marylander2

Can you watch the "Weirdo's Show" while sitting on the ramp chairs?? (I still giggle recalling the post by some millenial earlier, who said that he may suggest a list of things that millenials would like but none of those can be found on the Edge except... plants (!)....).

Do NOT take me wrong, I am hooked and curious and I am going in 4 weeks! Can't wait!

It's just very unusual to see such a striking difference of opinions about the Eden and Edenists/their function, from seasoned cruisers to newbies to REAL millenials... (I am saying REAL because in at least one phony review I've seen someone relating himself to millenial generation, and the whole review seems very much doctored by the X PR ppl lolol).

I for sure will be there, but since I am an introvert as are 85%+ of millenials, I would prefer to observe the mayhem from far above 🙂

I looked at your pictures of Day 2, and it is clear that the length of the balcony is bigger than in standard balcony stateroom on S ships, as I suspected... 

I am not trying to pin you down (as some say above) - I am trying to find a reason for myself to NOT buy the SS for the Edge cruise :))))))))) So far the things that have been said by you and others are helpful in this approach...

I know I may sound inquisitive - however,  I am not the only one who tries to use you eyes and your brain for getting things lined up before our cruise. Hope you do not mind this. 

45 minutes ago, marylander2 said:

I will try to find and post the comparative pictures - like I said, when on one of your pics your SO sat in the rocker chair, I noticed the shorter - MUCH shorter, mind you - width of the separation board than on S class ships. I was specifically talking about regular balcony size, although I would imagine that in the SS they MUST be bigger anyway... 

What X writes number-wise about the sg ft, - I am sorry... I am NOT buying it even if I had 16 martinis on the house at the Martini bar. I dare you to get a measuring tape from the customer relations desk and tell me that is measures exactly 79 sq ft...

I just thought that these SS balconies could be longer but NOT deeper, so in comparison they should look like shallow, but they have enough length to make it up to 70+ sg ft...

5 minutes ago, boscobeans said:

 

Thank you for your comment.

 

And just like the more than a dozen ships I have sailed on in the past 20 years not all windows or verandas or surfaces can be reached by those mechanical system.

 

I am just interested in how the massive amount of IV staterooms will get theirs cleaned. That is my point or rather question.

I am sure they don't expect anyone in flip flops to be cleaning anything.

You took my sarcastic post about flip-flops way too seriously :))))

Enjoy your cruise!

2 minutes ago, boscobeans said:

 

I have rarely been on a ship that did NOT have some sort of mechanical rail riding system to clean the windows and other exterior surface on a cruise ship. How many partially obstructed verandas are categorized as such because of a washing system?

Look, I know what are you referring for - this is the hanging washer system that runs on the rail along the top deck (or OVC or any other chosen deck...). It can't be installed on EVERY deck, this is my point... In the balcony deck, this washing is done by a guy walking from one unit to another via the folded glass separation panels, at least this is how it's done on S ships as far as I know...

1 hour ago, WonderMan3 said:

 

I was in a midship S class Sky Suite on Reflection in April and this Edge Sky Suite balcony feels the same. I checked the stats for each cabin and the balcony sizes are the same at 79 square feet. (For Edge stats on places like cruisedeckplans.com you have to go by the S2 stats for the midship S1s as the stats they have for S1 balconies are only for the aft cabins.

I will try to find and post the comparative pictures - like I said, when on one of your pics your SO sat in the rocker chair, I noticed the shorter - MUCH shorter, mind you - width of the separation board than on S class ships. I was specifically talking about regular balcony size, although I would imagine that in the SS they MUST be bigger anyway... 

What X writes number-wise about the sg ft, - I am sorry... I am NOT buying it even if I had 16 martinis on the house at the Martini bar. I dare you to get a measuring tape from the customer relations desk and tell me that is measures exactly 79 sq ft...

I just thought that these SS balconies could be longer but NOT deeper, so in comparison they should look like shallow, but they have enough length to make it up to 70+ sg ft...

8 minutes ago, boscobeans said:

I am not sure if it has been covered or not but how do they clean the outer surface of the stationary bottom pane in the Infinite Veranda.  There must be some mechanical gizmo on the outside and it must operate with the window closed and secured as well.

That "mechanical gizmo" is a tiny Burmese or Vietnamese dude in flip-flops with a power wash nozzle in hands... Are you seriously thinking that they will invest into something of that kind (giant squeegee) to clean up salt streaks? 

1 hour ago, bajathree said:

I remember once watching a documentary on Walt Disney where they called him a marketing genius for creating and building a giant shopping center disguised as a theme park. Maybe Celebrity is trying to follow suit building a ship of almost entirely ocean view cabins disguised as "infinite veranda's". 

Very ASTUTE prognostication 

The issue as I see it is in the pricing. Considering current X price increase policy, I very much doubt the prices of these "OV cabins" with "infinite" (albeit crammed) verandas would go way down as they were when more S class ships joined the fleet. Don't forget, there are five of those (S class ships), and - fortunately for us - they all came out at the hedge of recession time, so we all benefited from their abundance and greatness...

With E class, X now tries to get back to us, loyal customers, with EVERYTHING possible to squeeze the extra bucks - just look at the activities pages in the dailies, ~50-60% of stuff in there asks for extra money... plus drinks, plus specialty restaurants, plus spa (I personally am outraged by the X/E decision of NOT honoring the Elite privilege of one port day free spa use - this is unheard of, I have been to .....teen X cruises and NEVER was I refused of getting that...  I feel sorry for those who are not Elite, because there is NO COMMON access to the steam room/changing room anymore, as far as I understand, and this draws a finite line between sheer greed and loyalty, as far as I see it...

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

Hopefully this phenomenon will be permanent: Edge has so many places to hang out, inside and outside, that the pool loungers will never be in as high demand as on other ships.  Of course this will be undercut by the inability to lounge on your own balcony, since the Edge designers decided you should do that...

Sorry but you sound like on S or M ships there no places to hang out but around the pool area 

I think jcpc is right about people willing to explore the new ship. Once it becomes familiar (somewhat), then the factor of puny stateroom sitting area/lounge will kick in and the pool area will get crowded... I can't believe that on the ship with ~3K pax there normally should be that many empty chairs around the pool during sea day!

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

Hopefully this phenomenon will be permanent: Edge has so many places to hang out, inside and outside, that the pool loungers will never be in as high demand as on other ships.  Of course this will be undercut by the inability to lounge on your own balcony, since the Edge designers decided you should do that...

Speaking of the suite balconies, I looked at several pictures of these which have partitions on a background, and by eyeballing the partitions I could bet that the depth of the Edge balconies, unless they are aft or top suite, is not as big as on S class. Even on WonderMan3 (OP here) pics of their balcony with rocker outside it is clear that it is quite a bit more shallow than the S class standard balcony... I also believe that IV "sitting room" is even smaller.
Any thoughts on this?

Thank you for doing such a thorough and detailed coverage.

Incidentally, since someone was asking about the prices of drinks around the ship (bars) - I checked the I-net for drink prices on other X ships... Even a year back (if I am not wrong) Martini bar cocktails were 10$ (plus 18% of course), beers around the S class ships were 5-7 bucks and a shot of vodka somewhere at 7-8 bucks.

Somebody please tell me how in the whole bright world the prices FOR THE SAME DRINKS, FOR THE SAME VOLUMES, made FROM THE SAME INGREDIENTS are 20-25% higher on Edge??? Christ, even BOTTLED beer is more expensive, and by hefty 3-5 dollars... What, they deliver those bottles by Amazon drones???

One thing I fear - once the "Edgefecation" (sorry for a mean word!) of S ships happens, the alcohol price increase there will be imminent. 

It is really saddening to see how X tries to catch up with the losses during recession times. I looked at the prices for cruises for 2019-2020, and for the same itineraries as 4-5 years back, for the same cruise lengths, the prices are higher - yet the ships gone older. This actually is a trend of the whole industry, so we should brace ourselves for a few years of cruise industry revenge. Inflation has little to do with this.

I know some people will probably object this fact. Let's wait for 2-3 more years, come back to me then. We will laugh together. Hard and bitter.

1 hour ago, BeeMinor said:

 

Right? Let's take a whole generation of people who don't even want to actually call someone to order a pizza and force them to interact with weird strangers engaged in some kind of annoying performance art. 🙄

 

Seriously, if Celebrity wanted to make Eden appealing to people my age (late 30s), I could make a list. None of them involve what they're doing now except for all the plants. 

AHAHAHAHA sorry - I laughed so hard that I sprinkled tea from my nose 

This is totally priceless...

3 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

I have read reviews where people complained about repeats after 14 days!  Different strokes...

I bet some (myself included) may not remember what they ate two weeks back lolololololol

10 minutes ago, vtcruising said:

I only have two nights worth, but this is what I have - these could be the old menus.

 

Funny and strange, but I have only a few overlapping entrees/appetizers in my "stuck-on-two-days" menu 

Not matching and not entirely different. Really odd.

Beta version in full bloom!

(I mean, I am sure they will rotate, it will be silly for X to hope that people will sail for 7 days and dine from the limited menu - I do get your point about 4 different dining venues, however, for those who have fixed seating, such arrangement would really kill the buzz... I may be OK with NY strip steak nightly, but c'mon 🙂 )

Interestingly, the length of 7 day vs 14 day rotation menu is a choice of cruise line. I can't recall precisely but I think Oceania at some point had 10 days rotation, or 14, but not 7 for sure. My longest cruise with O was 39 days HK to Athens 10 years back, and it was great to have a re-run of your favorite entrees 2-3 times over that stretch.

And you are right, sometimes they shorten/skip the rotation if they run out of supplies.

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

From what I can see Edge does rotate the 14 menus (plus the addition of the 20% unique items to each dining room.  Would really recommend you download the Celebrity App and read the menus.   The App currently has menus loaded until middle of February. 

 

I was just checking and it appears they are repeating the same 7 day menu on the 7 day cruises.   Maybe someone on a B2B could confirm.    At least the app will give you an idea of what to expect.   Looks like lots of beef selections. 

Thanks, Jim - however, I installed app a few weeks back and for my Jan cruise it shows the same menu for every dinner (still)... must be a glitch - I actually can't go past Day 2 of my cruise in menus. Weird. 

But thanks 🙂

9 hours ago, vtcruising said:

I didn't attend the CC breakfast so am not sure about what is available. Yes, it was in Tuscan Restaurant on our cruise.

 

The way I look at the MDR menus is as follows:

All 4 restaurants have the same 14 day rotation of menus like they always have (Celebrity Signature 14 day menu). All four restaurants have the every day favorites (Classics) - the same every day in all four restaurants-  the same as usual. So, just the same as always, except you get an additional 6 items specific to each restaurant that don't change (Exclusives). So, we all  get the same choices as usual, though get an additional 24 items to choose from if you eat in all 4 MDRs (6 new regional items in each of 4 MDRs). I had dinner in Cyprus and it was like dining in a specialty - the food, service and ambiance were excellent

 

So far, there have only been 2 and 3 night cruises so yes, there may have been some repeats? I know I was on 3 of those and there were repeats in Luminae, but they were different cruises so I didn't count it against them. Also, the apps are not necessarily accurate at this time, so don't go by that.  Now that we have our first 7 night cruise underway, we will see for sure if they cycle through 7 different menus for dinner (Celebrity Signature 14 day menu that is the same in all MDRs). I am quite sure that if they want to stay in business, they will do so!🙂

 

VT, thank you for your comment - I know all that, in terms of how it SUPPOSED to rotate, of the regional items/signature items, of the app beta version and so on - I was asking someone in the current first full length commercial cruise about the rotation... your thread here is very popular 🙂 and I hope that someone onboard would see my comment and clarify.

I will be there in early January, and many things that were unclear from the inception are understood now thanks to you and others. These two my inquiries, albeit not vital, are essential to me in order to prepare my wallet in case that there is no rotation and I need to hit the specialty joints...

As to your confidence about X staying in business, I have no doubt they will, but competition is catching up, and so far all I see is not entirely a full slam dunk on the account of Edge, it's hit or miss overall - from external/internal design to entertainment to  layout to the use of space etc. Personally, I am going anyway, and I feel excited, regardless of the misses... 90% of us are enjoying cruising no matter what, and even if something is out of line, it will not spoil my homecoming and joy of vacation 🙂 

VT (and citrucruiser!), thanks for posting up the CC drinks menu for breakfast, it is in Tuscan, right? How about the menu for plates/entrees for CC Elite breakfast - is there a change in the Edge menu for that, or are these the same platters as before on S/M class ships?

I am still unclear - and no one actually had commented on this with certainty - about menu changes in MDRs. Are they rotated as per industry standards (10- or 14-day rotation menus), or stay the same in all 4 MDRs for the length of the cruise?? Somewhere in the booing reviews I've seen the comment that they are NOT changed daily, and this is not about Signature dishes or Specialty dishes but the bulk menus... But the reviewer was on 3-day cruise, and I am wondering about this first commercial trip.

Sorry to be inquisitive but food during the cruise is a big deal for me as this is perhaps 2-3 times a year chance for me to eat restaurant quality meat; where I am now (SE Asia), meat is over the roof expensive and even if one can afford it, the way they prepare it here is not as tasty as back in the sweet home... So I try to thoroughly enjoy steaks-fillet mignons-ribs etc etc while onboard, and if the MDR menu is the same every night, it will be a huge minus in my book for the value of this Edge "innovation".

I know that X had added a number of "pay extra" eating venues, but (as with the increased pricing for all alcohol-based drinks on Edge and skimping on the Elite CC member happy hours) this is nothing but the obvious way to rip more bucks from cruisers. As many of you have already said, with the jacked up cost of the over-hyped cruising on the Edge PLUS drinks PLUS specialty restaurants PLUS water/juices cost it almost certainly makes sense to deviate to Oceania/Azamara or even to higher all-inclusive lines...

Thanks VT, I got this from your review a few days back 🙂 

It does not say, however, if there will be a place for Elite CC to gather, like in the Sky Lounge.

The restaurant option (as OP stated) seems to be a good alternative.

Speaking of the restaurants, remember, we discussed the fixed/changed nightly menu for MDRs? Someone in the posted reviews mentioned that the menu does not change nightly (??). Again, I am not talking about the 25% specialty entrees, but that 14-day rotation menu... It looks like at least for the 3 day legs they kept menu the same?

Thanks, Kearney - I couldn't stop laughing while read this press release. They should nominate their PR guy who wrote that for Pulitzer's!

"We’re also changing up the Elite Cocktail Hour to give you more flexibility."

This is truly awesome. 

We had a nice venue for Elite Happy hour - Sky Lounge - they took it away.

We had unlimited drinks at our disposal (not that I liked it as a mean to load myself to the brim, but this was a nice gesture, a recognition of the loyalty) - now they give us more flexibility... restricting the drinks to three per evening.

Great ahahaha.

VT had maple syrup in her suitcase, and they "arrested" it because they suspected it was booze. 

And the pricing for ANYTHING with alcohol in it went up on the Edge by 20%+ - beer, cocktails, liquors, aperitifs.

I am not a drinker, thus I don't see the use for me/us in buying drinks package, but I am quite sad, as this actually shows where X cheapskates. You can use any slick wording trying to mask it but the content won't change. Cheapskating.

8 minutes ago, kearney said:

Marylander.... I think they have changed Captains Club happy hour. I will look to see if I still have the email. But instead of basically as much as you want (within reason) in one spot... they now have three drinks loaded onto the sea pass which can be used at multiple bars on ship. If this goes throughout the cruise line... essentially nudges those of us who have not had a beverage package.. to purchase one. I called Celebrity because it appears you can't get a cocktail under the classic package without paying a premium at bars like the martini bar. They assured me that I can still get a cocktail under the terms of he classic package throughout the ship. I intend to test this out. I usually just drink a glass of wine or sparkling wine... but I am curious about this... as a former marketing person... I hate bait and switch.. gives marketing a bad name... So I hope that you can actually get a $9 cocktail in the martini bar... we will see.  We have met so many nice people at the cocktail hour... bars are just not the same as the sky lounge.

Hi Kearney, thanks for replying - I was on Silhouette last year when X changed the policy to 3 drinks/day (and I mentioned that above 🙂 ). There were restrictions as to what bar(s) you cannot get the drink from this sacred "3 per day" rule for CC members. Since DW does not drink more than one per evening, I use (gladly) her remaining two, and this is alright for us, so no need to buy drink package... Coming back to my question to OP, even with this new limitation on Silhouette they still ran the main gig at the top lounge, where you were able to get the same 3 drinks but they also served nice o'deuvres, which you can't get in other bars... that's why I asked if the CC member's nightly gathering was in the Club 🙂
I guess I will find out in less than a month! 

Hi - great to know - finally - about the OV; so far there were no pictures or any info at all.

Was there a 5-7 pm Captain's Club happy hour at the Club daily, or since this was a 3 day only they did not run it?

How about 3 drinks/night perk - any restrictions on which bars won't honor this?

Thanks!

4 minutes ago, kearney said:

Another reason is where do you refill water bottle without cross contamination? They don't want you doing it in the ocean view cafe.. not sure what you can do to avoid the mouth of the bottle from touching water source... 

In the most of the modern days airports, train stations, even schools etc. there are touchless water bottle fillers; they have sensors that initiate water pouring when you place the bottle on the podium under spigot. Once the bottle is filled, you take it out and the water stops pouring. No contact at all.

I am very surprised that X - and other cruise lines - are still using the old-fashioned push-lever filling stations for drinks in the OVC... This is where the germs are spreading well...

1 hour ago, TommyD3 said:

So Celebrity is offloading tens of thousands of used aluminium bottles every week to be recycled? What ever happened to the concept of selling (or giving) passengers a reusable bottle that they would refill at water stations?

You know the answer to this question yourself - they want to make a profit from everything, including the water... I don't know the price of those aluminum "sustainable water bottles" yet (but I bet they won't sell it cheaper than previously used Evian (1.0 L) which was - correct me if I am wrong! - about 5 USD a pop...) So why would X encourage to re-use these aluminum bottles, if they easily could cell the new ones for 3 USD or so "for a noble cause" of recycling???  

6 hours ago, vtcruising said:

This article explains the bottled water in aluminum  from Open Water.  Scroll down to "The Women Behind the Water."  The aluminum cans are incinerated.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurabegleybloom/2018/11/30/billion-dollar-cruise-ship-celebrity-edge-launch-women/#702394045780

 

I didn't think I would like drinking from them, but actually preferred them to plastic or glass.

I am sorry to reply to this noble experiment with a touch of skepticism...

I am a PhD chemist with an initial degree in plastics, I also do know a thing or two about the pollution of the planet etc., so I do not really get it - how "incinerating everything" concept of which LLP so proudly states in the cited link is better for using aluminum bottles vs plastic ones? You burn it anyway! Mind you, these bottles are NOT CANS, they are thicker and harder to melt... And this is the key difference - aluminum cannot be fully incinerated at least in the sense of zero footprint (in green planet sense).

Anyway, I do not want to lecture you ... but the last thing I wanted to mention about the advantage of aluminum over plastic ON LAND is that aluminum cans can be recycled FAR BETTER than the currently used plastic - 50% vs 10-20% in favor of the metal. All the rest about incineration - I truly beg your pardon - makes me chuckle...

You wanna see HOW and WHY the planet will suffer from the plastic in the World Ocean?? Come and observe how the modern days Asia dumps their wastes EVERYWHERE in the waters. You live in the US and think that a pinch of that plastic that travels from LA or NY to the ocean would make a difference... Try Philippines or Thailand or Vietnam, or Indonesia... I am not talking about China. 

THIS - NOT YOU - WILL BRING THE OCEAN DOWN.

Sorry for being bitter but I live in Asia for over 10 years and I know for real that all the noble efforts out in the West are just a cry in the forest. And currently there is no way to stop this pollution...

26 minutes ago, ecslady said:

 

The shade can only be lowered when the window is fully closed.  

Makes total sense from the point of fragility of the shade, but not in terms of convenience...