Live From the Edge 12.16 Sailing!

[Lilikins]

Back to the post....good lord those shrimp are massive. Looks tasty and I’m glad you two are having such a good time 🙂 

[lola2013]

Great review...thanks!

I am definitely going to check out your catamaran recommendation for our stop in Tortola.

Susan

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I would be interested to see some photos of your sky suite.  Don't remember seeing photos previously.  Thanks.

[lola2013]

YES YES YES to Aristocat...looks great.

I see three catamaran itineraries...which did you do?

Thanks,

Susan

[hcat]

Great review...thanks again

 

DH wants to know the name of the hat store in San Juan..

We got a great one  for him a few cruises ago but this would be a nice  addition! How long did the fitting take?

Edited December 21, 2018 by hcat

[blue925]

25 minutes ago, hcat said:

Great review...thanks again

 

DH wants to know the name of the hat store in San Juan..

We got a great one  for him a few cruises ago but this would be a nice  addition! How long did the fitting take?

It was called Olé. The fitting took maybe five to 10 minutes? Some of that was picking the hat and the ribbon and discussing which would be best for the Southern California climate. 

[blue925]

47 minutes ago, lola2013 said:

YES YES YES to Aristocat...looks great.

I see three catamaran itineraries...which did you do?

Thanks,

Susan

We did the Norman Island and the Indians itinerary. Truly wonderful. 

[blue925]

52 minutes ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

I would be interested to see some photos of your sky suite.  Don't remember seeing photos previously.  Thanks.

Sure! Here are a few. Let me know if you want photos of anything specific. 

[lola2013]

6 minutes ago, blue925 said:

We did the Norman Island and the Indians itinerary. Truly wonderful. 

Thanks...I've already been in touch with Aristocat and will be booking shortly.

This is why I love Cruise Critic!!!

Enjoy the rest of your trip and Happy Holidays!

Susan

[blue925]

At FLL now waiting for our flight home -- so I have plenty of time to finish!

 

Thursday, December 20, was our day in St. Maarten.  Again, very quick and simple disembarkation process.  We booked a day sail with Random Wind that took us to two locations for snorkeling and water fun.  The boat was much larger than the Aristocat catamaran, and also had many more people. Also, for those who are sun sensitive, there was far less covered real estate, and what there was on the boat was claimed quickly.  The crowd was really fun and rowdier than the group the day before, and we had tons of fun.  The host, Anna, is a HOOT and has an adorable chihuahua, Prince, who was found as a puppy after the hurricane and now lives on board with Anna.

 

The beach where we had our main spot, Mullet Bay, was one beach over from the famous beach with the airplanes landing right above it.  We were able to see all of the planes coming in and it was so cool (I'm an airplane nut, so sitting in the front chair, drinking another million Caribe beers and watching the planes was just the BEST!).  This is also where we had our lunch, which was truly incredible.  Marinated chicken cooked on board (my husband said he could smell it while snorkeling -- I wish my photo had smell-o-vision!) and literally the best rice I have ever had along with a tasty salad.  And really great rum punch!  I can't overstate how great this lunch was!!

 

We arrived back at the dock at 3 p.m. and were back on board within about half an hour after buying some Dutch gouda for my mother.  After a quick hot tub, we went back to the room and I totally passed out for two hours!  Good times.  

 

We had dinner reservations at Eden for 8 p.m.  It is truly an interesting creative and different experience, and feast for all of the senses.  The food was incredible; the steak served with the last main course was one of the best cuts of meat I have ever had -- not just on a ship, but ever.  The Edenists were super friendly and quirky but not particularly obtrusive.  The one thing I had been expecting is more of a "show" during dinner, but we just had two Edenists come up for brief interactions.

 

We stayed for the show, which was...also interesting.  It was about 10 minutes too long, but overall I thought they did a great job.  The singing by the woman who did the Pink Floyd song was absolutely incredible -- my husband is still talking about how impressed he was.  There was also some great acrobatics, although less than I expected (it is not like Cirque du Soleil, which is what I had heard).  Overall, I'm really glad we went and frankly, one of the most fun parts was watching the expressions on the other passengers' faces.

 

Another nightcap in Martini Bar, and then back to the room!

[blue925]

Some photos from St. Maarten day. Eden pics will be in a separate reply. 

[blue925]

Eden time! Yes, I ordered the $20 drink in a box. 

[blue925]

Friday and Saturday were days at sea, and we tried to make sure we experienced every part of the ship.  

 

Friday my husband and I ran the jogging track together -- the route was great!  I had to stop after about 10 laps because the sun was already scorching at 7 a.m. and I didn't want to burn.  So I sat in a lounge chair and waited for my husband to finish. 😄  I also saw people already coming out to claim poolside chairs for the day.  (Another observation about this ship, to echo other people's experiences...  I have never seen so much seating on a ship.  And so many neat nooks and crannies, too!  Make sure to go out from Eden to see some of the great little hidden pockets of pretty rainbow chairs.)

 

Breakfast at Ocean View since I needed to just eat something quickly, then I had my hair shampooed and blown dry at the salon.  I loved my stylist since he was quiet and just let me work on my laptop for the 75-minute service.  He also made no attempt to sell me anything and just told me over and over that I have awesome hair!  For those interested, the service was $59, about double what I pay at home for a blowout.

 

This was our second and final fancy dress day or whatever Celebrity calls it.  I wore another red dress and there were a ton of other ladies wearing fantastic red dresses!  It looked so festive.

 

Dinner at Luminae was really yummy (by the way, our server almost every night was the incredibly awesome Felix!  He and his assistant, Andrea, are so cool), and then we headed to Martini Bar.  For those also there that night, I'm sorry if we got a little rowdy.  🙂  We met up with a great woman from our Tortola day trip and a couple we met the first night, and we had a ball.

[hcat]

Thanks for info about Ole Hats, OSJ.

.I see they have hats  for women too.. If we decide to go off the ship at OSJ   we will definitely stop in there...something a bit different!

[blue925]

Photos from Friday!

[blue925]

Ack! I forgot the lobster photo from dinner! Felix gave us two tails and I ate every morsel of them. The sauce was fantastic. 

[vtcruising]

Thanks for all the great pictures and commentary! It looks like you two know how to have a good time! I really enjoyed following along. 🙂

[Lilikins]

Thank you so much for the wonderful review! I LOVE food/drink porn! The dishes look amazing. How was your eden box drink? 

 

Did you ever get a chance the check out those martini hot tubs? I’m just curious because celebrity kept mentioning them in the promos but I’ve yet to see a review with someone saying if they like them, if they are crowded, and if the view was as great as they made it out to be.

 

Sounds like you had a blast. Thank you again for taking time out of your trip to endulge us all 😁

[kwokpot]

Thank you for your great review. I'm so disappointed that we had to disembark the cruise 2 days early but in 2 hours I'm heading to the airport for a family Christmas trip to Spain so logistically it would not have worked out for us to stay for the whole cruise. 

I'm glad you enjoyed your time in Eden. I did not have dinner but breakfast and lunch was really good there! 

I'm interested in your experience regarding the Edenists performers and whether you encountered them outside Eden. If you you had seen them outside Eden where and what time was this? Did you have a direct interaction with them? If so how did it go? 

Edited December 23, 2018 by kwokpot

[Lastdance]

Thanks so much for your review...It is obvious that you had a great time.  I had canceled this date, but kept my TA.  I think my DH is going to have an issue with food in Eden, but maybe, just maybe he will be okay...thanks for the story about the dog, as he sure does look right at home on the water...so glad you both enjoyed your vacation!

 

[blue925]

3 hours ago, vtcruising said:

Thanks for all the great pictures and commentary! It looks like you two know how to have a good time! I really enjoyed following along. 🙂

Thank you so much!  I truly appreciate the kind words -- your live review really set the bar high!! 

[blue925]

48 minutes ago, Lastdance said:

Thanks so much for your review...It is obvious that you had a great time.  I had canceled this date, but kept my TA.  I think my DH is going to have an issue with food in Eden, but maybe, just maybe he will be okay...thanks for the story about the dog, as he sure does look right at home on the water...so glad you both enjoyed your vacation!

 

We ran into several couples/groups who reached out to Eden beforehand and made arrangements for special food due to vegetarian preference or seafood dislikes/concerns/allergies.  To a person, they all were well accommodated and several actually met the chef (a very young-looking guy who is obviously quite talented).  I would definitely recommend letting them know in advance about any of your husband's preferences and I'm sure they'll be happy to help.

[blue925]

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

 

I'm glad you enjoyed your time in Eden. I did not have dinner but breakfast and lunch was really good there! 

I'm interested in your experience regarding the Edenists performers and whether you encountered them outside Eden. If you you had seen them outside Eden where and what time was this? Did you have a direct interaction with them? If so how did it go? 

I agree that lunch in Eden was wonderful!  We also made it a point to go hang out there at several points because it's truly so beautiful.  Probably my favorite space on the ship after Martini Bar.

 

I did not see any Edenists outside of Eden but I met someone who saw one at Bacio and had a brief conversation and another who saw the "queen" walking around the ship.  But nothing intrusive like I had read about happening to others.  I think it's neat that they walk around and sort of advertise the show in that way and potentially get people intrigued.

[blue925]

3 hours ago, Lilikins said:

Thank you so much for the wonderful review! I LOVE food/drink porn! The dishes look amazing. How was your eden box drink? 

 

Did you ever get a chance the check out those martini hot tubs? I’m just curious because celebrity kept mentioning them in the promos but I’ve yet to see a review with someone saying if they like them, if they are crowded, and if the view was as great as they made it out to be.

 

 

The box drink was...different.  The main liquor was mezcal, which I don't particularly enjoy since I don't like a) smoky or b) tequila-type booze.  That said, the drink seemed to have something pineapple-ish and sangria-y going on in addition to the mezcal, so I drank it without issue.  My husband, however, called it "an ash tray filled with rain water."

 

My favorite Eden drink was the Shaman, made with rum. Partly because of the taste and partly because it was covered under the Premium package!  Thanks to Barb from our roll call for introducing me to it!!

[blue925]

Oh my gosh, I totally failed to mention that on Friday, about 25 people from our roll call did a cabin crawl and it was SOOOO MUCH FUN.  I'd highly recommend trying to arrange this with your roll call simply because it was great to see the variety of cabins and how ship position affects view, furniture set-up, etc.  Plus we got to see a Celebrity Suite!  We volunteered as one of the hosts (one of three suites on the crawl, in addition to the CS and an aft SS1) and loved meeting the group, plus several of us had drinks at Eden afterward to dissect our Edge experiences and also just talk travel.  We had so much fun I forgot to take photos!  There should be some floating around, though, along with videos since Bob from our RC took video of every cabin we toured.