BrendaJ

Apparently, there is alcohol-free gin. I don’t know about anything else but who knows.

I think the bartenders should have a whole raft of non-alcoholic fake beverages ready to switch out on people who are getting a little too inebriated. My cousin used to serve beer at Oktoberfest in Munich (you know, the giant steins of beer?) He said if he or any other server saw anyone getting out of hand, they’d start substituting non-alcoholic beer. Anyone that drunk evidently doesn’t taste the difference. Seems like a really good plan so that everyone is happy and safe.

Oceania certainly made it work for them. Back in the beginning, Azamara and Oceania started on the same foot, but Oceania started building new ships; they currently have 7 with another set to debut in 2025. I think they did the right thing by building ships around 65,000 tonnes. Not small, but it’s probably still a fairly intimate atmosphere compared to large ships. So far, they seem to be doing well. I’ve never sailed on Oceania but I suspect they offer a product similar to Azamara’s. When they first started promoting the Marina, I thought it looked wonderful. Azamara is great, but if I could get the same wonderful services and itineraries, but have a nicer cabin and more dining choices, I’d enjoying trying that.

The majority of our 35+ cruises have been on Celebrity in verandahs, with occasional suites when the price was right. The suite experience is very nice and feels like a small ship, but Celebrity is pricing themselves right out of the running with their recent suite prices. I did a quick search for eastern Med itineraries between 10 and 14 nights next May and June, and Celebrity in a suite was more expensive per person per night than Seaborne, for some itineraries. To me, that’s insane. I’d much rather sail a luxury line that a Sky Suite on any Celebrity ship, as nice as the Retreat on the Beyond and Edge were. Suites on all the other “premium” lines were cheaper than Celebrity. It’s a nice product, but it’s not that nice. We’ve been sailing more with Azamara recently, and other than the small cabins, the experience seems much more luxurious that Celebrity. To be fair, Azamara’s prices are quite high, but they are more inclusive, and their itineraries are much more port-intensive. We’ve always been loyal to Celebrity, for the most part, but I can see that changing if my husband continues to enjoy suites. If I can save money sailing with a luxury line over a suite on Celebrity, I’ll definitely try to drag him away.

I think just about every industry out there has been finding ways to cut costs and improve profit margins after having significant losses in the last few years. Grocery prices are at an all-time high, new cars, when you can find one, are a fortune and everything travel related has gone up. Every one of us just has to decide if, after any change to the offering, we are still getting value for our dollar, or whether that dollar would be better spent with another line, or another type of vacation altogether. Our last few Celebrity cruises have been in suites on the new ships, when we were able to get a bargain by booking early, but at the current prices, we will not do it. It would be cheaper to dine every night in a specialty restaurant, and frankly, as nice as the Retreat is, it’s not worth the extra money to us. Celebrity’s verandah cabins are perfectly acceptable for us, the main dining room is perfectly fine for us, and so far, we’re still happy with what we’re getting for the price we pay. We’ve travelled more with Azamara lately, and those who hate the nickel and dime-ing and don’t mind small ships with smaller scale entertainment and small cabins might be happier to try Azamara, although their IT and website woes are making a lot of loyal passengers very angry. We travel primarily for the ports and although I like a nice cabin, it’s not the most important factor. I’m not sure what cuts would have to happen for me to abandon Celebrity and Azamara, but there are lots of other lines out there (who are probably also making cuts). At the end of the day, each of us has to decide when our cruises are not giving us enough value for our money. So far, for us, cruises are still worth what we’re being charged.

I have to wonder if Azamara is trying to capture the kind of attention that the “Life at Sea” cruises recently generated (3-year cruise starting at $30,000 per year per person with ability to work remotely while on the ship). Many people were attracted to the seemingly low cost and I believe I read somewhere that there was so much interest that a larger, newer ship had to be utilized to meet the demand. For those who work solely from home, it must seem like a dream come true to be able to sail around the world while working. Logistically though, I cannot imagine a current shipboard internet service that could handle the load of a large percentage of passengers working while on board. I do fear that Azamara has lost their way at the moment. Our cruise a few weeks ago was as wonderful as always, but with only 283 passengers on board, this is obviously not sustainable. I hope they can get their act together soon. Their continued IT problem have made some travel agents steer clear from them; that is certainly going to hurt the bottom line if the travel agents are directing their customers to other lines.

We just disembarked from the Pursuit this morning. The onboard wifi was terrible for nearly our entire cruise. We were in Norway and I assume our location was an issue. On the Onward in January, the wifi was great. For Norway, I think your best bet is to get a European e-sim. We ended up using ours all the time since the onboard wifi on the Pursuit was pretty much non-existent.

We just disembarked from the Pursuit - Norwegian Fjords - there were only 283 passengers on board. Surely sailing with so many empty cabins can’t be profitable. I’m getting a bit concerned. That being said, we had an amazing cruise with the best service ever.

I know it’s unpopular to express any negativity about Azamara on this board, but I agree, the tiny showers are not remotely luxurious; in fact, the cabins are smaller than many cabins on standard cruise lines. I keep hoping that Azamara will build a new ship someday and make the cabins a bit nicer.

To give you an idea of the lowest prices, currently the price per day for a double occupancy cabin in U.S. dollars: Inside cabin - $213 - Quest transatlantic - 12/09/23 Ocean view cabin - $224 - same as above Balcony - $281 - Onward transatlantic - 11/18/23 Suite - $485 - same as above Obviously, transatlantic cruises with few ports are a bargain compared to anything else. The more popular the itinerary, generally the higher the prices. However, if you don’t care where you go, you can get a very decent deal. The best deal per day for a non-transatlantic cruise in a balcony is currently $321 per day for a southern European cruise in November. That’s only $1,543 U.S. per person for an 11 night cruise. Of course, that’s rather late in the year and the weather might be cooler than you’d like, but I’d go for it for the price if that was an itinerary I was interested in doing. There is a website that makes finding bargains very easy but I’m not sure Cruise Critic allows the posting of website names. Brenda

That is my biggest concern now. I do want to make sure we get one excursion in particular, but a similar one is advertised with Viator for far less money, so I may just do that one, although it’s not quite as interesting. If I do break down and book the package before we sail, I will be sure to take screen shots of everything that transpires. I am really surprised that there are so many issues more than a month after the transition. I think they need to send another e-mail to all of the passengers who having a cruise booked in the next couple of months, instructing them on how do deal with their concerns, as calling them is rather difficult currently. I imagine it’s embarrassing for a cruise line to admit to all of their customers just how much is still not working, especially since that could impact future bookings for people who don’t log into their online account, have their travel agent take care of everything, and might not even be aware of the current issues.

Obviously I don’t want to tie up the phone lines at this point, and my cruise doesn’t depart till July; however, I would like to book excursions with the onboard credit that comes with the Ultimate package. I have to say, I feel like I missed my window of opportunity with the excursions. I was suddenly able to view them yesterday, but today I logged in and they’re gone, so I guess it’s no big rush for the package, but I don’t want to wait till we’re onboard, as excursions may sell out if others are able to view them. Edit: Well, I just tried again and it looks like I could book it on-line now, although I’m a little concerned on how they sell it, implying the price is per person rather than per cabin. At least it is available to book online now and I assume the cost is actually per cabin, not per person.

I haven’t read the entire new terms and conditions, and it is not clear to me, other than the COVID clauses, what major changes this document contains; however, I do find it interesting that they want us to click on a button in the email to confirm receipt of their message. Does clicking on that button indicate that we agree with any changed terms? I would think that the conditions in place when we booked should be upheld as they could, in effect, be making material changes to what we booked. For example, if they snuck a clause into this document, buried deep within, that any beverage packages included when booking are now subject to increased charges, is clicking on the button implying that we agree with the new policy? If that is the case, and if they were making a change in their policy that you did not agree to, it would seem to be that, if you have an existing booking and don’t agree with the change, you should be able to receive a full refund, without penalty. Of course, I’m just playing devil’s advocate, but it does make me wonder what types of changes to the terms and conditions they could put through without our approval. I assume somewhere in the terms and conditions, there is something that states they have the right to make changes to absolutely anything and we basically have to suck it up but I am curious what rights a passenger has when they make changes to their terms and conditions.

Ah, well that’s good then. Although I think we’ve convinced ourselves to go on a Celebrity itinerary instead. Same price (including tips, wifi and beverage package) and we’ll have 3 extra nights, as well as a stop in Greenland.

We stayed in a Magic Carpet S3 on the Edge a few years ago and the Magic Carpet was no problem at all. We only managed to catch it going by once. We went out on the balcony and as it was going by, we could have grabbed bottles of liquor from the bar if we’d really wanted to - lucky for them we had no interest in that! It was never a problem for us. We’re going on the Beyond next week in the same class of suite and looking forward to it.

They haven’t actually posted the revised cruise on their website yet so I’m not sure. Regardless, I think we will be booking a Celebrity cruise that has a better itinerary. I hope you and Nick are well, Denise!

To be fair, this itinerary is more than a year away, so no one would likely have lost any money with flights, although it’s possible some hotel bookings are available this far out.

We disembarked from the Onward last week and loved it. We particularly enjoyed the Atlas bar and went there every night before dinner. The drinks were interesting and the staff were great. Other than that, I didn’t feel like Onward felt much different than the other ships. Everything was clean and well-maintained and the crew was fantastic as always.

Our 2024 Iceland cruise has just had a major itinerary change, due to unavailability of the Reykjavik port on the cruise dates. In my mind, Azamara has removed the three most interesting ports (Faroe islands and the Shetland islands) and shortened the cruise by two days. They also changed the departure port from Amsterdam to IJmuiden (30 minutes from Amsterdam which would mean missing the impressive sail-in and ability to walk into the city that porting in actual Amsterdam would feature). The 11 night cruise has become a less interesting 9 night cruise, with no compensation whatsoever. I would have thought they would at least adjust our price pro-rated to the fewer number of days but nothing. Not even token onboard credit. Of course, I understand that availability of all the ports was a factor, but to reduce the length of a cruise by two days with no price adjustment seems wrong. I have to think that the old RCL-owned Azamara would have offered something in the way of compensation to keep people booked on the less-appealing cruise. Has Azamara shortened an itinerary in the past with no adjustment of price? Email attached.

If someone has cruise only with the larger, mainstream cruise ships and then tried Azamara, they might indeed find it boring. Azamara is wonderful for port-intensive cruises, but if you are someone looking for a large variety of activities and entertainment options and compare it to a Royal Caribbean cruise, you are going to be very disappointed. In my younger years, I probably would have been bored to tears on Azamara, but now, I’m quite happy doing trivia, watching the odd show, and enjoying cocktails in the Living Room or Den. I must admit, if I were doing a transatlantic cruise, I’d probably pick Celebrity over Azamara, as with that many sea days, I would probably be looking for a bit more variety of activities, and a larger selection of dining venues. We are fortunate that there are cruise lines to suit every taste and that we have the means to enjoy them.

It seems strange to be visiting ports in the middle of summer where the temperatures are quite low - daytime highs in the mid fifties. Will people be wearing summer attire onboard? Will the White Night be outdoors? I can't imagine wearing sundresses and sandals when it's so chilly.

Quick question - if we get a pre-departure PCR test, does it have to be within 72 hours? I believe the website mentions 3 days. So if I were boarding on the 7th, could I get my test anytime on the 4th, or does it need to be within 72 hours of boarding? Or departure?

We just spent two weeks on the Edge - the first week in an inside cabin (12168) and the second in an S3 Sky Suite (11160 under the Magic Carpet). After reading so many negative reviews about various things, I felt for the first time in a long time that I had to submit a review. We cruise primarily on Celebrity and have been on all their ships except the Eclipse numerous times. First thing - the ship is gorgeous! I think it was designed primarily to be a knock-out. The artwork is all beautiful and contains a lot of photographic prints - all tasteful and lovely. Much different from the M-class which had some truly mystifying art that made you stop in your tracks and go “What the what? That’s art? I think there’s something that looks like that growing in the back of my fridge! Cha-ching!!!” We found the layout easy to navigate and found all of the public spaces really lovely. Now, I will admit to being a glass-half-full kind of person. That doesn’t mean I was blind to a few things that could be improved, however, I’m happy to report that we thought the Edge was fantastic. I think that Celebrity has listened to early complaints and made note, as some things I read complaints about were definitely no longer an issue. Improvements over other Celebrity Ships Technology The technology on this ship is remarkable, especially if you use the Celebrity app with your smartphone. Imagine being able to adjust the cabin temperature while you’re in the dining room, so the cabin is nice and cool before bed. Or checking your on-board charges anytime, anywhere. Of course, the app is still in beta, and there are a few glitches and navigation challenges, but once you get used to it, it really is fabulous. From what I recall, the app was also used to do Timeplay trivia in the theatre before the show, similar to the movie theatres at home. It was really fun but it turns out I am not as smart as I thought, as the app lets you know your rank after the trivia is over. Judging by the numbers, either a lot of the audience was playing, or I am dumber than a bag of hammers. We never got around to trying the trivia in The Club but I suspect it was the same. The regular trivia they had multiple times a day in the Grand Plaza and Eden was the same old stuff as the other ships using paper and pencil - very well attended and we actually won it one day, due to a husband whose brain is full of useless nonsense, and a wife who had a lucky day with wild guesses. The panel near the door offers many of the same features as the app when it comes to adjusting the lighting and temperature of the cabin - the themes for the lights were handy (morning, movie, sleep, etc.). You can also control the television with the app. I can just imagine how that goes when you are sharing your cabin with children with their own phones and tablets. I suspect more than one teenaged genius has thought it would be delightful to be out and about on the ship and use their phone to turn the cabin lights and TV on and off when their parents are in the cabin trying to relax. The elevators have a screen showing what deck the Magic Carpet is on or where the gangway is, as well as videos of cruise destinations. The elevators are very large, and although there are only two banks, they seemed to arrive quickly, even if it appeared that there was always someone who wanted to get on or off at each floor. There seemed to be an uncommonly large number of power scooters on board, and those using them never once offered me a ride, even when I was wearing heels. Somewhat disappointing. Pool The main pool is enormous and you really could swim laps with little issue first thing in the morning. Not that anything like that ever entered my mind. I also hear there was a gym on board, where some pool souls ran like mice on a wheel. To each their own. We had considered using the gym on board while we were still safely on land, but once we got on board, it became a duel between the gym and croissants, and the gym was never going to win that battle. The walking track on this ship was fantastic, ramping up and down two levels. It had two lanes, both going in the same direction - one for walkers and one for runners. There did not seem to be a lane for those of us going in the wrong direction, heeding the call of French fries or ice cream. We went to the pool after dinner a couple of nights and had the entire pool deck and hot tubs to ourselves. It was a bit shocking to be totally alone in such a large space around 10pm. Although on sea days, the pool deck did seem very busy, with the usual characters saving lounge chairs, if you weren’t bound and bent to be right beside the pool, you could always find a lounge one deck up. I did find the activities microphone very loud around the pool, but that was the only time I had an issue with volume on the ship. Other than the day they were doing some type of crew training exercise and they blasted the ship’s horn. My husband jumped about 3 feet in the air, and I’m pretty sure he had to change his underwear. There seemed few to no roaming waiters on the pool deck in the morning. Getting a drink from the bar was no problem but sometimes you’re just too lazy to get out of your chair at 9 am for your breakfast Bellini or Bloody Mary. Don’t judge me. I’m on vacation and sometimes I need either hair of the dog or the actual dog. Our waiter in Luminae, Vichal, never once gave me the hairy eyeball when ordering a morning beverage - sometimes he actually talked me into it. Boy, I miss that guy a lot. The big problem at both the main pool and the Retreat pool was a lack of shade. I must admit to being a bit of a vampire, trying to avoid getting too much direct sun, but there were only a few spots at each pool where you could depend on shade, unlike the S-class where there are lots of lounges in the shade. There are a few spots one deck up from the pool with really comfortable loungers (more like Bali beds) under a roof, so I would advise heading out right after breakfast if you want a shady spot. Darn! I wasn’t going to tell anyone about those! Ignore that. The cabanas looked nice, but at $$$ a day, they sat empty for most of our two cruises. I think converting that area to more pool lounges would make a lot of people happier, as then at least there would be a bit more shade up for grabs. Martini bar On the S-class ships (and what I can recall of the M-class), getting a spot at the martini bar was very difficult anywhere around dinner time. They have solved that problem on this ship. The martini bar basically takes up the whole 5th deck area of the Grand Plaza. It is open in the early afternoon, and they frequently have entertainment and trivia there. We never found the music too loud, and were only once not able to find a seat. Bar servers are plentiful and attentive, even during Elite cocktail time. The bar tenders do an enthusiastic flair show, and the bar itself has a unique design with both bar stools and regular height chairs, which I expect would make it possible for someone in a wheelchair to sit at the bar, which is a rare opportunity, I am guessing. The martini tasting was a blast - I don’t recall if this was a case for martini tasting on the other ships, but on the Edge, you get your choice of 6 martinis to taste, out of what seemed like dozens on the menu. It was really hard to choose but I think I chose well. I don’t really remember a lot about that evening, other than needing the much loved hair of the dog the next day. Elite beverages I’m not sure if this change is fleet-wide or just on the Edge, but we were able to have unlimited beverages (from the list) at any bar on the ship between 5 and 7, with the exception of the Magic Carpet. We had absolutely no problem getting service in the martini bar during these hours, or at the pool bar, and it was a vast improvement over having to have your drinks in a separate lounge, in my opinion. Four Main Dining Rooms In my opinion, so much better than one big room. It’s nice to have a chance to visit different rooms, even if it is mostly the same food. Select dining really shines on this ship, as you can just pick the room that appeals to you the most. All of the dining rooms are beautiful. I’m not sure I would have been happy choosing traditional and having to stick to one of the rooms. We dine early and never once had an issue getting a table. We found the food great, although I’m not the best person to ask. One look at me and you can tell I’m not a picky eater. Of course, Luminae is in a class all by itself and we were determined to never miss an opportunity to eat there. The menu is unique and inventive and always delicious. Although you can no longer order from the main dining room menu in Luminae, you can choose from the main dining room’s anytime menu. The Luminae menu did lean quite heavily on seafood which was fine with me, but on at least one day, there were no appetizers that weren’t either seafood or vegetarian. Man want meat. Red meat. Says the guy next to me. I loved everything about Luminae, especially the service. 10/10 every time, every meal. Luminae is also a truly gorgeous room, done in black and white with red accents. Theatre The theatre is unique with a sort of theatre in the round set-up, with lots of seating and large screens that were used to create an interesting backdrop for the shows. There seemed to be plenty of waiters on hand to fetch drinks before the show, which I have found to be a challenge on the other ships at times. There I go, talking about drinks again. You’re going to think I have a problem. Which I don’t, as long as I have a drink in my hand. Rooftop Garden This space is really lovely, although once again, very little shade can be found, and some of the seating, like the long, curved wooded benches, was awkward unless you were about 7 feet tall. The large screen gave a great back-drop for musical performances, and we saw some sports being broadcast during the day which seemed to be popular. Not to me, mind you. I don’t want to play sports, much less watch someone else play them. More shade would make that area a favourite for me, much improved over the S-class lawn which I found to be nice, but a bit of a waste of space. The Retreat The Retreat pool area was one of the reasons we booked the suite for this cruise. It did not disappoint, except for the lack of shade. The Retreat lounge is sooooo much nicer than dark, stuffy old Michael’s Club. I know some people love Michael’s Club, but unless I’m going to take up smoking cigars and discussing the difficulty of hiring qualified grooms to care for my polo ponies, that atmosphere just seems claustrophobic to me. The Retreat is bright and sunny, with beautiful views, attentive service and nice little snacks. My next husband is going to be loaded, so I can always sail exclusively in suites from now on. My current husband just needs to find himself a trophy wife, and I’m off to convince George Clooney that he’s better off with me than that young, probably-work-obsessed bride of us. I’m not obsessed with work, George. I will think about nothing but you and the wonderful foot rubs you’re going to give me. Cabin We found the storage more than adequate in both the inside cabin and the Sky Suite. In fact, it felt like the inside cabin had more space, as there was a large drawer under the couch (3rd bed) which could be used. I found that much easier to work with than the overhead bins on the S-class, which are probably great if you’re 7 feet tall and have arms like an orangutan. The fridge in both cabins was very cold and nearly empty, allowing us to put some of our own things in it. Our butler in the Sky Suite was really eager to do things for us, including bringing my husband’s favourite beers and putting them in the fridge. In a Royal Suite on the Summit a few years ago, we asked the butler the first day if he could bring us some craft beers for the cabin, and he told us to just go to a bar and fetch them ourselves. I’m not sure that guy was the most keen butler in general. Edwin, who we had in S3 11160 on the Edge was the perfect butler I would have expected in a Royal Suite. I miss that guy a lot too. For anyone who wonders what the S3’s (between the rails of the Magic Carpet) are like, we thought it was great. The carpet very seldom was moved, and made a bit of noise when it did, but we thought it was great fun to go on the balcony and watch it come down. If you had one of those grabbers on a stick, you could probably steal bottles of liquor from the bar as it’s going by. And no, we forgot our grabber. It wasn’t us. Hic. There was never anyone on the carpet when it was moving, at least not that we could see. The balcony for our cabin was huge and the glass rail was spotless (there was a large window on the left side of our balcony that overlooked the side of the ship, leaving some of our neighbours with a bit less privacy than they might have expected, but that window was generally wet and therefore not much fun to look through - your secrets are safe with me, naked yoga guy.) Only issue with the suite location was that, when the Magic Carpet was above us on deck 14, taking a photo of the sunrise or sunset was obstructed from above a bit. If you’re into taking photos from your verandah, you might want to avoid those suites. One thing was notable - in the Sky Suite, there was no sign of the much-maligned Kelly Hoppen enormous rocking chair. We heard that they had all been removed - where to, I can only guess - RIP - they kinda sounded like fun, especially in rough seas. There was certainly no lack of floor space in our cabin. Perhaps they are now in Neptune’s basement, serving as dolphin seating. One strange thing is that, two days before we sailed, there seemed to be cabins available to book in nearly every category. I took this to mean that perhaps we could buy an upgrade while on board, but I went to guest relations when we boarded and was told the ship was full. Not sure what happened to all of those cabins in two days, but perhaps they are offered to local travel agents or charitable organizations last minute. The ship never seemed crowded, and I was surprised to hear it was full. Although I was nervous about staying in an inside cabin, since we haven’t done that in over 25 years, I must say, the inside cabin was surprisingly nice and I would not hesitate to book one again, except that I like to know when it’s getting light out, and my husband likes having a balcony, to get away from me when I’m getting ready. Okay, I admit it, I dash around the cabin like a squirrel on crack when I’m getting dressed, so we’ll probably get verandah cabins in the future to save the dear boy’s sanity. Embarkation and Debarkation If you do the on-line check-in with the app, including uploading an appropriate photo, you can be on and off the ship in about 5 minutes, no exaggeration. I’m not sure what happened to Customs and Immigration (and we are Canadian). I think they may use the ship’s facial recognition during debarkation, but in any case, we were out of there without even speaking to a customs agent. From sitting in the lounge to sitting at the gate at the airport took us less than an hour. There were shuttles right outside the terminal which would take you to Fort Lauderdale airport for $11 per person. Much less hassle than the taxi line. The Destination Gateway is a vast improvement over the areas on other ships used for entering and exiting the ship. There is a bathroom right there, a fixed counter selling water, and some benches for resting while your spouse empties 10,000 items out of his pockets. We were disappointed that the new tenders were not used, even though we tendered in Grand Cayman, but I suspect Grand Cayman has some type of agreement that their tenders are the only ones used there. I expect they will be a big hit in Europe. Little things I think could be improved I would love to see more hooks in the cabins - maybe they could make some decorative ones from parts of gigantic rocking chairs. You cannot have too many hooks. We bought some magnetic ones at the drug store before boarding, but they weren’t strong enough to hold more than a couple of pieces of paper. Curse you, CVS. I get that hooks aren’t pretty, and this ship was definitely designed to be beautiful, but maybe there’s some type of wall art they could design which is cleverly made of a variety to hooks to hang stuff on. Wait. That sounds like a million dollar idea. I should keep that one to myself. And now that the rocking chair in the Sky Suites is no more, may I suggest a coffee table? It seemed very strange to have no table in the suite. When delivering snacks, the butler would fetch the little table from the balcony to hold the food. We never ate a meal in the cabin, and I think it would have been tough. Of course, we wouldn’t have dreamed of eating a meal in the cabin when Vichal was waiting to delight us in Luminae. For those who like to dine on the balcony, how about a larger table that can be raised and lowered as needed? Wait! That sounds like another million dollar idea. Scratch that. In the regular cabin, the “Tom Tom” seemed like a neat idea but the thing was heavy as heck and there wasn’t really enough room in the cabin to do much with it. Perhaps the suites could have a larger Tom Tom with the top being able to be flipped over to be an ottoman. Yet another million dollar idea! I’m on a roll today. The suite balcony had more than enough room for chairs with ottomans or lounge chairs plus regular chairs. The chairs we had were fine but weren’t particularly comfortable and we did miss the footrests from other ships. More shade. Nuff said. Both the main pool and the Retreat Pool had very little shade. I’m surprise some fist-fights didn’t break out for the few chairs where you could avoid skin cancer. The Retreat pool area has such nice, comfortable furniture, but we couldn’t enjoy most of it because 99% of it was in full sun. The Retreat pool bar could also use an expanded food menu for port days when Luminae is closed for lunch and you refuse to drag your lazy self off the ship in order to wander through jewellery and souvenir stores, wondering why you left the Retreat in the first place. I would love to sail this class of ship in a cooler climate, perhaps in one of the much-complained-about infinite verandahs. We briefly saw one and I thought it looked pretty neat, but if you can’t keep it cool when someone is on the “verandah”, that’s not going to work for me in the Caribbean, where I’m constantly in danger of bursting into flames. We set our cabin temperature to the lowest setting (66 degrees) and I never once felt the need to wear long sleeves. Some of the seating in the public areas is a little uncomfortable; certainly not the majority, but some seem to have been designed for form rather than function. Like airplane seats, it is my opinion that anyone who designs seating should legally be required to spend 100 hours in their creation and see what they think. SUMMARY All in all, I would sail the Edge class again anytime, assuming I could afford the currently inflated pricing and the itinerary was desirable. We sailed these two cruises just to experience the ship. I hope I put at ease some of you who have read negative reviews of the Edge and have maybe regretted booking this beautiful ship. Don’t worry - unless you’re certifiably insane , or don’t want to experience something new and different, you will love it.