Edge Aqua Class thoughts from an NCL and MSC cruiser

[Zellchat]

Just returned from the December 6 three day preview class.  We cruise 1-2 x’s/year, and the spa/thermal area is a big part of our cruise enjoyment.  We’ve cruised in NCL Spa, NCL Haven Spa, and MSC Yacht Club cabins.  Both NCL and MSC have great spa areas, with NCL definitely the BEST.  The three day preview was a great way to try Celebrity and we wanted to experience The Edge - we love new ships!  We booked an Aqua class cabin, giving us both unlimited thermal suite access and the infinite veranda.  As many others have reported, the ship is stunning and high tech, so I’ll report on our thoughts of the thermal area and our cabin.  The thermal area consist of the Turkish Steam Room, Salt Room, Steam Room, Rainfall Water Therapy Room, Float Room, heated tile loungers, Infrared Sauna, and Crystalarium.  We tried them all on day one, and we both felt the sauna and maybe the steam room, would be the only two we would use again.  There just wasn’t enough heat in the other rooms for us.  The heated tile loungers were nice and comfortable, with a beautiful view.  There is a big deck outside at the front of the ship, but no where to sit.  I did inquire why there was nothing there, and was informed that originally nothing was planned for the area, but so many had commented that they were now rethinking sitting on the deck.  At 5’7” tall, my feet touched the floor while trying to “float” in the anchored swing chairs - so no floating for me.  We enjoyed the sauna and the stone heated loungers, but there are no other relaxing loungers in the area.

 

Our infinite veranda room (10243) was beautiful.  My husband felt the window design gave us more space in the cabin and he would book this room again.  I have mixed feelings, as I normally spend more time on the balcony than he does.  It is not a balcony.  It is a large cabin window that opens halfway.  Pros are that it is very private - we heard no conversations from either side of us, and chairs were comfortable.  The AC shuts down when the window is open, and with the window closed, the sun beats in and can really heat up the cabin.  We closed the shade during the afternoon to keep the room cooler.  The lowest the thermostat will go is 66 degrees - we kept it at this sitting all three days of the cruise.  Part of the heat issue is in the bathroom.  The large mirror is heated - light on or off - the heat is there.  I think this was meant to prevent fogging up - which it does.  We checked with our room attendant, and there is no way to turn off the heater.  Sounded like we were not the only ones to complain about it.

 

The Aqua class rooms have a great shower.  Unfortunately, the shower drain does not work correctly.  The bathroom floor got flooded with every shower.  The first time it happened, we thought maybe the shower door wasn’t closed completely - not the issue.  Again, the room attendant said this was being looked into and he was sure would be fixed.  The water seemed to leave the shower drain and come back onto the floor from another drain that was behind the toilet.  He just brought us extra towels for the floor.  I’m not talking about a little water, it took a beach towel, and two bath towels to absorb the floor water each time.  No doubt this issue will be corrected quickly.

 

A very positive feature in the bathroom is the night light under the sink.  Great idea, thank you, Celebrity.

 

Even though the thermal area was not what we expected, and our bathroom sauna/wading pool issues, we still loved our cruise and our first Celebrity experience.  Our next cruise is a Panama Canal transit in the spring on the NCL Bliss, in a spa mini-suite.  The Bliss was docked next to us in Nassau on Friday, so we had our first peak at her.  And, we wouldn’t hesitate to book another Celebrity in the future!

[Silkroad]

Thanks for your impressions of your stateroom, the ship, and the spa! Being 5’7” myself,  I’ve wondered about those hanging chairs😉 The view from the heated loungers looks phenomenal. How was Blu?

[hcat]

Glad to hear reports about the thermal suite area....We will try it all on our 7 day cruise.. Spa is a big part of our cruising ,,,so sounds like a few new things to sample..looking forward to the salt room and crystals.

 

Was the area out  front of the spa windy?

 

Hope they get the drainage issue fixed quickly...,,too much wet brings mildew very fast,,,one reason we were uncomfortable with the bathroom on Infinity,

[Freestyle Cruiser]

3 hours ago, Zellchat said:

 

The Aqua class rooms have a great shower.  Unfortunately, the shower drain does not work correctly.  The bathroom floor got flooded with every shower.  The first time it happened, we thought maybe the shower door wasn’t closed completely - not the issue.  Again, the room attendant said this was being looked into and he was sure would be fixed.  The water seemed to leave the shower drain and come back onto the floor from another drain that was behind the toilet.  He just brought us extra towels for the floor.  I’m not talking about a little water, it took a beach towel, and two bath towels to absorb the floor water each time.  No doubt this issue will be corrected quickly.

 

 

Agh!  The AQ shower was so nice looking. The flooding problem is disheartening to hear. How can the Celebrity ship designers get this wrong? This problem makes it sound like this is Celebrity’s 1st attempt at building a ship!! 

 

[hcat]

8 hours ago, Freestyle Cruiser said:

 

Agh!  The AQ shower was so nice looking. The flooding problem is disheartening to hear. How can the Celebrity ship designers get this wrong? This problem makes it sound like this is Celebrity’s 1st attempt at building a ship!! 

 

Wonder if this was just one cabin with a bad flow... or a general design issue..

 

.

[Zellchat]

11 hours ago, Silkroad said:

How was Blu?

Blu was wonderful.  We liked the intimacy of the restaurant, compared to a large dining room.  Menu had great variety of choices.  Our first evening there, we had a great server, Delwin.  So we asked for him every breakfast and dinner.  He was efficient, funny, and always went over his recommendations.  He went over and above for us regarding special requests.  Blu is definitely a positive benefit when booking Aqua cabins.

[Zellchat]

11 hours ago, hcat said:

Was the area out  front of the spa windy?

Yes, but no more so than the higher decks of the ship.