the Connie, I am curious how they rotate them around.

Thanks for the review and confirmation the specialty dining is a waste of money. Our only experience with specialty dining was on another line for 30 a person and we felt cheated so won’t be going that route on Celebrity at far higher prices. Hopefully the food is good when we are on. We will give our honest opinions too. In laws just got back from the constellation and loved the food and rebooked but I could tell the menus were more limited along with things like the minute steak not being at the lunch buffet. They were first time Celebrity. Time will tell for us.

I would say the Constellation. The T pool was amazing and the rooftop garden at the back of the ship was where we spent the majority of our time. It just fit how we like to cruise. Under 600 people helped too;) The edge is amazing too, we love the magic carpet and the overall vibe of the ship. The thing there is we also loved the live music, but that can change cruise to cruise. The different dining rooms are nice as well and reminded us of the rotational dining on Disney. Also if they got rid of that awful scent thing in Eden my wife can enjoy the space. We will see again soon if the Edge is still awesome. If there was just a good forward view for non suite guests it would rate higher for me.

There choices for the premium package are interesting especially on the whiskeys. They include many under 30 dollar brands in the premium which is disappointing. Vodkas are weird for me, as I am not a fan of Grey goose martinis, something in there that bugs me. The best I have ever had is an under 30 that isn’t currently available due too where it’s made. Tito’s is a great base for home made gin:) Not sure how they break down what kicks something to the premium list.

Not sure how I missed that or my Wi-Fi was sketchy and it didn’t fully load. Thanks

Yes I attempted to search for this on the Celebrity site and at least on my iPad it was useless. I found the alcohol that was included but it didn’t mention the water or soda as well, again useless lol. Are some or all of the specialty coffees included with the classic package? If so I will kick myself for not taking advantage of it on our Constellation cruise.

Following along and enjoying your writing style. We are back on the Edge soon so we are enjoying getting a good look at the state of the ship. Also happy to recognize at least one of the stage performers from back when the Edge first launched. Enjoy the rest of your trip:)

We have family on the cruise with you, and they emailed us asking about the Equinox for 2024 so we expect they rebooked for next year. They previously had sailed Holland until the Galopagos on the Flora last year. Hope you don't miss your flights due to the fog. They already rebooked to fly out tomorrow.