LIVE from EDGE - 12/9/18 - 7 night Western Caribbean Maiden Voyage

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

19 hours ago, cricketgirl said:

As far as those that chime in pointing out everything they consider negative about the ship and proclaiming they will never sail on the Edge, I can't help but wonder why they bother reading this thread, much less taking the time to comment if their mind is already made up.  What's the point?  There's nothing wrong with having an opinion, but it's strange to me why some feel the need to publicly down the ship.  Clearly others are having a great time and I would never want to rain on their parade.  There are certain cruise lines and specific ships that I never want to sail on, but i don't waste my time on those boards or in those threads, and surely don't comment negatively - especially on someone else's trip report.  Perhaps I'm in the minority here thinking this way.

 

Why bother reading this and other threads on the Edge?  To form an opinion as to whether it is something I would enjoy or not.  Based on the reviews I've read this far, it is not something I feel is worth it to me.  That is my opinion to which I'm entitled.  I get to choose how to spend my travel money.  I'm not "downing the ship."  I'm just saying it doesn't work for me.

Edited December 14, 2018 by Happy Cruiser 6143

[WonderMan3]

Here is the Daily from Thursday.

 

 

[chamima]

Adam

I noticed in the Daily that there seems to be no equivalent to the World Class Bar (which is where we hang out).

Is there anywhere that you would say is like it?

[mnocket]

2 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

 

Why bother reading this and other threads on the Edge?  To form an opinion as to whether it is something I would enjoy or not.  Based on the reviews I've read this far, it is not something I feel is worth it to me.  That is my opinion to which I'm entitled.  I get to choose how to spend my travel money.  I'm not "downing the ship."  I'm just saying it doesn't work for me.

Agree completely.  It's strange for people to say "there's nothing wrong with having an opinion" but then object when you express it  if (it differs from theirs)  accusing you of " feeling the need to "publicly down the ship".  This a discussion forum.  A good discussion typically involves multiple points of view and opinions regarding the topic at hand.  An "echo chamber", on the other hand, involves a single point of view that is embraced and amplified by all who participate.  Let's keep CC a vibrant discussion forum.

[jcpc]

Adam,

 

Two more questions if you don't mind. 

 

Earlier in  your posts you said that your butler told you Luminae would be open for lunch on port days.  But in the daily programs I don't see Luminae lunch hours listed for port days.  So my presumption is that it's not open for lunch on port days.  Is this correct?

 

Regarding the evening attire.  Years ago Celebrity tended to be "dressy" just about every evening.  Now, the evening dress code on the ships is much more casual (especially for Bermuda and Caribbean sailings).  I had thought that maybe with the Edge people would bring the dress code "up a notch" but in any pictures that I'm seeing I notice that most everyone is casually dressed at night, which is just fine with me.  Would you agree that the evening dress on Edge is casual?

 

Thanks again and enjoy the remaining time on the ship.

Edited December 14, 2018 by jcpc

[WonderMan3]

3 hours ago, chamima said:

Adam

I noticed in the Daily that there seems to be no equivalent to the World Class Bar (which is where we hang out).

Is there anywhere that you would say is like it?

 

Is that the old Molecular Bar? If so then the closest equivalent would be the Eden Bar with its exotic drinks. Not sure if they have mixologist type bartenders there but the drinks are way out there both in content and price. 

[WonderMan3]

2 hours ago, jcpc said:

Adam,

 

Two more questions if you don't mind. 

 

Earlier in  your posts you said that your butler told you Luminae would be open for lunch on port days.  But in the daily programs I don't see Luminae lunch hours listed for port days.  So my presumption is that it's not open for lunch on port days.  Is this correct?

 

Regarding the evening attire.  Years ago Celebrity tended to be "dressy" just about every evening.  Now, the evening dress code on the ships is much more casual (especially for Bermuda and Caribbean sailings).  I had thought that maybe with the Edge people would bring the dress code "up a notch" but in any pictures that I'm seeing I notice that most everyone is casually dressed at night, which is just fine with me.  Would you agree that the evening dress on Edge is casual?

 

Thanks again and enjoy the remaining time on the ship.

 

I actually forgot about the Luminae lunch on port days as we have been eating elsewhere. I’ll have to ask if they actually took place or not. As far as the dress goes it’s been all over the place. I have seen a few tuxedos and gowns on evening chic night, some jackets on men on other nights, some women in sparkly tight dresses looking glam,  lots of collared shirts with slacks or dressier jeans which would be me, and even people in shorts at Luminae and the Dinner on the Edge. Anything seems to go here. Wear what you feel is appropriate.

Edited December 14, 2018 by WonderMan3

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

Wonder Man, thank you so much for this thorough review. Can"t tell you how much I appreciate it. We are booked on two cruises on Edge, made before I knew very much about the ship. I'm afraid it is not really what we want in a ship. We really enjoy Solstice Class ships and have sailed on all of them. We debated about canceling our booking, but will at least give it a shot and see if it offers more than it seems from You Tubes and reviews.

Please keep up your excellent photos and comments. I am following your reports closely.

[WonderMan3]

On Thursday we woke up around 7:30am as we had massage appointments in the Spa at 9:30. I had not received any sort of confirmation the day before like I normally do so I decided to call the Spa at 9 to confirm they had our bookings. The woman on the phone told me “they had been trying to reach us” (whatever that meant since we had received no calls or letters to the cabin). She said that there was going to be some sort of crew drill taking place at 10am for about 45 minutes which would be right in the middle of our appointment. She said there would be loud alarms and it might disturb the treatment. I asked if we could reschedule our appointments then and she set us up for 3:30pm. 

 

With our morning now free we decided to get off the ship for a bit to check out some of the shops at the Costa Maya port. First I needed something light to eat though as we hadn’t eaten breakfast. We stopped at Cafe Al Bacio and got a few bakery goods. Afterward we walked off the boat and down to the shopping plaza. Try we’re doing some sort of serial performance with men in traditional Mayan dress dangling from ropes on a tall pole and spinning. I wanted to visit a chocolate shop that I had checked out last year called Kakaw that has some awesome flavors like chocolate with sea salt or tortilla chips. I also wanted to stop at Cariloha, the shop with products made from bamboo. I picked up a few t-shirts. After that quick trip we headed back to the ship.

 

At noon we went for lunch at Le Grand Bistro. It was a $20 cover for whatever you wanted to order on the menu including any bakery items. The restaurant has a nice, quiet vibe with French music from the early 20th century being played and lovely sea views from the windows. Our server was Dino and he was very friendly and efficient. I ordered the charcuterie plate with a mix of French meats and cheeses (excellent), the French Onion Soup (fantastic) and the special of the day which was a Crepe Cordon Bleu (soooooo good). Mike had a mix of bakery items, the lobster bisque and a turkey baguette which he said were all good. For drinks we had French Martinis which were tasty. All in all this was one of my favorite meals for the whole cruise. When we couldn’t finish everything Dino offered to wrap up our food in to go boxes, and we added in some baked goods too. This is a must try when you are onboard!

 

While we were at the bistro a group of Celebrity corporate staff sat two tables down from us and then were joined shortly after by Martin the cruise director and one of the ship performers. They were discussing things relating to entertainment on the ship but I couldn’t fully hear what they were saying. Corporate staff has been floating around in different areas. Interesting story about Lisa Lutoff-Perlo as she is on the ship as I mentioned before. On Wednesday night after the events at the pool deck she apparently was in Oceanview as some people Mike had become friendly with on the smoking deck said that she sat down next to them and asked them how things were going. They mentioned they were going to get married on Edge in February and had been meeting with the ending coordinator on board. They wanted to have their ceremony in the Rooftop Garden which LLP said was a great idea. When they told her that the coordinator had been resistant to their Rooftop Garden request LLP gave them her card and said to let the coordinator know they had spoken to her and for them to follow up with Lisa if they have any further barriers. They said she was very down to earth which was nice to hear.

[WonderMan3]

Photos from Le Grand Bistro 

[hcat]

Wow...definitely now on our lust for lunch...thank you again and again!

[WonderMan3]

Just had to break the flow for a second and jump to the present so I could share photos from the most awesome sunset we just had here right before sailing from Grand Cayman.

[Rina155]

That sunset is BEAUTIFUL.  Thank you for sharing!

[Pushkin]

What a beautiful sunset and amazing photographs!  

 

[outoftowner]

Great review and photos.

Have you, by any chance, noticed if there are any gluten free items available?

[mom says]

Some of the best sunset photos I've ever seen!

[Host Anne]

WOW, Adam ~ I can't thank you enough for taking the time to share so much of your cruise with us. Having recently booked, I've already picked up a bunch of tips from your LIVE report.  I'm also a sunset freak so I truly LOVE the sunsets you just posted.  I'm sorry I didn't get to see them in person.  I appreciate all the other photos you've shared as well.

 

ENJOY your remaining time on board.  THANKS again for taking the time to bring us along with you!

[kkmiausa]

Truly awesome photos of that sunset!  You should submit them to the CC photo contest, they are THAT good.  I would enlarge them and have them done on canvas and hang them at home as a great reminder. Thank you for your kind and extensive reviews.  

[CanadianTourist]

That sunset looks nice, but the French Onion Soup looks incredible 

[WonderMan3]

4 hours ago, outoftowner said:

Great review and photos.

Have you, by any chance, noticed if there are any gluten free items available?

 

Thanks! I have seen items at the buffet and you can see gluten-free mentioned in the photo I posted above for Le Grand Bistro. Also, if you let your server know at dinner at any restaurant or dining room they should be able to help direct you to items that are gluten free. 

[WonderMan3]

Finishing off with Thursday’s activities...

 

After lunch we went back to the cabin and changed so we could head up to The Retreat sundeck for a little sun and pool time before we headed to the spa for our massages. We would have about an hour. Mike went to smoke while I headed up to the sundeck. It was only about half full of guests at the time but there were only a couple of loungers in the shade. Just as I had sat down and set up a chair for myself with towels a woman approached and said she recognized me from this little blog; it was Cruise Critic member kk99. She invited me to come and see the Penthouse Suite she was staying in. I left my bag on the chair and we headed to her cabin. At the elevator bank we ran into Mike and he joined us. The Penthouse was nice but with some very odd and some very impractical design choices. We got caught up in talking about Edge related stuff and soon more than 20 minutes had passed by. We were running out of time to spend at The Retreat pool before our massages so we thanked kk99 for her tour and I went back up to the sundeck while Mike went to smoke again. When I got up to the sundeck I found my bag on the lounger where I had left it but now two women who were clearly together had moved the two loungers on either side of mine in very close and put their stuff everywhere around the chair. Now I am not a chair hog in any way. I hadn’t meant to be away as long as I was but it wasn’t even 30 minutes which is the unwritten rule for stuff on a chair. So it seemed odd for them to have set things up the way they did other than as a way to make it uncomfortable for the person who owned the bag on the chair so that they would want to leave. I just walked up grabbed my bag and left as any of the other shady spots that were there before were now occupied. I went back to the cabin for the remaining time and Mike said he would meet me at the spa.

 

When I arrived at the spa it was a bit frenzied with people coming and going, staff members all on the phone or talking with guests. I had to wait several minutes before anyone even acknowledged me. Mike was already there filling out his consultation form. Another guest came from behind me and rudely tried to cut me off to get helped first until I stated to her that I was in line to be helped. A staff member came in from another room and had a very sour attitude seeming very stressed. She began to talk with me and while I was speaking she cut me off by answering the phone which I found a bit curt.  When she came back to me she gave me a consultation form to fill out. When that was done I was taken to the relaxation room. Mike was already gone from there so I assume he was actually in with his masseuse already. I sat in the relaxation room for 20 minutes. It was hot in there as the sun was beating down directly on the front of the ship. My appointment was at 3:30 and I was finally met by my masseuse at 3:50. I was really annoyed at this point as it had not been a relaxing spa experience so far. Thankfully my masseuse Assae was very pleasant. While I had booked the bamboo massage on recommendation of the spa manager when I reserved Assae felt that a hot stone massage combined with deep tissue would be better. She said it would cost the same so I agreed. The massage was wonderful; very relaxing and really worked some tight spots I had. At the conclusion as I was reviewing the charge slip I noticed there was no Elite Plus discount of 15% applied. She apologized and adjusted it. She told me there was a problem applying the charge to my onboard account and that I should check with guest services. I didn’t understand what she meant though.

 

I left the spa and went back to the cabin where Mike was already showering. As I was looking at his spa receipt I noticed he did not get the Elite Plus discount. Then I realized that I had been overcharged on the price of my massage when I saw Mike had a lower price. So after we both showered and dressed we went back to the spa to review charges. The spa manager looked it over and made the adjustments while we waited. The drama did not end there. More on that later...

 

Our dinner reservation for that evening was at The Rooftop Garden Grill At 6:30pm. We went up to the Sunset Bar area 15 minutes before so Mike could have a smoke. It was very windy at that time on the upper decks. When we went over to the grill for our reservation we saw people sitting at tables looking windblown and asked the hostess if we could move our reservation to the next day which she said was no problem. Then we headed across the ship to Luminae. This was around 6:40 and there was no waiting this night, in fact the restaurant was half empty. We asked to have our waiter from the first night again named Ivan since he was so pleasant. For dinner we ordered the duck consommé and burrata to start, had the short ribs as a small portion second course and had the prosciutto wrapped chicken breast as the entree. I skipped dessert but Mike had the chocolate tart. Both service and food were excellent again.

 

After dinner we went down to the casino to do some play and I hit a jackpot. At the end of the night I was up another $800, or a total of $1800 up for the cruise.

[rachiem]

Haha, nice result!

When we stopped by the Casino we had to walk on through. Couldn't understand how to play the slots

Did find the fruit machine eventually, which was more to our level!

[Pennstateman]

11 hours ago, outoftowner said:

Great review and photos.

Have you, by any chance, noticed if there are any gluten free items available?

What about foods with extra gluten and extra MSG?

[puppycanducruise]

Great pictures and info.

Thanks.

Keep up the good work in the casino!

[ATLgirl15]

Hmmm...now I’m wondering if my Elite 15% spa discount was applied-i just take it for granted.  I didn’t have my readers with me so I couldn’t see the receipt when I checked out.  I wonder if a week after disembarking isn’t too late to ask.