retiredTed

I've done 25 cruises and all but 1 was on Celebrity.  The last few cruises have been suite class on Edge (going on the one that leaves 1/2/22 if it doesn't get cancelled) and I am looking forward to Luminae; my wife and I ended up not going anywhere else on the last cruise (july 21) because we were so happy with Luminae.

On 12/20/2021 at 9:34 PM, Rblum100 said:

Hello From Sacramento.  We are booked on a January Eastern Carribean cruise with Celebrity.  Today news is breaking about the COVID outbreak on RCL’s S o Seas.  Since RCL and Celebrity are the same holding company, I presume that the RCL pre cruise Covid vaccination and testing requirements are the same.  So, We can probably expect 40-50 Covid positive people on our cruise when we disembark.  That’s the bad news.   The good news is that it is reported that all of the + passengers had all 3 doses, and symptoms in 47/48 were mild or non-existent.  My takeaway is that the RCL vax policy is preventing serious illness.  That is good news indeed.  

We're booked on the Edge sailing Jan 2nd.  Why do you expect "40-50 Covid positive people on our cruise when we disembark"?

7 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Hopefully Beyond takes a page from Apex and has a normal menu at Eden for dinner, unlike the A/B choices that are a little "foo foo" at Eden on the Edge.

We cruised on the Edge in January of 2020 and took a hard pass on the menu at Eden.  But the new menu at Eden on the Apex is more our style.  Heard good things about the Maine lobster casserole.

We spent time in Eden but I recall that the speciality restaurant surcharge combined with a menu that didn't get us very excited left us with the question... why would we dine there when we could dine at the steakhouse for the same money?

Most of our 20+ cruises have been on Solstice class ships at either Aqua Spa or Suite level.  Our last 2 cruises have been on the Edge at suite level and we have another suite class cruise booked on the Edge leaving Jan 2nd.  We really like the views and ambience in the Blu restaurants on the Solstice ships and that's my reference level.  On our first Edge cruise we looked at Edge's version of Blu but I don't like it; it's almost an afterthought space-wise and the 'view' is a crack of ocean between some lifeboats. I could live with the IV balcony but Blu's shortcomings make me want to go up to a suite. 

While the suite class on Edge is more expensive, the experience of the Retreat lounge and the Luminae restaurant makes it worth the money; the room having a proper balcony and a bathtub are also key plus factors for us.

7 hours ago, davekathy said:

I use this...

to indicate sarcasm, use /s at the end of your post

I'm a (trying to be) retired EE, don't try to run a hairdryer (at least 500W) from a 20W outlet.

I used to take a small outlet strip with me so I could plug in all our chargers but a couple of cruises back, X confiscated it from me as part of their baggage boarding check.  I'm not sure but it's possible they also confiscate hairdryers, you should check the list of prohibited items.  They do give the confiscated items back to you at the end of the cruise.  The main pain with this is that my bag didn't arrive at the room and it took several phone calls before they 'found' it; then I had to go into the bowels of the ship to get it myself.  My wife just reminded me that this only happened on the Edge so maybe S class ships don't care?

I'm curious Mark, when you went to the Martini bar after dinner last night, was it crowded? Please give us a feel for capacity.

Enjoying your drink-by-drink report from the Equinox, thanks 😄 

Watching this with interest; we are booked on the Equinox sailing on Sep 5th.