CruiseDoc79

We enjoyed Rooftop Grill on Apex, however it isn't one that we a dreaming of returning to either.  Food was decent to good but not really any better than what you get elsewhere on board (keeping in mind we loved the food available in both specialty and included dining), however the main reason to book Rooftop Grill is for the outdoor setting.  It truly is a beautiful venue, and on a nice night in the Caribbean can be quite magical (even if the food doesn't blow you away!).

There are definitely several North American outlets as well as the larger European type.  Only one side to the bed in our suite had outlets next to it.  There are also several USB outlets.

I can't seem to find much recent chatter on here about Beyond but I did notice there have been some further new venues announced on the website plus the entertainment has also been announced.

I was pleased to see another couple of bars have been added to Beyond that had been on other ships but not on E-class vessels until now. 

The first is the World Class Bar which looks to be located off the Grand Plaza on the same level as Fine Cut and Raw on 5.  According to Celebrity it looks like this will be a high-end bar for craft cocktails with the "finest" ingredients.  Definitely nice to have another option for drinks on board.

The second is the Mast Bar, which looks to be located way up on deck 16 near one of the martini glass hot-tubs.  

There is also info on the website about the 3 new shows for the main theatre as well as a new jazz-themed show in the Club.

Overall I am excited to try these new venues in addition to the new restaurant le Voyage and the redesigned Martini Bar and Retreat areas.  We are booked on Beyond, but not till 2024!  Oh well, will have to do with waiting for the first YouTube tours and reviews this fall!

We are almost a month out now from back to back cruises on Celebrity's Edge class ships, Apex and Edge.  We started on the Apex Feb 12 sailing to Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Kitts and had such a fantastic time that while on Apex we booked another cruise on Edge that departed Feb 20, with on day in Fort Lauderdale in between.  Our Edge cruise visited Nassau, Tortola, and St. Maarten.  For both cruises we stayed in midship sky suites on deck 10, and while we enjoyed both cruises, there were some notable and sometimes surprising differences between the two, and we had a definite favourite.  I should also mention we are somewhat experienced cruisers with about 12 cruises under our belts so far, but these were our first true cruises with Celebrity (we did sail Millenium and Constellation years ago on a charter for TCM).  Our favourite cruise lines are Norwegian and Oceania for reference (and we have also sailed on HAL, Princess, Viking, and Disney).  We are both professionals in our 40s.  I should also mention both cruises sailed with just over 1000 passengers, so well below capacity.

1) Apex

First impressions of the ship: Gorgeous.  Easily the most beautiful ship either of us have sailed on, with incredible art and design. Going into this cruise my wife was not super excited with cruising in general, but after one night exploring the ship she was back to loving it.  From the restaurant designs (even main dining rooms like Tuscan and Normandie are exquisitely designed with unique art) to the pool deck to Eden, we loved it all. Plants are everywhere on the ship as are some quite dramatic sculptures. 

Entertainment was another pleasant surprise on Apex.  We are big Broadway fans and have been admittedly deprived of live entertainment during the pandemic so it was amazing to watch talented people perform again.  We didn't have high expectations as we knew there weren't full productions like Norwegian has but we were blown away by the 3 shows in the main theatre and even more so by the intimate and fantastical shows in Eden.  Really excellent singers and dancers and great production quality.  

Food was also generally excellent and definitely as step up from Norwegian, Holland America, Viking and Princess for us.  Only Oceania might best what we experienced, but that would be a close call!  We had good to excellent meals everywhere, with standouts being Eden, Luminae, and Le Petit Chef.  Even the buffet, which we typically avoid, was way better than expected.  The unique dishes in Normandie and Tuscan were also way better than typical main dining room fare.

Service was also top-notch, particularly the Retreat concierges.

2) Edge

First impressions of the ship are that she is beautiful, but showing a bit of wear compared to Apex and we found the art to be not quite up to the standard set by Apex, although still very good.  There are some changes that were made for Apex from Edge that I think were quite smart, and we missed them on Edge.  The first is Craft Social, which we enjoyed a fair bit on Apex and missed on Edge.  On Edge the casino bar sits where Craft Social does, and really doesn't look very inviting or classy.  Even if you don't use Craft Social, I think its adds to the atrium ambiance much better than the Casino bar.  We also missed all the shade on the Rooftop garden and on the Retreat sundeck while we were on Edge.  The huge umbrellas they added are a big plus on sunny Caribbean days.  Lastly Eden was looking in need of a bit of a refresh in some areas on Edge.  Particularly on the living wall there were multiple empty spaces on Edge that I believe previously would have had greenery growing from them.  On the plus side, the plants on the Rooftop Garden were fuller and more mature on Edge.  Bizarrely, I found out from my wife that there are free baskets of tampons on most washrooms on Apex but none to be found anywhere outside the gift shop on Edge.  I think access to products like tampons should be universal and free everywhere so a big plus to Apex!

Entertainment on Edge was a disappointment after Apex. There were only 2 shows in the main theatre and they were quite underwhelming when compared to what was offered on Apex.  The use of technology, the screens, and special effects were much more impressive on Apex.  Even more disappointing however was the "entertainment" in Eden on Edge.  Instead of immersive productions involving singing, dancing and acrobatics, Edge had various musicians performing acoustic sets each evening, with absolutely no production or really anything.  So Eden on Apex was this vibrant, immersive and entertaining evening experience  and an absolute must for us, whereas on Edge we were barely there in the evening as it was quite subdued and much less engaging (though very relaxed).  We understand that there were too many complaints about the former Eden entertainment of Edge so they basically removed it all, which I think was a mistake.

What they have achieved on Apex should be reproduceable on Edge.  Also the content of the shows on Apex seemed more progressive socially than Edge, with visible gay couples in some main theatre productions on Apex for example but nothing like that on Edge. 

Food was also excellent on Edge.  No complaints here.  They did seem to be often out of certain liquors however. For example there was no Aperol on the Magic Carpet for the entire cruise, meaning one of the listed drinks wasn't available (the Magic Spritz).

Service was still very good on Edge, but for some reason staff didn't seem as happy. This was particularly true in the buffet were smiles were very hard to come by from staff, and I often felt like I was being a nuisance just asking for say a tuna sandwich for lunch at the sandwich station. 

3) Sky suite and retreat comparison

We loved our Sky suites and the entire Retreat experience on both ships, however there are differences to be aware of both in the room itself and in the Retreat. 

Some of the differences are as follows:

- Frette slippers on Apex but generic on Edge

- Table is wider and lower on Edge than Apex (hard to say which is better but probably Apex as the higher position is helpful for room service.

- Different deck chairs, though both were fine, and the table on the deck is bigger on Apex

- The make-up mirror on Edge is installed in a very awkward position making it very difficult to use while seated at the vanity. I don't know who decided to put it there but they at least fixed it on Apex

- The shower hardware was much upgraded on Apex and was the same rainfall variety you get in Aqua class, whereas on Edge it was the standard stateroom shower hardware.

- On the plus side, we did find binoculars in our room on Edge but not on Apex.

- However, a major negative of our room on Edge vs. Apex was some very annoying ship creaking and popping sounds from the balcony on Edge during anything but the very mildest of sea conditions.  We did complain and they couldn't find anything wrong with the room, and apparently many other guests had complained of the same thing.  It seems Edge just moves more than Apex and the noise was so bothersome we had to have our white noise machine blasting all night in order to sleep.

The Retreat areas on both ships were excellent and we especially enjoyed the Retreat lounge and the outdoor "porch" next to the lounge was a favourite quiet and shaded spot for us on both ships.  On Apex the enhancements are a full bar in the Retreat lounge, and much better shaded areas on the Retreat Sundeck.  Otherwise they were quite comparable and the service was excellent on both ships. 

So overall we love this category of ship and Celebrity impressed us greatly.  There were however more perks to being on the "newest and best" ship in the fleet than we had anticipated.  It really felt like Apex got the best of everything, including staff and entertainment, and so we may keep that in mind in booking future cruises.  We do have a cruise on Flora coming up next year and are definitely looking forward to that!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/pcr-test-travel-canada-1.6347334

Hoping this comes into effect before we disembark Apex next week!

So today St. Kitts magically reappeared on the app and also on the website, so looks like we are still a go for St. Kitts!  

That would likely explain it then, thanks! Now I'm thinking it's really cut. Maybe they will find a replacement...

I've noticed that the St. Kitts port stop has disappeared off the celebrity app and website for our upcoming sailing.  Does anyone know anything more about this?  I know Apex stopped in St. Kitts just this past sailing so seems odd to remove it now, though I know COVID restrictions in countries are always subject to change. Still disappointed as that was the one port we were most looking forward to. Oh well we will just have to make do with enjoying the beautiful ship instead.

Thanks for the post.  We will actually be on the same sailing on Apex, which will also be our first in the Retreat. Perhaps we will see you there!  

From all I've read, the biggest perks seem to be Luminae, the sundeck (we aren't big for lounging by the pool though) and lounge, and your retreat host. 

I'm not completely sold that these perks will be as valuable as they would have prepandemic if the rest of the ship really is only half full etc, however we mostly really wanted an actual balcony (no IV).

Looking forward to Feb 12th!

Amazing thread thank you! We are on Apex Feb 12 and just got an email from Celebrity that they are swapping Puerto Rico for Nassau. It's unfortunate as we were looking forward to seeing Puerto Rico for the first time but also have been prepared that ports may change or be missed due to COVID.

I think we are close to the end of the pandemic (my guess is by March everything will be much more normal again). Omicron is so contagious that it will out-compete any other variants, we will have a huge spike in cases then a rapid decline to manageable levels, and so many of us will be exposed that it will nicely supplement vaccine immunity.  Anyways, that's my prediction, here's hoping I'm right (for what it's worth I am an pediatric infectious disease specialist so I know a bit about this stuff). Happy cruising!

Sailing on Sky in a few weeks.  First Viking cruise so hoping not to be disappointed (we cruise a lot).  There is a recent review on Cruise Critic from Sky's most recent transatlantic saying something seemed wrong with the ship.  Speed was reduced and maybe stabilizers not functioning properly.  They missed ports on that cruise as well.  Sure would be nice if Viking would just come clean about whatever is going on.