Our life on the Edge, 28 April 2019 TA, some photos & video

[prish]

Enjoying your TR silkroad, thanks for taking the time to write about your experiences and post pictures. We’re booked on the Apex for next May, my sister on the Edge this December, so loads of useful tips and information...😊

[Silkroad]

Here's the welcome letter and daily for embarkation day:

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by Silkroad

[hcat]

According to the daily schedule you posted ( thanks),  two good ideas they added:

A free tour of EDGE and the interactive art tour..I am hoping for an "art crawl " when we return to EDGE.

 

Also would love to hear how you liked Concierge class....we may be trying  that on a future  cruise!

[Silkroad]

2 hours ago, hcat said:

A few questions about  your pre cruise experience, if you have time.

 

We are booked at that Hampton Inn for our Nov EDGE cruise. First time for that one, We usually stay along 17th Street if we can,  but area  was pricey,  and not much was  available when we booked. Beside the Greek place,  were there other places you could walk to for dinner? Looks like there is a shopping center nearby ..Is that where the Greek place was located?   How was the included breakfast?

 

Was it worth waiting for the shuttle to the hotel ( did not know they had one), or should we just grab a cab from the airport?  We will probably order a cab to the ship as we do not Uber. Was it a short ride?

 

Thanks... for our EDGE cruise in Jan  we drove to the port from West coast and stayed in Dania....It was okay but it will actually be easier to fly there... avoids parking and luggage issues!

 

 

Yes, the Greek place is in the shopping center across the street from the hotel. The shopping center also contains a decent grocery store, and a sports bar which seems popular on Yelp. There are other places within walking distance (Thai and German are two that had good ratings) but it was warm enough that it wasn't appealing to walk several blocks. We had a very filling lunch at the Greek place, so we opted for a room picnic dinner of items from the grocery store. We had salad & fruit (already packaged, near the produce) along with cheese, rolls from the bakery, and - of course - a nice bottle of wine😋 Hint: pack a few plastic utensils (or a reusable set) from home to avoid having to buy a larger package than you need at the store. BTW our standard king room had both a mini fridge and a microwave.

 

We thought it worth waiting for the shuttle. DH called the hotel once we retrieved our luggage, and the hotel person told him how long it would be, and where to wait. We expected him within 10 minutes, and I think he was there on time, but there was such congestion from large tour and transfer buses (including Celebrity's) that we couldn't see one another. Also, the driver said the buses aren't supposed to block the area where the hotel shuttles pick up guests, but they do. We noticed that Uber & Lyft drivers pulled right up on the other side of the sidewalk on which we waited, so it was very easy for those riders to see their drivers. I'm not sure where the Taxis pulled up. I'll see if DH recalls.

 

It was a short ride from the airport to the hotel, and a fairly short ride to the ship from the hotel. The hotel also has a shuttle to the port, but it is not complimentary. The cost was not high, perhaps $8 pp, but I could be wrong. You can sign up for their shuttle to the port upon arrival, so there's no need to decide now.

 

The included breakfast was fine. The breakfast room is pleasant, roomy and bright, with plenty of tables. Since we knew we'd have a hearty lunch, we opted to pop downstairs early to pick up coffee, pastry, and yogurt to eat in our room. Hope this helps🙂

Edited May 16, 2019 by Silkroad

[DebInAntigua]

35 minutes ago, hcat said:

According to the daily schedule you posted ( thanks),  two good ideas they added:

A free tour of EDGE and the interactive art tour..I am hoping for an "art crawl " when we return to EDGE.

 

Also would love to hear how you liked Concierge class....we may be trying  that on a future  cruise!

 

Do you think the "interactive art tour" is really a tour of the art on Edge? Or just a sale pitch in the art gallery?

[vtcruising]

1 hour ago, DebInAntigua said:

 

Do you think the "interactive art tour" is really a tour of the art on Edge? Or just a sale pitch in the art gallery?

It is at the Art Gallery so is likely a "tour" of their art. Our embarkation day daily had an "Art Gallery and Museum Tour" as well. We went through there and when I stopped to take pictures, we were invited to "tour" the art - most was for sale although they did have some museum pieces in cases nearby - I think that was the museum. 🙂

 

Maybe they had an actual art tour on this cruise?

 

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by vtcruising

[hcat]

Oh..thought it was the art on board.. which is very interesting...

[hcat]

3 hours ago, Silkroad said:

Yes, the Greek place is in the shopping center across the street from the hotel. The shopping center also contains a decent grocery store, and a sports bar which seems popular on Yelp. There are other places within walking distance (Thai and German are two that had good ratings) but it was warm enough that it wasn't appealing to walk several blocks. We had a very filling lunch at the Greek place, so we opted for a room picnic dinner of items from the grocery store. We had salad & fruit (already packaged, near the produce) along with cheese, rolls from the bakery, and - of course - a nice bottle of wine😋 Hint: pack a few plastic utensils (or a reusable set) from home to avoid having to buy a larger package than you need at the store. BTW our standard king room had both a mini fridge and a microwave.

 

We thought it worth waiting for the shuttle. DH called the hotel once we retrieved our luggage, and the hotel person told him how long it would be, and where to wait. We expected him within 10 minutes, and I think he was there on time, but there was such congestion from large tour and transfer buses (including Celebrity's) that we couldn't see one another. Also, the driver said the buses aren't supposed to block the area where the hotel shuttles pick up guests, but they do. We noticed that Uber & Lyft drivers pulled right up on the other side of the sidewalk on which we waited, so it was very easy for those riders to see their drivers. I'm not sure where the Taxis pulled up. I'll see if DH recalls.

 

It was a short ride from the airport to the hotel, and a fairly short ride to the ship from the hotel. The hotel also has a shuttle to the port, but it is not complimentary. The cost was not high, perhaps $8 pp, but I could be wrong. You can sign up for their shuttle to the port upon arrival, so there's no need to decide now.

 

The included breakfast was fine. The breakfast room is pleasant, roomy and bright, with plenty of tables. Since we knew we'd have a hearty lunch, we opted to pop downstairs early to pick up coffee, pastry, and yogurt to eat in our room. Hope this helps🙂

Perfect...thank you so much.   It is very helpful...esp never being to that hotel or neighborhood before. We will follow your plan...a  nice Greek lunch,  and  we can pick up a lighter dinner from the grocery store for later....we always bring utensils,  can also grab a 4 pack of Fiji water to bring on board.

 

Sw Air has delayed the date we can book air....but  hope we can find an early flight from ISP NY.

Edited May 16, 2019 by hcat

[Silkroad]

5 hours ago, hcat said:

According to the daily schedule you posted ( thanks),  two good ideas they added:

A free tour of EDGE and the interactive art tour..I am hoping for an "art crawl " when we return to EDGE.

 

Also would love to hear how you liked Concierge class....we may be trying  that on a future  cruise!

We were interested in the ship tour, but couldn’t make it to the first one. We lined up for the second one on time, but it was delayed for a short time. There were a lot of people, and I became claustrophobic and decided to leave. Another time, I’d try to be on the first tour.

 

Sorry, I don’t know anything about the art tour. We did our own art crawl each day. More on that later.

 

I’ll cover Concierge Class on this ship  a bit later, but I will say that it’s value is most clear on M class ships, because CC cabins are larger than Veranda cabins on those ships. 

 

BTW, DH recalls passing a taxi rank outside the FLL terminal, so you’ll have a choice between hopping in a cab or calling for a hotel shuttle🙂

Edited May 16, 2019 by Silkroad

[vtcruising]

15 minutes ago, Silkroad said:

We were interested in the ship tour, but couldn’t make it to the first one. We lined up for the second one on time, but it was delayed for a short time. There were a lot of people, and I became claustrophobic and decided to leave. Another time, I’d try to be on the first tour.

 

Sorry, I don’t know anything about the art tour. We did our own art crawl each day. More on that later.

 

I’ll cover Concierge Class on this ship  a bit later, but I will say that it’s value is most clear on M class ships, because CC cabins are larger than Veranda cabins on those ships. 

 

BTW, DH recalls passing a taxi rank outside the FLL terminal, so you’ll have a choice between hopping in a cab or calling for a hotel shuttle🙂

Can't wait to hear about your art crawls!🙂

Edited May 16, 2019 by vtcruising

[hcat]

Thanks about the taxis

Next time  on EDGE, consider the Behind the Scenes excursion...offered once or twice. ( fills quickly)  It is pricey but only about 15 guests...each gets a headphone so you can hear the the tour  leader from excursion dept...who was fabulous.  Pvt briefings at each stop including. restaurants, kitchens,  engineering and the bridge,, plus much more.   I felt claustrophobic in the laundry area,  but took the elev up and waited for the rest of the group. Next cruise we'll do the  backstage excursion tour.

[DebInAntigua]

6 minutes ago, hcat said:

Thanks about the taxis

Next time  on EDGE, consider the Behind the Scenes excursion...offered once or twice. ( fills quickly)  It is pricey but only about 15 guests...each gets a headphone so you can hear the the tour  leader from excursion dept...who was fabulous.  Pvt briefings at each stop including. restaurants, kitchens,  engineering and the bridge,, plus much more.   I felt claustrophobic in the laundry area,  but took the elev up and waited for the rest of the group. Next cruise we'll do the  backstage excursion tour.

 

Thanks for sharing this. We booked it for Edge in November, but I was considering cancelling. We went on an S-class tour (Equinox) last year and I thought maybe this would be too redundant. But the headsets sounds like a great improvement and your positive review makes me think we should keep it. 🙂

[vtcruising]

3 minutes ago, hcat said:

Thanks about the taxis

Next time  on EDGE, consider the Behind the Scenes excursion...offered once or twice. ( fills quickly)  It is pricey but only about 15 guests...each gets a headphone so you can hear the the tour  leader from excursion dept...who was fabulous.  Pvt briefings at each stop including. restaurants, kitchens,  engineering and the bridge,, plus much more.   I felt claustrophobic in the laundry area,  but took the elev up and waited for the rest of the group. Next cruise we'll do the  backstage excursion tour.

That tour was worth every penny, IMO. The laundry room was pretty hot/humid. It was funny because one of the dryers was labeled "R Fain" as his laundry was being done (Richard Fain was onboard). 🙂

 

Michelle, good point about Edge concierge.

 

 

[Silkroad]

By the time we'd finished lunch, our cabin was ready, and our luggage appeared a short time later. We unpacked some of our clothes before heading out to explore the ship. After the mandatory General Emergency Drill, we headed to the Sunset Bar for Sailaway. We met our friends & a few people from our roll call, but unfortunately, the lack of shade drove us away within an hour. I did have a Margarita for VTcruising😋 

[Silkroad]

We met two of our friends at Cyprus for a pleasant dinner, before heading to the theater early to score seats for the 9:30 show, which we had heard would be extremely popular. The show was called  "December '63", and the theater was packed. We enjoyed the show, but I thought the lead singer's voice sometimes sounded very odd. I preferred the ensemble songs to his solo bits. IMO, the best song, by far, was when they sang "Silence is Golden" a cappella. Franki Valli & the Four Seasons' heyday was before my time, but my mom had some of their recordings. I've always liked Beggin' (not part of this show) and Silence is Golden. 

 

After the show, we began our nightly ritual of roaming the ship, exploring Edge's design features and art. 

[Silkroad]

Our first sea day was filled with activities. Our Cruise Critic meet and greet was at 10:30, in Eden, and I must say Celebrity gave us the best CC party I've personally experienced. We had quite a large gathering of CC members and Ships' Officers, including Captain Costas. It was lovely to meet some of our fellow CC members in person, especially Margaret & Joe. Margaret had taken on the task of organizing our very large cabin crawl, and Joe had stepped up to take over our spreadsheet when Steve (sadly) had to cancel. 

 

Our cabin crawl was scheduled just after the M&G, in two groups. We were in group 2, which was supposed to begin roughly 50 minutes after the first group, so we all hung around in Eden. I took only a few photos, because we were on a timeline & there were a lot of people milling around. 

 

We saw the following:

 

Villa

Celebrity Suite

Concierge

S1 Sky Suite

Aqua

Forward Facing Ocean View

Deluxe Oceanview with Veranda

Sunset Veranda

S1 Corner aft Sky Suite

Infinite Veranda

Inside

Ocean View

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Silkroad]

Edge Villa. DH & I agreed that, while very nice, this wasn't our favorite. Good thing for our travel budget😂

 

 

[Silkroad]

DH and I were quite taken with this forward facing Ocean View. It really was lovely.

[Silkroad]

We were also charmed by this Deluxe Ocean View with Veranda. Yes, it is a small space, but we can see ourselves enjoying afternoon wine & cheese out there😎😎

[Silkroad]

 We were most looking forward to seeing a Sunset Veranda, because we have one booked for the Greek Isles next year😎😎 

 

[hcat]

Great review so far....

We have a Sunset Veranda  Balcony cabin for our next EDGE cruise..not sure if its bed by bath or balc.. Looked nice..loved the photos!

 

Did it feel any  larger/ longer than a reg IV?

[Silkroad]

I didn't photograph either of the Sky Suites or the Celebrity Suite because so many people have already posted photos of those suites on CC. I can definitely see myself in any of the Sky Suites or the Celebrity Suite😜 I didn't photograph any IV cabins because we were staying in one. Though we liked both of them, I didn't photograph the Inside Cabin or the Ocean View cabin because we were so late getting to them (at the end of our crawl) that their occupants were already late for other engagements. However, photographs of these exist on CC. We really do like to be able to see the ocean from our cabin, but the Inside Cabin was spacious and well lit, so we agreed that we may consider one in the future.

 

I wish we had been able to see a Single Infinite Veranda & a Royal Suite, but we had several groups spread over two days for our cabin crawl, and there weren't multiples of all cabins/suites available for showing. It was a great cabin crawl & we are very grateful to Margaret for coordinating it, and our fellow CCers who generously showed their cabins/suites.

Edited May 17, 2019 by Silkroad

[Silkroad]

6 minutes ago, hcat said:

Great review so far....

We have a Sunset Veranda  Balcony cabin for our next EDGE cruise..not sure if its bed by bath or balc.. Looked nice..loved the photos!

 

Did it feel any  larger/ longer than a reg IV?

Thanks😊 This is only my second CC review, and it's taking me much longer than I had hoped. Oh well, I imagine everyone will understand that I'm writing this while still catching up on the usual tasks at home & work.

 

It did indeed feel longer than a regular IV, and I believe the cabin dimensions published by X bear that out. I tried to get a photograph while standing at the veranda door, facing the bed, but I couldn't get a good shot around the other people. There was definitely more space between the bed and the veranda door than there was in the IV cabins.

 

Your cruise is later this year, right? I hope you'll post some photos of it, and let us know how your liked it😊

[prish]

17 minutes ago, hcat said:

Great review so far....

We have a Sunset Veranda  Balcony cabin for our next EDGE cruise..not sure if its bed by bath or balc.. Looked nice..loved the photos!

 

Did it feel any  larger/ longer than a reg IV?

 

We’re also booked on a Sunset Verandah on the Apex, thanks for the pictures. Do you know if the balcony partition can be opened up like in the S class ships? We actually have three adjacent SVs since this will be our annual family vacation...😊

[Silkroad]

3 minutes ago, prish said:

 

We’re also booked on a Sunset Verandah on the Apex, thanks for the pictures. Do you know if the balcony partition can be opened up like in the S class ships? We actually have three adjacent SVs since this will be our annual family vacation...😊

Which SVs will you have? Some do open up, but I'm not sure which they are. There are firewalls between the center two SVs and the other SVs to either side of them, and I'm not sure those can connect to adjacent verandas.